By Madeline Bocaro

© Madeline Bocaro, 2020. No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without permission of the copyright owner.

OK Kids!

Let’s have some fun with songs about those of us

who never grew up.

From innocent kids to teenage delinquents, to street gangs…

Let all the children boogie!

Our Gang (a.k.a. The Little Rascals) was a charmingly endearing popular television show from 1922 to 1938 with an all-kids cast, produced by Hal Roach. Most of the starring kids had strange names. Some were named after breakfast cereal –  Buckwheat and Farina (who was cast as both a boy and as a girl). Alfalfa was named after a plant fed to livestock. The name Spanky was taken from an old slang term for a smart toddler. The theme song, played at the start of every show was called ‘Good Old Days’ written by Leroy Shield in 1930.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkM0m-fB2Uw

Listen – The Beau Hunks 1992: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHprcsIIKWg

‘God Bless the Child‘ was recorded in 1939 by the great Billie Holiday and co-written by Arthur Herzog Jr. Holiday re-recorded it in 1956 for her album Lady Sings the Blues. There are obscure Bible references in the lyrics – basically about honoring whatever you are given in life, and not being too greedy. It has been covered and interpreted by many other artists and legends.

Them that’s got shall get
Them that’s not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc4JvGfRLpA

This song is from the 1953 movie about the eternal boy, Peter Pan. ‘Never Smile at a Crocodile’.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGkdcpTY1QI

‘Young Blood’ was first a hit by The Coasters in 1957. It was co-written by the great Doc Pomus, Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. The lyric in this case refers to a very young woman. The Beatles used to perform a faster version of this at The Cavern Club in Liverpool and on the radio. The song had a resurgence when Leon Russell performed it live in 1971 at The Concert for Bangla Desh.

Listen – The Coasters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Exe4YUJyI

Listen – The Beatles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyfZEGlyg4s

Listen – Leon Russell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ztP0sv2qvk

Johnny O’Keefe’s 1958 hit ‘Real Wild Child (Wild One)’ O’Keefe’s record was considered as the birth of Australian rock n’ roll. In 1986, Iggy Pop covered this on his album Blah, Blah, Blah.

Listen – Johnny O’Keefe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF9rS90U3-U

Listen – Iggy Pop – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHA7p9t4yCQ

‘Almost Grown’ is a fast blues composed and sung by Chuck Berry. It was a double-A side single with ‘Little Queenie’ released in 1959. Backing vocals are by the great Etta James and a young Marvin Gaye.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kORzqpAbpTY

Paul Anka wrote ‘Puppy Love’ for his then girlfriend Annette Funicello in 1960. Donny Osmond recorded it in 1972.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAtwI2poXXg

‘Little Child’ is on the 1963 album With The Beatles. John and Paul had written it for Ringo, but on the record, it was sung by John.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVMfLIoejTc

‘The Children of Rarn’ was a long suite written by Marc Bolan about a mystical land inhabited by children. It remains officially unreleased. An introductory snippet appears on the first T. Rex album made after the band shortened their name from Tyrannosaurus Rex and expanded their sound beyond folk. Marc’s demo was enhanced with added instrumentation by producer Tony Visconti for the 1998 compilation, The Words and Music of Marc Bolan.

We are children of Rarn / We’ve trodden the vales of the sun
The child will cry / On swans they fly
We are the children of Rarn

And we are the seekers of space / We’ve seen our master’s face
It’s young and gold / And silvery old
We are the seekers of space
OM.

Listen – T. Rex (first album) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie8NqfyE7KQ

Listen – Extended suite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evMEcq0n-3o

‘The Kids Are Alright’ was composed by Pete Townshend. It’s on the1965 debut album by The Who – My Generation. This became a theme song for the English mods in the 60s.  It was released as a single 6 months after the LP. It was also the title of the documentary film made about the band in 1979.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afam2nIae4o

‘I’m A Boy’ was a 1966 b-side by The Who. While nowadays the lyrics could be misconstrued to be about being transgender, this boy’s mother wishes he were a girl. She is disappointed after having three girls that she did not get a fourth, and tends to raise him as a girl anyway. His sisters overwhelm him with makeup and girls’ clothing.

