Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXCVII--Tim Curry: Working on My Tan

[Blogger's Note:  Hold your horses--while it is Friday, I'm late as noted below.  You'll still have to wait for my once-a-year music post that's actually on the correct Friday....]

Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya, Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya, Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya, Oh, Lord...I'm (seven days) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune came, for the umpteenth time, via my time at Camelot Music.  'Twas very early in my career--first year in fact--and my guess as to why a relatively neophyte musical performer would be given such prominence in our in-store play would most assuredly be his career making role as Dr. Frank-In-Furter in first the play, then the movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  If memory serves (though often it doesn't), the album--though decidedly not a hit--was very popular with our team....

Tim Curry was born in Cheshire, England in 1946, and contrary to just about every artist featured here on Friday Night Jukebox has had the vast majority of his success as an actor.  Curry's big break came in 1968 with a role in the London cast of the musical Hair, and then in 1973, again in the London cast, with the role noted above.  Since then, he has had a steady supply of acting work, mostly in supporting roles, in a wide variety of plays, movies, and television shows.  Curry has been nominated for three Tony Awards, two Emmys (winning a Daytime Emmy), and a Grammy Award (for spoken word).  Surprisingly to me, Curry's music career was rather short-lived.  He released three studio albums between 1978 and 1981, and in the late eighties a greatest hits package.  A previously unreleased album from 1976 debuted in 2010. His last two studio albums did hit the charts, and his second album yielded a top 100 single.  Curry has also penned a memoir.  Sadly, he suffered a major stroke in 2012 and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.

Fun Fact:  The movie version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1976) is still in limited release as of this year and is the longest running theatrical release in movie history (for those who suck at math, fifty years).

"Working on My Tan" was the first single from his final studio album in 1981, the rather sincerely entitled, Simplicity.  The single did not chart, while the album peaked at #112. Also, the album was the only one of his three to chart in Canada, hitting #45 (so many cool kids in the Great White North!).

Sometimes a song doesn't have to be earth shattering and can just be fun, and "Working on My Tan" is one such song.  It's right up my alley--catchy stanzas, catchy chorus, and a lovely theme of living the chill life in the sunshine.  The music is reggae inflected, and Curry sings it with a respectful Jamaican accent.  The lyrics make generous use of simply rhyming patterns (always enjoyable when singing along), and the "oh man" in the chorus is just to die for.  An ode to the sun that is simply divine.

Lyric Sheet:  "Hunt yourself an island/Hitch down to the beach/The sun belong to everyone/In everybody's reach..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

This won't end well for our national security

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has declared that the U.S. no longer shares most of its vital intelligence with the UK, directly undermining the five-eyes alliance and undermining American security. More petty behaviour from Trump’s far-right American government.

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— Mr. Ron (@mrrevron.bsky.social) April 19, 2026 at 2:56 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXL--Ace: How Long

 This week's tune comes from the decade of decades for my musical tastes--the seventies.  Another in a long line of great singles released by one hit wonders, it's also notable for being a song that was tailor made for Rod Stewart to cover...and he actually did. 

Ace (originally Ace Flash and the Dynamos--now there's a band name) formed in Sheffield, England in 1972, and lasted just five short years, disbanding in 1977.  During their short time together, they released three albums (from which they managed to spawn more compilation albums--four--than studio albums), and six singles.  Lead singer Paul Carrack would go on to have a lot more success, singing "Tempted" for Squeeze, and having a string of hits with Mike + the Mechanics.  Carrack has also had a number of his songs sung by artists such as Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles, and has made a good career the last few years as a session and touring musician.  

Fun Fact:  Upon hearing this week's song, most folks (myself included) assumed it was about adultery, but it wasn't.  Carrack actually wrote the song about the band's bassist, Terry Comer, who was playing in other bands behind the rest of his bandmates' backs.

"How Long" was released in 1974 on Ace's debut album, Five-A-Side.  It went on to reach #3 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #20 in their native U.K.), while the album would reach #11 on the Billboard 200.  

One of the nice things about writing about a favorite song every week is how often when I'm listening to the song in preparation--no matter how many times I've heard it before--I notice some nuance that I never really noticed before.  This week it's the bass line--which runs from the beginning of the song to the very end with no deviation--and how its foreboding sound underscores the song's lyrical theme of treachery.  The easy part of "How Long" is obviously Carrack's vocals--understated and gritty, without becoming melodramatic, his singing brings the song to another level.  It's got a nice seventies guitar solo mixed in, and with the ever present chorus repeated ad infinitum that happens so often on pop hits it becomes another one of those wonderful moments when a band comes together for three minutes and twenty-four seconds and touches greatness.  

Lyric Sheet:  "But I can't help but have my suspicions/'Cause I ain't quite as dumb as I seem..."

Enjoy:

You Have a Choice:  Pass a Voting Rights Bill, or Welcome Fascism to America

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLIX--Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

Whatever gene it was in my generation that sent millions of my peers into music stores to buy Pink Floyd records apparently was not a part of my DNA.  I can't think of one of their songs, outside of this week's tune, that I remotely liked, and their whole psychedelic rock shtick was lost on one whose soul was much quainter than those souls whose idea of fun was dropping acid.  Still, my liking of their one tune fits nicely into my opinion that if any band sticks around long enough, you're bound to find at least one song of theirs that you like (except REO Speedwagon, who put the shit in shitty pop tunes).

