Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Shirley You Can't
Be Serious podcast. If you did not hear are Huey
Lewis Part one, push pause right here and go back
to listen to that previous episode. This one, we're going
to go track my track through Sports. What I think
is their best album.
Speaker 2: I cannot begin to describe to you how excited I
am about this. I said it last episode. This is
like you've gone to your class reunion and you see
the girl you used to date and she's still hot,
and you're like, wow, how did I mess that thing up?
But that's the power of bluff. Nice.
Speaker 3: Thanks, that's good Sid.
Speaker 1: But Huey Lewis and The News released Sports on September
fifteenth of nineteen eighty three. We talked last week how
it was one of five albums that reached the number
one spot in nineteen eighty four. Super Steep competition that.
Speaker 2: Year, Yeah, super Steep competition. And these guys held their
own as a band. I mean, all of these guys
had played the club circuit, had been going for years
and years and never made it until this album. And
then when they make it and they are successful, they
get criticized for their success. They're like, oh it's popular,
you know, it's uninspiring. And so this is the phrase
that I love that he said. Huels said, Nowhere is
it written that rock and roll has to be political
or change the world. One thing rock and roll has
to be is true and if it rings true, it's right,
and that is this freaking album. Yes, front to back
love it. Okay, before we dive in track by track, Okay,
I have to address the elephant in the room American psycho.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 2: Okay, before we get going, I just want to point
something out. We have been talking to each other now
for a couple of years, face to face, and one
of the reasons that I can do that is because
you don't have nose hair. Have you been talking to
people and like you can't even concentrate on what they're
saying because of their nose hair.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, they like tuck to you.
Speaker 2: They it dangles, yes, it wiggles.
Speaker 4: It's it's a total distraction.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And so let me let me say, if you
are one of those guys, we have a product that
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Speaker 1: It is an amazing product. It trims your nose hair.
It's not embarrassing. You just stick it up there. It
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Speaker 4: You're not gonna look at people and.
Speaker 2: Bother them, right, And I'm one of those guys who's
self conscious about my nose hair. So somebody that you're
gonna see me and I'm gonna be like yanking them
out and wincing in pain, don't do that. There is
a special thing that they make and they've also just
released in addition to the weed whacker, they have just
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That's wonderful.
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I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Yeah. They have also an entire shavekit called the Ultra
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get twenty percent off your order and free shipping.
Speaker 5: Whack it perfect time.
Speaker 2: So you sent me a video which is fantastic, and
I really kind of want to play a clip from
it right now, But before I do, I'm going to say,
if you have not seen American Psycho, there is a
very well known part that whenever we talk about hue
Lewis on our Facebook page, somebody invariably quote, we're going
to hear a scene, right, So here's the scene from
American Psycho. You like Huey Lewis on the news. Their
early work was a little too a wave for my taste.
When Sports came out in eighty three, I think that
really came into their own commercially and artistically. The whole
album has a clear, crisp sound and a new sine
of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big booze.
He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey
has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. And
then this is so beautiful. Here's the scene that Huey
Lewis did with our hero of all heroes, mister weirdol Yankovic.
That is a parody of that scene, Do.
Speaker 1: You Like American Psycho.
Speaker 6: Although originally polarizing to audiences and critics alike, it developed
a much deserved cult following when released on digital video
disc or DVD. There it found a second life and
really came into its own commercially and artistically. The movie
works both as a grim examination of male vanity while
also maintaining real genre thrills, justifying these total shifts by
placing the audience inside the head of the duplicious leagu
Christian Bale's dynamite performance, it gives it a big boost.
Speaker 2: But the role almost went to Leo.
Speaker 6: But nobody could have brought that certain athos and charisma
to it quite like Bail, a role he later recalled
a shade of in Christopher Nolan's Batman Pictures.
Speaker 1: Brilliant, I love it, brilliant, I love it.
Speaker 2: So you kind of get the impression from the way
the movie goes is that they're kind of mocking Huey
Lewis in the news. He gave him permission to use
the song, right.
Speaker 4: And he listens to what he says and he's like, he's.
Speaker 5: Right, He's absolutely right.