My name is Bill, and I’m a head case
They practice making up on my face
Yeah, I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear
Spend evenings taking hairpins from my hair

I’m a boy, I’m a boy
But my ma won’t admit it
I’m a boy, I’m a boy
But if I say I am, I get it

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFNMQzChhZ4

‘You Better Sit Down Kids’ was written by Sonny Bono and sung by his wife Cher. Strangely, she sings the part of a father telling her kids that their parents are getting a divorce. It’s a surprise that this depressing song became a Top Ten hit for Cher. It appeared as a single and on her album With Love, Cher released in 1967.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8fGs7MxBJA

“Children behave…” is the opening line of ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’  by Tommy James & The Shondells in 1967 about forbidden young love. The Rubinoos recorded it. So did many others including Lene Lovich, Tiffany and Green Day.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVMfLIoejTc

The Supremes premiered their Motown song ‘Love Child’ on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1968. They wanted to avoid another song about love. This is the story of a girl avoiding pressure to sleep with her boyfriend in fear of having a child out of wedlock, as she is a ‘love child’ herself. The lyrics speak of growing up in rags, without a father – in shame, guilt and depravation. The backing vocals tunefully echo back the words ‘tenement slum’ and ‘scorned by’ (society) as Diana sings her woes. The pop melody is deceptively uplifting despite the sad lyrics. The story continued on the next Supremes single, ‘I’m Livin’ In Shame’ – the sister-song to ‘Love Child’.  In this tear-jerker, the ashamed ‘love child’ grows up to denounce and deny her childhood of poverty.

Pam Sawyer is a co-writer of ‘Love Child’ (the No.1 song in 1968 which broke The Beatles’ 9-week reign at the top with ‘Hey Jude’). Sawyer, with Gloria Jones (‘Tainted Love’ singer) Burt Bacharach and Hal David also co-wrote ‘If I Were Your Woman’ for Gladys Knight & the Pips. Pam also co-wrote Diana Ross’ No. 1 single ‘Love Hangover’ in 1976. She also wrote for Lulu, Patti LaBelle and The Young Rascals.

Listen: ‘Love Child’ – The Supremes 1968 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwhgsLWnoo

‘Young Girl’ is about a potentially illicit love by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap backed by members of The Wrecking Crew in 1968.

Young girl, get out of my mind  / My love for you is way out of line

You’d better run, girl / You’re much too young, girl…

Get out of here  / before I have the time to change my mind

’cause I’m afraid we’ll go too far.”

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJFVPxBpezk

‘O-o-h Child’ is a beautiful song by The Five Stairsteps – the Burke family band from Chicago (a.k.a. the First Family of Soul). It was a hit single in 1970. I had always thought the lead vocal was sung by a guy with a smooth voice until I saw that it starts off with a woman on this performance on Soul Train – and all the members trading off vocals. A perfect song for the current times in 2020…

O-o-h O-o-h child, things are gonna get easier

O-o-h O-o-h chid, things will get brighter

Some day, yeah
We’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter

Watch – Soul Train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY2fr13ibFc

 

Nico’s incredible album Desertshore (1970) includes the gorgeous ‘My Only Child’. Her young son Ari Boulogne sings the song ‘Le Petit Chavalier’ on the same album.

Listen – My Only Child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCDiAHGWlDE

Listen – Le Petit Chavalier (Ari Boulogne) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l8jovDS9QU

See my story about Nico’s Desertshore

https://madelinex.com/2017/12/19/nico-desertshore/

I’m only including this song because hundreds of people will tell me that I ‘forgot’ it. (I leave songs out purposely when they are not my cup of tea). This is one of them. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s ‘Teach Your Children’ from their 1970 album Deja Vu. I’ll leave this here for all those who are home-schooling their kids now. Good luck with that!

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkaKwXddT_I

‘Oh You Pretty Things’ is from David Bowie’s 4^th studio album Hunky Dory released in 1971.

There’s a crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me…

That’s how Bowie entered our world. We were the teens of the 1970s – the lucky ones. He raised us. He was a wise sage, respecting that we could comprehend much more than our own parents thought we could. He understood us while they taught us to be ordinary. Bowie gave us Kabuki, Mishima, Genet, Gitanes, the occult, Dada, Schiele, Krautrock, outer space A Clockwork Orange, Warhol, Isherwood’s Berlin… Let all the children boogie.

Oh, you pretty things
Don’t you know you’re driving your
Mamas and papas insane?
Let me make it plain
Gotta make way for the Homo Superior

Look out at your children
See their faces in golden rays
Don’t kid yourself, they belong to you
They’re the start of the coming race…

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccMYgiSC_eQ

‘Mother and Child Reunion’ is a hit reggae tune written recorded in Jamaica by Paul Simon with members of Jimmy Cliff’s band in 1972. It was a hit single for Simon and also appears on his second, self-titled album. It was covered by the Jamaican group the Pioneers, also in 1972.

