Here's our second post for Rupert Holmes month on Silly Sundays. In 1979, this was a massive #1 hit for Holmes, the song that really launched his career as a popular musician. The album, Partners in Crime, contains a lot of songs themed around unhealthy relationships and cheating, most with a tongue-in-cheek attitude belying the serious nature of the unhappiness chronicled therein.Which is actually a clue to how Holmes works: he takes a truly unhappy situation and discusses it in a funny way, full of tiny, perfect details and human reactions, and makes you forget just how damned serious the subject can be. (For more, click here and scroll down about 3/5 of the way, for my review of his excellent first novel. In two weeks, we'll be hearing a song from the soundtrack of his excellent second novel.)
Which is why this was a pop hit: people listen to this song, hear the happy ending, and don't think about the fact that this relationship is clearly doomed. If both members of a relationship are trying to cheat, it doesn't matter if they end up cheating with each other -- that's not a very happy ending.
...
Well, that's a little serious for Silly Sundays. Maybe I should've posted something lighter instead. Anyway, come back next week for Holmes' first take on old-time radio, long before he got to create and write Remember WENN...
No comments:
Post a Comment