6000 Songs: The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

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Rob
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6000 Songs: The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

Post by Rob »

This topic is part of the weekly 6000 songs, 6000 opinions. In this, every week another song from the Acclaimed Music song top 6000 is selected for discussion. The song is chosen completely at random, through random.org, making the selections hopefully very varied. The only other rule in this is that after an artist has had a turn, he can’t appear for another ten weeks. The idea for this topic came to me because I wanted to think of a way to engage more actively with the very large top 6000 songs that Henrik has compiled for us, while still keeping it accessible and free of any game elements. Yes, that’s right, no game elements. You are free to rate the song each week, but I’ll do nothing with this rating. I want it to be about people’s personal reviews and hopefully discussions. So in reverse to other topics on this site I say: “Please comment on this song, rating is optional”.
Earlier entries of this series can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3065&p=45337&hilit=archive#p45337

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“I’m in love with Massachusetts/ I’m in love with the radio on”

Image

38. The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

The facts:
Year: 1975 (Roadrunner (Once))/ 1976 (Roadrunner (Twice))
Genre: Rock.
Country: United States of America.
From the album: Beserkley Chartbusters Vol.1 (Roadrunner (Once))/ The Modern Lovers (Roadrunner (Twice)).
Acclaimed Music ranking: #185.
Song ranking on Acclaimed Music in the artist’s discography: 1st.
Ranks higher than Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles, but lower than Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash.
Place in the Acclaimed Music Song Poll 2015: #522.

The people:
Produced by Matthew King Kaufman (Roadrunner (Once))/ John Cale (Roadrunner (Twice)).
Written by Jonathan Richman.
Lead vocals by Jonathan Richman.
Background vocals by Jerry Harrison, Ernie Brooks & David Robinson
Guitar by Jonathan Richman.
Drums by David Robinson.
Bass by Ernie Brooks.
Organ by Jerry Harrison.

The opinion:
In his book Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century, music critic Greil Marcus famously called Roadrunner by The Modern Lovers “the most obvious song in the world, and the strangest”. It’s a great paradoxical statement, but I’m afraid I only agree with the first observation. This song is obvious and not particularly strange. I think this is a case in which its obviousness is part of the appeal.

In fact, when I first learned to know this song, only a year of two ago (it’s not very well-known in my home country and I only discovered it through this site) I didn’t know what the big deal was. There is nothing about it that seemed particularly weird and most of it seemed rather familiar. A song about driving, while listening to the radio: this has become a classic image of Americana since at least the fifties. The simple chords that the band played where not that inventive either, even if the garage sound was not particularly popular when the band first started playing this song (all the way in 1970, five years before release).

Yet, the song has grown on me a lot and now I see its appeal more clearly. Sure it is familiar, but it still feels like its own thing. The way Richman sings, in his half-spoken way that sounds both affectless and joyous, has a special charm. The propulsive sound of the guitar that evokes the feeling of driving, while the organ adds that particular night-time atmosphere. The lyrics highlight a few landmarks, both big and small, of the roads in Massachusetts. It might be obvious, but nobody did it before and it works.

I admit, it is a lie to say nobody did it before. If the guitar riff seems familiar, that is because it is straight from Sister Ray by The Velvet Underground. Jonathan Richman admits this. He was a big fan of that band and he claims he saw them live sixty times when he was a teenager. He even admitted that Sister Ray was his favourite Velvet song. Richman later moved to New York for a short while and actually slept on the couch of the Velvet’s manager. At the beginning of his own musical career Richman played as an opening act for The Velvet Underground. Their music was in his system and that is both clear in Richman’s Lou Reed-like vocals and his musical approach. Roadrunner uses different chords than Sister Ray, but the rhythm is the same. Though Roadrunner is shorter and less experimental of course.

The idea to make a song about riding is not original of course, but even the roadrunner (whether the bird of the Plymouth Roadrunner car) specifically had formed the base for many songs before. One of Bo Diddley’s most acclaimed songs is called Road Runner and Jr. Walker & The All Stars also had a hit with the equally acclaimed (I’m a) Road Runner. Both songs are covered a lot. Paul Revere & The Raiders made a very good instrumental with the same name. All these songs precede the track by The Modern Lovers.