The song’s title is actually the name of a dish in a Chinese restaurant.

“I was eating in a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called Mother and Child Reunion. It’s chicken and eggs. And I said, I gotta use that one.” -Paul Simon

Listen – Paul Simon: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mother+and+child+reunion+paul+simon

Listen – The Pioneers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkgq7UN_dwM

The T. Rex single ‘Children of the Revolution’ was released in 1972. This empowering ode to teens features Elton John on piano and Ringo Starr on drums along with T. Rex drummer Mickey Finn.

Well, you can bump and grind, it is good for your mind
Well, you can twist and shout, let it all hang out

But you won’t fool the children of the revolution

Watch:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjL7vO8-NOg

‘Wild Child’ is on the self-titled debut solo album by Lou Reed, released in 1972 after The Velvet Underground’s breakup. This song was also recorded but unreleased by the VU.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgfZHn-GWL0

‘The Kids’ is a track on Berlin, Lou Reed’s follow up to his Bowie/Ronson produced hit album Transformer. It’s a wretched tale from an entirely tragic album, about a depraved woman whose children are taken away. The track features a disturbing chorus of crying kids.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8rbvXHD5xQ

An excerpt from my story (linked below):

During “The Kids”, with his eyes closed and intensity on his face, Lou achieved his best ‘donkey gets hit by a train’ guitar solo. With his eyes closed you could see Lou levitate a foot off the stage in his mind, as his instrument brayed in unison with a choir of crying children. It was one ugly/beautiful cacaphonic moment among many. “In the alleys and bars, no she couldn’t be beat – that miserable rotten slut couldn’t turn, anyone away. They’re taking her children away.”

See my story about Lou Reed’s live performance of Berlin:

The Berlin Wall of Sound

https://madelinex.com/2006/12/22/lou-reed-the-berlin-wall-of-sound/

‘Teenage Rampage’ by The Sweet is a wonderful teen theme about a youth takeover – released as a single in 1974. A great example of the iconic Glam ChinniChap sound (created by the band’s writer/producers Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn).

R.I.P. Steve Priest, 6-4-2020.

At thirteen they’ll be learning
But at fourteen they’ll be burnin’…

 Imagine the formation
Of teenage legislation
At thirteen they were fooling

But at sixteen they’ll be rulin’

All over the land the kids are finally startin’ to get the upper hand.
They’re out in the streets they turn on the heat
And soon they could be completely in command
Imagine the sensation
Of teenage occupation…

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdPpQRzcSk8

The Heavy Metal Kids

The Heavy Metal Kids were NOT a heavy metal band. They formed in 1972, before heavy metal music existed. They are named after a street gang mentioned in William Burroughs’ novel Nova Express. The Kids bridged the gap from Glam to Punk – years before the emergence of punk rock. They also played incredible ballads, reggae and pure rock n’ roll – an amalgam of the Faces, Slade and the New York Dolls. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1974. Their second and third albums in 1975/1976 were Anvil Chorus and Kitsch.

The Kids’ fans were rabid, and their stage shows were wild. Singer Glen Holton displayed a cockney Dickensian hooliganism onstage. His antics were later mimicked by Johnny Rotten. The band noticed that their fans were donning garish makeup, ripped clothing and a rag-tag look like their own. These fans turned out to become future members of The Clash, The Damned and the Sex Pistols. This overlooked band split in 1977 after making only three albums with Holton as front man. After Holton’s drug-related death in 1985, the band reformed in 2002 and released more records.

Watch – Disco Germany 1977: ‘Delirious’ from their third album Kitsch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UmRVwfqtuA&list=RDcbFME4kpWtQ&index=4

Listen – ‘Delirious’ studio version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfc3Wun-7F4

No one in the world likes me
Everybody just hates me…Don’t take me serious / I’m just delirious
I’m not responsible / I’m just impossible

Someone up above hates me
No no one ever did like me
Close my eyes and i see me
Was it something i just said?
Maybe I’m going out of my head

Don’t take me serious / I’m just delirious
I’m not responsible / It’s just impossible
I’m just delirious

They don’t know what I’m about
That’s why i just scream and shout
I would be better off dead…

More great songs from The Heavy Metal Kids – from their first album.