Speaker 2: We were kind of in our new wave phase. Now. Interestingly,
the song doesn't appear on the American Psycho soundtrack. They
asked him to do it, and he was like, okay, sure,
what other songs are going to be in there? And
of course they put the Phil Collins song, which he
basically goes through the same bit with the Phil Collins song, right,
and he's like and and he goes, well, just in
the soundtrack, he's like, so two rock songs and then
orchestral music, right, and like yeah, and he goes, I
don't really feel like that's thing. Can you just kind
of politely say no, thank I don't really think that
our fans are going to go about and buy an
album for one song. Doesn't really that song was hit
to be square right, right? Yes? And so when the
album comes out, of course all the news media says
Huey Lewis pulls track off the album because movie is
too violent? Right right, I've digressed. Let's get back to
the album. Before we start talking songs, Let's talk about
cover art. We talked about how awesome Bruce Springsteen's cover,
how iconic that is. Huey Lewis's cover. The album Sports
has got a pretty iconic cover too.
Speaker 1: I mean when I see it, I recognize the right away.
Speaker 2: Sports. Yeah, he said on the day that they shot this,
the guy who shot the pictures, his name is Bennett Hall,
and he's done several other albums.
Speaker 4: But he said, I was really hung over.
Speaker 1: That very well known Hue was dying that day.
Speaker 2: From a hangover. Yeah. Could you imagine that your most
well known picture of all pictures that have ever been
taken of you is when you were really.
Speaker 1: He looks pretty cheaper in the picture, though, is Yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Didn't know until he said something.
Speaker 2: So the place that they're at is a club in
Mill Valley, California that they used to play at called
the two Am Club, okay, which the locals affectionately refer
to as the Duce, the Deuce, the Deuce.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, So I've got a small story with the cover. Okay.
Speaker 1: Up in the upper corner of the TV, there's a
football player making a catch. Yeah, okay, that's Dwight Clark
of the San Francisco forty nine Ers, who, as you know,
I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan, and so I'm very aware
of Dwight Clark's catch against the Dallas Cowboys knocking them
out of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: And you mean the one where Joe Montana was just
throwing the ball away.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was that.
Speaker 2: Is that your stance given the fact that you're a Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Fan, Well, you know, I don't want to get into
that right now. But Dwight Clark, you know, Joe Montana
to Dwight Clark back at the end zone, he makes
this big catch and it starts the run of the
forty nine ers dominating the eighties. Okay, so the forty
nine ers and here you lose, and news are are.
They're fans of each other, and so they befriend Dwight
Clark and Joe Montana and these guys actually in hip
to be square. The guys are going here, there, and everywhere.
That's Dwight Clark and Joe Montana.
Speaker 2: Get the heck out of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was gonna say that for a four episode,
which I hope to do later on, but we'll cover
that then, toot. Dwight Clark in the later eighties would
give permission for Huey Lewis to be on the sidelines
for the forty nine er game, and Huey Lewis is
down on the sidelines.
Speaker 7: Okay, but Dione.
Speaker 1: Sanders and Jerry Glanville had all mc hammer on the
sidelines and like they'd gotten in trouble and it looked
weird and mc hammer's out on the on the field
high fiving people, and so the NFL said, all right,
no more of that is.
Speaker 4: Why we can't have nice things.
Speaker 1: You guys, Hammer screwed up for everybody, right, and so
and so Dwight Clark's well, here's the deal. I'll give
you a photographer's pass on the sidelines, so you're like
our photographer team photographer. So Huey Lewis is like okay,
and he's like, just just be cool, don't do anything weird.
So he's like, all right, fine, I'll be cool. I'll
just stay on the sidelines. And so Hugh's down there
with Billy Gibson, who's the drummer for the news. The
forty nine ers were blowing out the Giants and the
cameras were starting to wander, and Hugh's like, get out
of here before we get anybody in trouble, right, And
as he turns to walk out, they pull Steve Young,
who's the quarterback for the forty nine ers, off the field.
He's like, okay, you're done for the day. And Steve
Young as he's coming off field, cameras are all on him.
He's like hey, Hueye. He's like hey, He's like, what.
Speaker 4: Am I going to do?
Speaker 1: The quarterback is yelling at me right, and he's like, hey, Steve,
how's it going? And he's like, oh, give him a
big hug, like hey.
Speaker 7: Huey Lewis and Steve Young.
Speaker 1: So then the commentators they're like, hey, John Madden wants
to say hi to Huey Lewis, and so he was
like okay. So they hand him a microphone and she's
talking to John Madden and everybody gets in trouble. So
they find the forty nine ers for this. But Carbon Policy,
who is the president of the forty nine ers, writes
this very scathing letter to the NFL because Huey Lewis
is their spiritual advisor, and how dare they would they
write the same letter if Billy Graham was on the sidelines.
So Huey Lewis got the forty nine ers find anyway Dwight.
Speaker 2: Bark spiritual leader of the compared into Billy Graham. That's hilarious.
Speaker 1: All right, we ready to dive track and I track
into this.
Speaker 2: Yes, let's do it. I can't wait any longer. My
Heart is beauty.
Speaker 8: Boom boom boom boom boom boom.
Speaker 1: The Heart of Rock and Roll, released April tenth, nineteen
eighty four, was the third single on the album. It
reached number six on the chart. Okay, this is really interesting.
Take note of that number six. Okay, all right, now,
out of my curiosity, I'm like, are you kidding? An
iconic song like part of rock and roll doesn't reach
top five. So here's what was the top five the
week that this peaked at number six?
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Number one Time after Time by Ciddy Lapper. Yes, pretty
iconic eighty song.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Number two let's hear it for the boy Denise Williams,
huge song off the Footloose soundtrack.
Speaker 2: Right, which had been number one just before. Number three,
Oh Sherry by Steve Perry, the journey sounding song that
he did solo that we talked about back in our
Frontiers episode. Go check that out if you haven't yet.
Speaker 1: Number four The Reflex by Duran durant.
Speaker 2: Ooh gos huge all right, yeah?
Speaker 1: And number five Sister Christian by Night ranger.
Speaker 2: Oh, great song, I mean eight I'm sorry. Boogie Knights
is what I think about.
Speaker 4: Every go back and watch Boogie Knights enjoy.
Speaker 2: Heather Graham, we haven't done anything on that one, but
we will.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, let's do it.
Speaker 2: Okay. So this song was written by Huey Lewis and
Johnny Cole and Johnny is a spectacular guitarist and also saxophonist.
He's the sex guy. How many guys are doing saxophone
songs in the eighties, just a couple?
Speaker 4: How many are Huey Lewis and Bruce Springsteen?
Speaker 1: Right, that's it.
Speaker 2: This has got a really similar style to Dancing in
the streets. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well because they have that city roll call at
the end of the song.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The creation of this song, So hue Lewis gets this story. Yes,
we talked about this a little bit. Yeah, Huey Lewis
gets this story that the heart of rock and roll
is in Cleveland. So he's like, I don't know about that, guys.
And so they go and they play this show in
Cleveland and the fans just blow his doors off, and
on the tour bus going home afterwards, he's like, you know, what, guys,
I think the heart of rock and roll is in
Cleveland And they're like yeah, and he's like, I think
that's a great title for a song. And they're like,
but now every time I listen to that song, uh huh.
Speaker 4: You can hear the hard.
Speaker 1: Rock and roll is in Cleveland.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So they had had a great show in Cleveland, right,
you should spawn this song. Yes, La is mentioned in
this But if you ask Huey Lewis, what's the worst
reception you've ever had?
Speaker 4: Where's the worst place to play? He says La. He
said that they played a show. He said he can.
Speaker 2: Usually tell what the review is going to be of
the show when they play, because if he feels like
it's a bad show, the reviews are going to be bad,
and right, it always turns out right. So they do
their first show in la he thinks they do a
great job. The next morning, the manager is like, all right,
everybody got a good.
Speaker 4: Review in the La Times. You know, come on down
for breakfast.
Speaker 2: Not so fast to you. Apparently he got railed this
first show. He was like totally surprised, and he says,
so I'm just kind of like, wow, I really thought
we did a good show. But then a few months
later he's doing some recording. George Lucas has got a
recording studio at the Skywalker Ranch, right, so he's.
Speaker 4: With George Lucas.
Speaker 2: He's George Lucas is dating Linda Ronstad at the time,
who is there recording.
Speaker 4: And he's like, oh, nice to meet you.
Speaker 2: You know that they're doing their introductions.
Speaker 4: She's like, it's so good to meet you.
Speaker 2: You know. We've got Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys
come in a little bit to sing on this song
with me. Would you like to meet him? He's like, oh,
I love that because they were a huge yeah he
Lewis was a huge Beach Boys fan, right yeah.
Speaker 4: And so Brian Wilson comes and he's a little awkward,
he's got some issues, yeah, right, but he starts talking
to you, Lewis. He's like, oh, yes, I know you,
I know you work.
Speaker 2: Oh I love it. He goes, I actually saw you
in concert. He's like oh really. When he's like in
the la he's like, which show did you see? And
Brian was just like, I saw your very first show
at the very first one, and he goes, okay, so
tell me truth. What did you think of it? He
goes top five, maybe top three live performances I've ever
seen in my whole life.