These are all very good, but somehow the effort by Richman has become more famous and acclaimed than any of them. Maybe this is because all these songs sound very much of their time, while Roadrunner is strangely timeless. In the seventies songs poll on this site I already wrote about it: “[Roadrunner is] a seventies song that that sounds older and younger than its own time. It will never be modern or ever age.” I still feel that way. It’s not hard to imagine a sixties garage rock band writing this song and at the same time it could come from a modern rock band, The Black Keys say.

One thing is for sure, the song didn’t leave Jonathan Richman alone for a long time. As said he already performed it live in 1970, though every time he played it he would change the length and the lyrics. There are live versions that run up to eight minutes. It was also recorded several times in the studio. The first, in 1972, was done with ex-Velvet Underground member John Cale as a producer. Those sessions form the backbone for most of the self-titled debut album by The Modern Lovers that went unreleased up until 1976. Soon after the sessions with Cale, the band recorded it again with Kim Fowley, in two versions the band didn’t like and wanted unreleased (Fowley released them anyway in 1981). Then again, the band played it for Beserkley Records in 1974, with Matthew King Kaufman as producer. The band was falling apart by then and when finally a recording of the song was released in 1975 as a single and on a compilation album by the studio.

So there are two classic version. The one released in 1975 (usually nicknamed “Once”, after a line in the song) was a hit in the UK and is the most familiar there. It is the slowest of the versions. The Cale-produced, faster version appeared on the album and is nicknamed “Twice”. It is my preferred version as it has more of a drive to it. There are also fans that prefer “Thrice”, a long live track that was released as b-side to The Morning of Our Lives and yes, it is very good. Slower than either studio version, but with its own atmosphere.

It is kind of funny to note that all these versions, as well as every single recording by The Modern Lovers, was released after the band had already split up in 1974. The band had a great reputation as a live band, but attracted audiences without a single recording to their name. In 1977 Richmond started a new band named Jonathan Richmond & The Modern Lovers. Beware: this is actually seen as a really different band, despite the name and Richmond’s presence. It has a different sound altogether. It should be said that from the eighties onward Richman refused to play Roadrunner in concerts.

Whatever your preferred version, Roadrunner is here to stay. In Massachusetts there were even plans to make it the state anthem, though nothing came of it and Richmond himself was against it. The song had a lot of influence, especially for something that was rather derivative to begin with. The Sex Pistols were fans. Johnny Rotten claimed to hate all music, but that Roadrunner was his favourite song. It was the first song they recorded as a demo. That probably helped Roadrunner to be seen as a precursor to punk. It goes to show what a little song can lead to.
8/10
Further reading: Laura Barton’s article on the song is great. She also describes a road trip she did based on the song. You can find it here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/ ... opandrock5

Other versions:
Surprisingly, there seem to be rather few covers. I thought this would be one of those classic tracks that would have more covers than you could possibly want. Nonetheless, every single one I could find is worth a listen. Besides The Sex Pistols there is a fine one by Joan Jett, who changed the lyrics to a give it a specific female perspective. The Jazz Butcher up the tempo and give the song even more drive. Maxi Trusso and Fernando Kabusacki made a gloriously messy version. Wire recorded a demo of it in 1976, which is good but suffers from poor recording quality. The Greg Kihn Band, who recorded with The Modern Lovers once, made a short, punchy version.

If the song sounds familiar, but you never heard it and you also don’t know Sister Ray, there might me another explanation. Cornershop admitted that they based their biggest hit Brimful of Asha on Roadrunner. It sounds rather different, but with a close listen you can still recognize it.

The playlist:
Jeff
Different Class
Posts: 400
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2012 12:46 am
Location: Washington, D.C.

Re: 6000 Songs: The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

Post by Jeff »

Rob wrote:Further reading: Laura Barton’s article on the song is great. She also describes a road trip she did based on the song. You can find it here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/ ... opandrock5
This whole post was great (as usual), but thank you in particular for linking this article. It's fantastic. "Road Runner" is a song that I will generally listen to when I hear it on the radio, but never personally put on. So I guess a 7/10 for me. I wasn't aware of all the different versions though. I guess I need to figure out which one I'm familiar with.
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