Listen: ‘We Gotta Go’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbFME4kpWtQ

Watch their great ballad – OGWT – ‘It’s The Same’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZpFIbahTTE

 The Heavy Metal Kids’ most famous song was ‘She’s no Angel’ from their 3^rd album Kitsch in 1977.

Listen – She’s No Angel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PopHwKKNlWs

Also, another track from The Heavy Metal Kids album Kitsch, ‘Chelsea Kids‘.

These boys don’t play with toys
But they sure make a lotta noise
They play around with each others lives
Cut throats with Ibiza knives.

Wide eyed sniffin’ boys sniffin’…

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be4IMrtXie4

The strange lullaby, ‘Mockingbird’ was written in 1963 based on an old lullaby ‘Hush Little Baby’. It was a big hit for Carly Simon and James Taylor who were a married couple at the time in 1974. It appeared on Carly’s studio album Hotcakes. The track featured several of John Lennon’s players; David Spinozza on guitar, Klaus Voormann on bass and Jim Keltner on drums. It was also covered by Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin and others.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ20GnX1Kc0

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Growin’ Up’ about teenage rebellion is on his 1973 album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.  David Bowie covered this song, but it was left off his Pinups album. Bowie’s version was first released on the Rykodisc reissues as a bonus track on the cd in 1994.

Listen – Bruce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Cs-bZ2YX0

Listen – Bowie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ym3J5iEcQ

‘Wild in the Streets’ was a single written and performed by Garland Jeffreys in 1973 about gangs of teenagers in America. The players were members of John Lennon (and Yoko Ono’s) mid-1970s albums; David Spinozza, Rick Marotta and The Brecker brothers on horns. It also featured Dr. John and also David Peel on background vocals.

There’s a great version by British Lions (post-Mott The Hoople band members) on their self-titled album in 1978. Chris Spedding covered it on his album Hurt.

’64 valiant, hand full of valiums
Couple of beers really do me right
You better believe us, better trust us
Teenage jive, walking wreck

Wild, wild, wild, running wild
Wild in the streets, running, running…

Mrs. America, how’s your favorite son?
Do you care just what he’s done?
No

Listen – Garland Jeffreys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCjUa_13xhI

Listen – British Lions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJWz0a2b8sE

Listen – Chris Spedding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQn4v6e8VAA

Mott The Hoople had a unique solidarity with their fans. They even wrote rockers, ballads and hymns to, for and about us. On their quest to become superstars, they never looked down upon us. They came from the same places that we did and hated the same things we hated. Mott fans were an extremely loyal bunch, traveling far and wide to all the gigs. Mott gave their fans equal credit for their success.

‘All The Young Dudes’ was written by David Bowie and given to Mott as their salvation. This has a very complicated meaning about the youth of the time, which I’ve described in my story below.

My story about the song All the Young Dudes:

https://madelinex.com/2017/08/03/all-the-young-dudes-at-45-2/

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYkRLcCJU_Y

‘Whizz Kid’ is on their Mott album (July 1973)

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rucsc6nvtZY

‘Crash Street Kidds’ is on Mott’s next album The Hoople released in 1974. The young street gang in this song is not unlike the Droog-like Diamond Dogs on David Bowie’s futuristic / fatalistic album of that name album the same year.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTTMz8VMWzg

‘Saturday Kids’ eventually became ‘Saturday Gigs’ – Mott The Hoople’s final single, released in late 1974 – a goodbye to their fans upon the band’s break-up. When I heard them singing ‘goodbye’ over & over at the end, I realized this was their final song. I was devastated. Soon, I received the Fan Club letter saying Mott had split.

Fast forward to 2009 – Mott’s week of reunion gigs at Hammersmith Odeon! The bittersweet finale was ‘Saturday Gigs’, the Hooples’ 1975 farewell single chronicling the history of the band – from the 1969 Roundhouse gigs to their final 1974 Broadway shows in New York City. The band poignantly put down their instruments at the song’s end, chanting the ‘goodbye’ coda acapella, as the lights went down. Mott exited the stage as the joyful yet tearful crowd carried on chanting the song’s ending ‘goo-ood byyye’, which echoed throughout the hall.

The title track of Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album tells a dismal tale The Diamond Dogs are evil street urchins – like Kubrick’s Droog-like street gangs from A Clockwork Orange who are transplanted from Suffragette City to Hunger City. The youth whom Ziggy Stardust had warned about their future. These were the dudes who carried the news –  now grown, corrupted and vicious. The news was never good. Suicidal Billy, stealing clothes from Marks & Sparks, juvenile delinquent wrecks. The future is hopeless. Halloween Jack is the gang leader of these decadent freaks. His girlfriend is a featureless woman boasting a Dali broach – surreal. Sapphire and cracked emerald.

(Meanwhile in London, impresario Malcolm McLaren was rounding up his own band of Droogs after his faux pas of molding the New York Dolls into a gang of Commie trash in red patent leather. He was more successful with The Sex Pistols. They were more anarchic, more real. They were the Diamond Dogs incarnate!  Future Legend? /  No future!)

Bowie later described the Diamond Dogs…

“…all little Johnny Rottens and Sid Viciouses really. And, in my mind, there was no means of transport, so they were all rolling around on these roller-skates with huge wheels on them, and they squeaked because they hadn’t been oiled properly. So there were these gangs of squeaking, roller-skating, vicious hoods, with Bowie knives and furs on, and they were all skinny because they hadn’t eaten enough, and they all had funny-coloured hair. In a way, it was a precursor to the punk thing.”

The wild audience sound at the start of the Diamond Dogs album (as David finishes reading the Future Legend poem and yells, “This ain’t rock n’ roll. This is genocide!”) is actually from the live Faces album Coast To Coast – Overture and Beginners. You can hear Rod Stewart shouting, “Hey!” after the guitar riff starts.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTIsnYPG4lU

My Story about the album: Back to the Future – Diamond Dogs

https://madelinex.com/2020/04/24/back-to-the-future/

My story: Diamond Dogs – The Unmade Film

https://madelinex.com/2018/05/24/44-years-ago-today/

Sparks released ‘Who Don’t Like Kids?’ on their 1974 album Propaganda. Parts of the song illustrate just how annoying kids can be.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nVxTt3tZgE

On the same Propaganda album is ‘Thanks But No Thanks’ sung from a kid’s perspective. The parents are basically telling him not to take candy from strangers, but he doesn’t see why not because everyone seems so nice!

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-9p8pNnFE0

The Alice Cooper Group recorded ‘Teenage Lament ‘74’ on their Muscle of Love album in late 1973, a few years after his tormented ‘I’m Eighteen‘ in which he lamented, then celebrated, “I’m a boy and I’m a man – I’m eighteen and I like it!”  ‘Teenage Lament…’ features Ronnie Spector and Liza Minelli on backing vocals. Also on this album is the honky-tonk ‘Crazy Little Child’ about a young criminal.

Listen – ‘Teenage Lament ‘74’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6pDE96OK5o

Listen: ‘Crazy Little Child’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSQDD6Ka2lk

The wonderful teen anthem ‘Department of Youth’ is on the Alice Cooper’s first solo album, Welcome To My Nightmare  released in 1975. It was wonderful when Alice unearthed this song  during his encore in 2002! His daughter Calico dressed as Britney Spears, handed him a Pepsi, which he promptly spat out in her face. Alice chased ‘Britney’ with a huge spear (get the pun?) eventually beheading her to everyone’s delight, and triumphantly displaying her severed head with fiendish glee.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DtSfryfeWI

‘Hot Child in the City’ was a No. 1 hit for Nick Gilder in 1978. Nick is formerly a member of Glam rock band Sweeny Todd with Bryan Adams) who also had a No. 1 hit with ‘Roxy Roller’ in 1975.  Nick was also a songwriter for Joe Cocker, Bette Midler, Pat Benatar and Tony Basil. (Billy Idol had a hit with a song with a similar title, ‘Hot in the City’).

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERqwe_D7anI

Watch – on The Merv Griffin Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKFHVOgN_D8

Billy Idol’s band Generation X has several songs about youth on their 1978 debut album. ‘Your Generation’ the answer to ‘My Generation’ by The Who. And there is ‘Youth, Youth, Youth’ with an incredible guitar freak out ending. There was a great 2019 remaster of this released on a double CD by Chrysalis. The remasters are linked here…

Listen – ‘Wild Youth’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_JsEBBswk

Listen: – ‘Your Generation’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ijyud66Tao

Listen – ‘Youth Youth Youth’ : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd8QIpS55Lg

Also check out ‘Friday’s Angels’ on the 2nd Generation X album Valley of the Dolls (1979) produced by Ian Hunter. It’s about dressing up like your idols and aspiring to be a rock star.

Mum and dad think you’re a maniac
To walk the streets dressed up like that
When you go out you won’t be back
You’ll risk the vampires on a Friday night

And you don’t care, you know you’re right

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBfllfOHaY

‘Boys Keep Swinging’ is a great song by David Bowie from his album Lodger. He asked the players Carlos Alomar and Dennis Davis to swap their instruments, drums and guitar.

Watch – official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KcOs70dZAw

Watch – Kenny Everett Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KbdnZ_Tx04

See my story about the Lodger remix released in 2017…

Here is my story about the 2017 remix.

https://madelinex.com/2017/10/13/bowie-lodger-2/

‘Saturday’s Kids’ is on the 1979 album Setting Sons by The Jam. The most poignant lines in this punchy song are;

These are the real creatures that time has forgot
Not given a thought, it’s the system
Hate the system, what’s the system?

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS_bno73kv4

‘Kid’ is a great track by The Pretenders. It’s one of Chrissie Hynde’s best vocal performances. The single was released in 1979 ahead of their debut album on which the song was included in 1980. This is a dialogue between a prostitute and her child in a pop song.

Kid, my only kid
You look so small, you’ve gone so quiet
I know you know what I’m about
I won’t deny it
But you forgive though you don’t understand
You’ve turned your head
You’ve dropped my hand

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8HSd0GFH2k

I love ‘Boys in the Gang’ by the London band 999 from their album The Biggest Prize in Sport. There are several great tracks on this great album – released in 1980.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t0lB5bugTs

There are some wonderful throbbing synths on British singer Kim Wilde’s 1981 debut single ‘Kids in America’.  It was re-released in 1994 and again in 2006.

New York to east California
There’s a new wave coming, I warn ya

We’re the kids in America
Everybody live for the music-go-round

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqMcevcUmqg

The Boys from London had some great power pop/punk songs. My favorites are their first single (1977) ‘The First Time’ and ‘Cop Cars’

Listen – ‘The First Time’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WumQS4TKKcs

Listen – ‘Cop Cars’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHMX3eHockg

The Voltz: ‘Children of the Stars’

I received this song recently, in response to my Space Pop playlist. A blurb from the band: The Voltz are from the North of England and regularly kneel at The Holy Church of Glam. We do love what I call the “10 Golden Years of music” (72-81) and like a bit of Bubblegum too! We are just mixing our EP that has more of a raw edge than this track, more New Wave energy you might say. We are hoping to promote it soon once it’s safe again! (May 2020)

Watch:  https://youtu.be/AaZ1ahmFGbo

I love The Ramones’ wonderful cover version of the Tom Waits song ‘I Don’t Wanna Grow Up’ on their 14^th and final album, ¡Adios Amigos! In 1995 which was promoted with this beautiful advertisement!

Watch the fabulous video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tpu_XoNABA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaZ1ahmFGbo&feature=youtu.be

When I’m lyin’ in my bed at night / I don’t want to grow up

Nothing ever seems to turn out right / I don’t want to grow up

How do you move in a world of fog / that’s always changing things

Makes me wish that I could be a dog

 

When I see the price that you pay / I don’t want to grow up

I don’t ever want to be that way / I don’t want to grow up

 

Seems that folks turn into things that they never want

The only thing to live for is today…

 

I’m gonna put a hole in my T.V. set / I don’t want to grow up

Open up the medicine chest / I don’t want to grow up

 

I don’t want to have to shout it out / I don’t want my hair to fall out

I don’t want to be filled with doubt / I don’t want to be a good boy scout

I don’t want to have to learn to count /I don’t want the biggest amount
I don’t want to grow up

 

Well when I see my parents fight / I don’t want to grow up
They all go out and drinkin’ all night / I don’t want to grow up

I’d rather stay here in my room
Nothin’ out there but sad and gloom
I don’t want to live in a big old tomb on Grand street

When I see the 5 o’clock news / I don’t want to grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes / I don’t want to grow up

Stay around in my old hometown / I don’t want to put no money down
I don’t want to get me a big old loan / Work them fingers to the bone
I don’t want to float on a broom / Fall in love, get married then boom
How the hell did it get here so soon / I don’t want to grow up

The hypnotic dub ‘Sfarot’ is a really cool groove with some kids singing. It’s by Israeli DJ Alek Lee, from 2017. I love the bass tones and percussion on this!

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUFqgnse1nE

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Related:

Eat to the Beat

https://madelinex.com/2019/06/25/eat-to-the-beat/

Orange Sunshine

https://madelinex.com/2019/05/29/orange-hangover/