Fortunately for me, the history of Pink Floyd is a bit long to cover in a paragraph, especially considering that their Wikipedia entry was far too long to read in its entirety for someone whose interest in the band is middling at best.  They formed in 1965 in London, England, with original members Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright.  David Gilmour would join in 1967, followed shortly by the departure of Barrett due to mental health issues.  The band would continue in that form until the eighties, with Wright and Waters departing, and Gilmour and Mason continuing on through the mid-nineties.  The band has had a pair of small reunions since, though they have not overcome their personal differences enough to make that Big Bucks Reunion Tour.  For their career, Pink Floyd has sold over 250 million records, having released 14 studio albums, three live albums, and 14 compilations.  My opinion of the band notwithstanding, they truly do stand in the pantheon of great rock bands, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.  Roger Waters, for his songwriting, and David Gilmour, for his guitar playing, would also make many a best of list for their respective talents.  Sadly founding members Syd Barrett and Richard Wright have passed away and joined many other wondrous talents at the Great Rock Concert in the Sky.

Fun (and heartwarming) Fact:  The band members always made sure that Syd Barrett was taken care of financially for his contributions to the band, which allowed Barrett to face his personal difficulties with plenty of financial stability.

"Wish You Were Here" was released in 1975 on Pink Floyd's appropriately enough titled album, Wish You Were Here.  Though the song was never released as a single in its original incarnation (a live version was released at one point), the song is considered a classic and was ranked #324 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.  The album, though poorly received critically at its release, is also considered a masterpiece and was voted #211 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time.  Just for good measure, the LP also sold over 13 million copies.

There are songs that come along that force the listener to put on their big boy pants (like Seger's "Night Moves" or Springsteen's "Born to Run" to name but a pair), and "Wish You Were Here" is one such song.  While there seems to be some debate as to what the song is about--lyricist Waters claims it's about himself, music writer Gilmour says he never sings the song without thinking about Syd Barrett--most fans tend to side with Gilmour as to the song's intentions.  Hear the opening acoustic guitar solo and you will never, ever, ever forget it.  Gilmour's plaintive vocals echo a sadness that is still palpable.  Even the song's nuances are stunning--the chorus part after another piece of the the acoustic guitar intro, the emptiness of the wind blowing at the song's end--one wouldn't think it possible for a band that one doesn't care for to make a song that would be on one's top ten songs of all time, but Pink Floyd has done it for me.  I've never been one for believing pop music is an art form (it's called "pop" music for a reason), but "Wish You Were Here" is one of those songs that would certainly leave me open to thinking that it is.

Lyric Sheet:  "Cold comfort for change?  Did you exchange/A walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCVI--Shakin' Stevens: You Drive Me Crazy

When my first wife and I were still newlyweds, I used to bring home all the promotional singles from the Camelot Music store that I managed and after dinner we'd listen to several of them to entertain ourselves, in the days when we were too poor to do much else.  Admittedly, it was probably more enjoyable for me than her, but I was amazed at the number of songs (mostly from up and coming artists, most of whom we'd never heard of, some who never did hit the big time) that we ended up liking.  One such tune was this week's featured song--and it still serves as a reminder to me that there's a hell of a lot of music out there, and even though I'll never be able to discover all of it, to try and enjoy all the more the tunes I do find.

Shakin' Stevens was born Michael Barrat in Cardiff, Wales in 1948 (first artist from Wales here on FNJ, I believe).  He started his working career as a milkman while playing gigs on the weekends before embarking on a music career in earnest with his first band, Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, in the late sixties.  Stevens' band had very little commercial success though they toured a lot before he was offered a role in the musical Elvis! in London in 1977.  Stevens parlayed the hit show into a solo career, and throughout the eighties was the best selling singles artist in the UK.  While Stevens has never done anything here in the States, in his native UK he has had 33 top forty singles, four number one singles, two number two singles, and three top ten albums.  Over the course of his career, he has released twenty studio albums, twenty-one compilation albums, and 69 singles.  He released his last album in 2016, and will be touring the UK and Europe in 2019.  Good thing he gave up on that milkman gig....

"You Drive Me Crazy" was released in 1981 on Steven's only #1 LP, Shaky (Stevens' nickname, for those wondering, which is probably no one...).  The single would hit #2 (with a bullet...maybe, because I don't know if the UK Top 75 has bullets on hit records) on the UK  Singles chart, and #1 on the charts in Australia, Denmark, and Ireland (so many cool kids in Australia, Denmark, and Ireland...).

Fun Fact:  Though I'm sure she doesn't remember it, my daughter did a mean two legged stomp to "You Drive Me Crazy" when she was a toddler...

For those not familiar with Shakin' Stevens (which would probably be most anyone outside of Europe and the UK), his shtick is basically as a fifties cover artist extraordinaire (great gig in the UK which is nuts for fifties rock and roll), though he generally sticks to less well known songs from that era.  While "You Drive Me Crazy" definitely has a fifties vibe to it, it is actually an original song written around the time the song was recorded.  There's nothing fancy about this one--catchy music, love song lyrics, and an echoed chorus (Cray-ay-zee...).  Stevens sings with a lot of joy and gives the song a real rockabilly feel and there's a short guitar solo as well as some "It's got a good beat and I could dance to it" drumming.  If you're looking for "Born to Run" or "Baba O'Reilly" this one probably isn't for you, but if you like to shake your hips a bit and sing along, it'll do just fine.

Lyric Sheet:  "And when I'm looking in those big blue eyes/I start a'floating 'round in paradise/You drive me crazy..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee