6000 Songs: Graham Parker & the Rumours - Local Girls

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Rob
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6000 Songs: Graham Parker & the Rumours - Local Girls

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: http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/forums/vi ... ive#p45337

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“Don’t bother with them/ They don’t bother me”

Image

88. Graham Parker & the Rumour – Local Girls

The facts:
Year: 1979.
Genre: Rock.
Country: United Kingdom.
Album: Squeezing Out Sparks.
Acclaimed Music ranking: #5627.
Song ranking on Acclaimed Music in the artist’s discography: 1st, the only one.
Ranks higher than My Little Red Book by Love, but lower than Can’t Stand It by Wilco.
Place in the Acclaimed Music Song Poll 2015: Unranked.

The people:
Written by Graham Parker.
Produced by Jack Nitzsche.
Lead vocals by Graham Parker.
Backing vocals by Brinsley Schwarz, Martin Belmont, Bob Andrews & Steve Goulding.
Lead guitar by Brinsley Schwarz.
Rhythm guitar by Graham Parker & Martin Belmont.
Bass by Andrew Bodnar.
Drums by Steve Goulding.
Keyboards by Bob Andrews.

The opinion:
In the past, during a poll featuring his I’m the Man, I called early-career Joe Jackson a poor man’s Elvis Costello. Now I found out something that fans of Graham Parker already knew for a long time: Elvis Costello isn’t wholly original himself. I wouldn’t call him a poor man’s Graham Parker, if only because Elvis Costello is perhaps better than Parker. Still, Parker was first and it is easy what an influence he had on a small group of British singers that followed in his wake.

Graham Parker’s voice seems to have a specific snide to it. It’s like it is impossible for him to phrase something without at least a hint of disdain. Unsurprisingly, his lyrics have no shortage of sarcasm or negative social commentary. This is a feel that I also get from Costello and Jackson. I know some people put Paul Weller in the same group. I can hear the resemblance, but Weller always seemed more carefree. I can recognize him anywhere, whereas I’m actually doubting if I could separate a Parker, Costello and Jackson song from the seventies without any primary knowledge Jackson eventually turned toward a more jazzy sound and Lord knows it helped him. Costello benefitted from being sharper, a better lyricist and like Jackson not being afraid to change his sound every now and then.

Graham Parker stayed closer to his roots. When he released his fourth album, Squeezed out Sparks, in 1979 it was seen as major change in direction. Before he made big-sounding pub rock with a lot of horns. Now he was leaner, more straightforward. It sure made a difference, but it isn’t comparable with the contrast between for example Joe Jackson’s I’m the Man and Night and Day.

It’s probably wry that Parker released Squeezed Out Sparks when his disciples where at the peak of their commercial success, while remaining somewhat obscure himself. The album was a modest seller and some singles did all right, but he never became a huge seller. He did build a faithful cult following however and critics adored him, which has enabled him to have a long career.

There is no specific song by Parker that became a standard or an audience favourite and he doesn’t have a clear signature song. I’m not sure if Local Girls can really be called his most famous song, but somehow it ended up being the only one on the Acclaimed Music Top 6000, with Protection (also from Squeezing Out Sparks) and Don’t Ask Me Questions from his debut both bubbling under. Why this song? Honestly, there has been written very little on it as far as I can tell. But since fans don’t seem to have anything close to an agreement as to what Parker’s best song is, Local Girls lucked out.

Having said all that, it is a very memorable song. Not so much because it is innovative, as it sounds really like something you might expect in 1979, the year between punk and new wave (Local Girls could be filed under both, or even pub rock). No, what makes this song stand out is that it is incredibly catchy. Parker wasn’t the most hook-obsessed rocker out there, but here he shows he can play that game like the best of them. I’m actually surprised it wasn’t a big hit, because it has a sing-a-long quality that could make a party.

Despite the jolly sound of the music this is still Graham Parker so the vocals don’t sound very friendly and the lyrics, well, I’m not sure the local girls deserved such vitriol. What Parker basically does is pinpoint a certain type of woman and claim that they are beneath them. The subject of his scorn is too specific to accuse Parker for being a misogynist, but nonetheless he doesn’t make any friends here. How much you like these lyrics is probably up to how much you can tolerate such a superior position as Parker puts himself in. I think it is a mixed bag lyrically. Some lines a genuinely funny (“So isolated that she thinks the army is the place where a man ought to be”), others are just plain bullying (“Don’t want her love, I’d rather knock her down”).

Perhaps there is more to it. Rob Jones from The Delete Bin wrote an article on Local Girls (see link below) where he linked the song to Parker’s back story. Parker came from the countryside and Jones argues that the shallow nature of small town folks (including the girls) are the reason he left. This song tells this story, according to Jones. I’m not quite convinced and not only because Parker himself has said that he was talking about girls in London where he lived while recorded this song. There is no sign of Parker leaving anywhere in this song.

No, what I’m fascinated by here is that Parker bothered to make a song about girls that mean nothing to him. Who ever makes a song about people that – and I’m paraphrasing here – he doesn’t bother with and that don’t bother him? This way it doesn’t sound at all as if these girls leave him cold. We get back to those vocals here. I’ve noticed the disdain and there is a feeling that this comes from being scorned. This is something I’ve also noticed in Costello and Jackson: their anger towards people seems to come from being hurt by them. Probably it is no surprise that women are the target of so much of their bile as love makes you particularly vulnerable.

Costello is usually good in grasping these mixed feelings, which has probably made him the superior artist of the three. With Parker and Local Girls I’m guessing. Perhaps I’m unfairly psychoanalyzing him here (as Rob Jones did before me). Whatever the case, Parker seems too mad about people he claims to ignore. Make of it what you will; I’ll just add that you can only get angry about things you care about. Not that Parker would really like to get into a serious relationship with any of his local girls; it’s just that he couldn’t shake the thought of them. I wonder how many times he played this song live: every time he evoked those unbothersome, bothersome women again and again.

Local girls: Graham Parker can’t live with them, but he ironically made sure he could never live without them again either.
7/10

Other versions:
This song hasn’t been covered much. I only have three versions for you here. One is a faithful okay-ish take by Matt Madly. Then there are Dinizio, Lucas and Black who did the song for a Graham Parker covers album. Their version is awful. Finally, there is amusingly a cover by a woman. Why Elizabeth McQueen was drawn towards this song might be interesting to find out. Not that her cover is all that remarkable on itself, but it gets the job done.

The playlist:


Further reading:
Rob Jones’ article about Local Girls: https://thedeletebin.com/2015/06/25/gra ... cal-girls/
stone37
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Re: 6000 Songs: Graham Parker & the Rumours - Local Girls

Post by stone37 »

It's a good song, but I would not rank it in the top 3 of that album, which is a very strong effort. I prefer "Don't Get Excited," "You Can't Be Too Strong," and "Discovering Japan." Weirdly, Sparks is one of my all-time favorite albums, but I have not never listened to any of Parker's other LPs (even though I have Howlin' Wind). I might have to add that record to my need-to-listen-to queue.
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Rob
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Re: 6000 Songs: Graham Parker & the Rumours - Local Girls

Post by Rob »

stone37 wrote:It's a good song, but I would not rank it in the top 3 of that album, which is a very strong effort. I prefer "Don't Get Excited," "You Can't Be Too Strong," and "Discovering Japan." Weirdly, Sparks is one of my all-time favorite albums, but I have not never listened to any of Parker's other LPs (even though I have Howlin' Wind). I might have to add that record to my need-to-listen-to queue.
I don't have any deep knowledge of the back catalog of Graham Parker, but I definitely recommend Howlin' Wind. The title track of that could be a lost classic.

Interesting that you rank You Can't Be Too Strong as a standout on Squeezing Out Sparks, though. It's usually seen as a miss and I might even dislike it more than most. I think going the anti-abortion route is one thing, but making it this particularly nasty is another. You notice he never tried to figure out why anyone would have an abortion. I'm not trying to turn this into a pro-choice/ pro-life debate, by the way. It's more about the tone.
stone37
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Re: 6000 Songs: Graham Parker & the Rumours - Local Girls

Post by stone37 »

Rob wrote:
stone37 wrote:It's a good song, but I would not rank it in the top 3 of that album, which is a very strong effort. I prefer "Don't Get Excited," "You Can't Be Too Strong," and "Discovering Japan." Weirdly, Sparks is one of my all-time favorite albums, but I have not never listened to any of Parker's other LPs (even though I have Howlin' Wind). I might have to add that record to my need-to-listen-to queue.
I don't have any deep knowledge of the back catalog of Graham Parker, but I definitely recommend Howlin' Wind. The title track of that could be a lost classic.

Interesting that you rank You Can't Be Too Strong as a standout on Squeezing Out Sparks, though. It's usually seen as a miss and I might even dislike it more than most. I think going the anti-abortion route is one thing, but making it this particularly nasty is another. You notice he never tried to figure out why anyone would have an abortion. I'm not trying to turn this into a pro-choice/ pro-life debate, by the way. It's more about the tone.
I was under the impression that "Strong" was considered a standout. For me, it was certainly the song that first captured my attention on that LP (maybe because it just sounds so different from the other tracks). The lyrics are arresting. "Did they tear it out with talons of steel/And give you a shot so that you wouldn't feel/And wash it away, as if it wasn't real." What an opening! I don't share what I imagine are the politics behind this song and find it problematic that it talks about abortion almost entirely from the male experience (the guy who impregnated her, the doctor who performs the abortion). But again, those characters are drawn quite effectively (the guy comes off like a total cad; you get a sense of the doctor's discomfort & alienation).

The song may be harsh, sarcastic, or even cruel, but that is keeping with Parker's mean-spirited MO, which is evident on "Local Girls" (as you ably note). Certainly, "Discovering Japan," has its insensitive moments as well.
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Re: 6000 Songs: Graham Parker & the Rumours - Local Girls

Post by Rob »

I think the difference between You Can't Be Too Strong and the other songs is that it feels like he doesn't know what he sings about. The mindset of a woman who turns to abortion seems foreign to him. The song assumes that it is a completely unemotional experience for her. It doesn't help that there is no humor to this song, which is unusual to this album. It's just nastiness, all naked. I guess this a topic that Parker is particularly passionate about, hence the change of tone. But it leaves him looking shallow (which almost by nature, is always a risk for someone who takes a superior position in his or her writing).
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