Speaker 4: Wow, and Lysis is like screw the La Times.
Speaker 2: Brian Wilson just told me that was one of the
best shows you've ever seen. I don't care about the
bad review.
Speaker 1: That is great. Brian Wilson, beachways, that's awesome. Before you
move on, I got one quick story. Nineteen ninety we
had just played a baseball game after we had a
big win. We're traveling back home on the bus. My
coach was in an especially good mood because we won,
so he let us turn on the radio station. This
is in nineteen ninety, so think I mean, this is
Appetite for Destruction. This is Doctor Phil Good, this is Winger,
this is Para Metal, bon Jovi, New Jersey, this is
all this stuff. So what comes on the radio but
Heart of Rock and Roll, So when you're in high school,
when you're seventeen seven years ago, is Eternity. But harder
rock and Roll comes on and one guy starts to
sing uh huh, and it becomes like the scene on
Almost Famous. The entire buses of baseball players are belting
out harder rock and roll because everybody knows the words
and our coach is amazed.
Speaker 2: That's fantastic.
Speaker 1: What agreed, shout out Jenks High School Jings Club. Okay,
let's talk about the roll call at the end of
the song.
Speaker 9: Okay, santat olvers down, Bado tell Us, Austin, Okahoma City,
San Francisco.
Speaker 1: So at the end they list, you know, Tulsa, Austin,
Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco too, right, everywhere. Yeah, So
there's this roll call of cities, right, and so the
record company is like, hey, this is great. We want
you to make like specialized versions of this to play
for different radio stations around the country. And he list
is like, you know, okay, whatever, you know, whatever helps
the song. And he's like, how many you want me
to make and they're like, well, let's see, there's like
one hundred and fifty radio stations, So like one hundred
and fifty. He's like, wait a minute, guys, I don't
you know you know, but I can tell you for
sure I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Okay. So the
part where it says Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City. Yes, see
how San Francisco too. That part on my home radio
station said Tulsa, Tulsa to Tulsa, Seattle, San Francisco too.
Really yeah, for sure, one hundred percent. So they have
all these different versions of the song and.
Speaker 2: They're thinking, like, did I ever hear a little rock
or for Smith?
Speaker 5: I'm just yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean if you grew up in New Mexico, chance
you hear Santa Fe or something in there, right, Okay, yeah, okay.
So they came to him and they said, okay, super job.
We like the ultimate versions. Now we want you to
do Canada. He's like, so, so they came to him
and they're like, you know, Toronto, Montreal. He's like, okay, okay,
you know, and they're like Halifax. He's like, guys, I'm sorry,
the harder rock and Roll does not belong in Halifax.
And he said, so he like put his foot down
on Halifax. I'm not singing Hall of Fax. Then he
said he went and played Halifax.
Speaker 4: He's like, the place is really cool rock and roll.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Halax, harder rock and roll. By the way, we
didn't talk about the video on Harder rock and Roll.
All I can remember is they pack it with a
lot of flash really kicks him in the.
Speaker 1: We might want to talk about that, Okay, We done
with harder rock and roll? Yes, all right, Moving on
to the number two song on the album. This song
is called Heart and Soul.
Speaker 2: Yes, this is not an original. He was listening the
new song I know, and.
Speaker 1: That blows me away. I didn't know that before.
Speaker 2: There's yeah, I did not know it either. And obviously
this is one of their biggest ones. I mean, this
is the first video I remember seeing.
Speaker 1: This is the first single off the album.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1: Hardest Soul was written by Mike Chapman and Nikki Chin. Okay,
these are famous songwriters. They wrote I Want to Kiss
You all Over flashback to our Happy Gilmour episode.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, okay, okay, good throwback.
Speaker 1: They wrote Better Be Good to Me by Tina Turner okay,
and they wrote Mickey by Tony Basil.
Speaker 8: Oh wow.
Speaker 2: Wow, Yeah, that's fantastic. So.
Speaker 1: The song was first recorded by Exile in nineteen eighty one,
and it was the title track on their album Heart
and Soul. This blows me away that in nineteen eighty
three were already re recording songs from nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 2: Well, it obviously wasn't a huge It didn't do as.
Speaker 1: Well as they thought it should do, failed to crack
the top one hundred. So I heard Hugh Lewis once again.
They're looking for a hit, right, and they're trying to
cover their butt because their third album needs to be
a smash or the record company is going to walk away.
So they had all these songs and they're like, we
need one more hit. Okay, this is the pour some
Sugar on Me, same story, Okay, we need one more hit.
So he was talking to Mike Chapman because Mike Chapman
had flirted with producing Hugh Lewis in the news, and
he's like, hey, man, I need a hit. I need
one more song that I can be a hit. And
Mike Chapman is this song Heart and Soul we think
is pretty good, and so here you listened to it
and he's like, no, this sounds great, this is a hit.
You know I want to do this. Well, it turns
out that Mike Chapman had given permission for Huey Lewis
to record it and this other group called the bus
Boys to record it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the bus Boys.
Speaker 2: The bus Boys are the Boys are back in Town.
That's in Ghostbusters, and in forty eight hours they were
like the band in Eddie Murphy's All His Stuff.
Speaker 4: The bus Boys are huge.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, wow, that's good.
Speaker 5: I didn't know that. Yes, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: Again, let throw forward to Ghostbusters coming up the bus Boys.
But anyway, sorry, go ahead. So, yes, that's a license
the song of the bus Boys.
Speaker 1: So the bust Boys recorded that for their nineteen eighty
two album American Worker. But Huey Lewis he wanted to
hear the recordings of it, and when he heard it,
he thought, nah, our version is better.
Speaker 7: So he was worried about it until he heard it
and he's like.
Speaker 4: Nah, well I can say this.
Speaker 2: When you look up Heart and Soul on Wikipedia, it
is a picture of hue Lewis's album Okay.
Speaker 1: Like we said, this was the first single. It was
released August thirtieth, nineteen eighty three. This reached number eight.
Uh huh, okay, number eight. Let's talk about the music
video for a second.
Speaker 2: Okay. This is one of the first videos I ever
remember watching Okay, and I really I.
Speaker 4: Think there was something.
Speaker 2: Huey Lewis is a guy who I think has looked
forty five his entire life, Like, I saw pictures of
him when he was like in the high school basketball team,
and he looks exactly the same. It's now only that
he's in his seventies that he starts to look like
he's fifty five, right. He just has always had that
same look. And so I see this video of a
guy who doesn't look like the other people that I've
seen on MTV in a suit and tie. Yeah, and
then he walks into a place where everybody that's dancing
looks like all the other people that I've seen on MTV. Sure.
And so it's got this actress in it called Sidney Coleman.
Sidney Coleman, Yeah, and she had been I think she
was in a soap opera and she played it like
a blind character in the South Viper.
Speaker 4: Okay, but she's she is very engaging in this hate.
Speaker 1: She's in heart and soul. She's also the girl he's
chasing around in I Want a New Drug. And the
reason why they hired her her mom and Hugh Lewis's
mom were friends.
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 2: So this video are we ready talking for the video?
Speaker 4: The video is really weird, Yes, You've.
Speaker 2: Got all these weird folks who are lip syncing the
song as he's kind of in there checking out this
hot girl who's dancing, and then you see is it
Mario Cippolini, the that looks like the Vampire?
Speaker 5: Yes, that's right.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh. I'm like, what is going on with
this creepy dude.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh wow, he's actually a member of the band.
He's not just some weird character like the other ones
they have. And then you at some point they're running
along and opening doors and you open he opens the
door and there he is with fangs out biting the
neck of a girl, and they're like, what the heck
and close that door.
Speaker 9: Move on.
Speaker 1: Yes, very strange, interesting videos, all right. Moving on. Third
song on the album, That is Bad.
Speaker 2: This moment when this song came on when I listened
to this album again for the first time in thirty years,
and this song came on and I was like, I
know this song. I know this song. I knew every
single word, word for word, and I haven't heard it
in thirty years now. We talked about that this song
was something that Huey Lewis had written before and had
been recorded.
Speaker 4: By Dave Evans, thank you. And wasn't good, right, I
mean it was okay, it was okay, it wasn't bad.
Speaker 2: It was very bluesy.
Speaker 4: This one's kind of a du they're even saying.
Speaker 2: Do wop on it? Right? Absolutely, it's not got as
much harmonic on it. It's got more harmonies on it, which,
as I understand it, Johnny Cola is the one who
puts together their harmonies, which we got to talk about
for just a second. Okay, the blend of these guys's voice.
I mean, they're not any one of them fantastic singers.
They're not any one of them fantastic like expert musicians.
They're just all good and they're good together. That's the key.
And when they first started, when Bob Brown was pushing
it and Chris Liss was like, hey, okay, we'll sign them.
But Chris list said, but they need to get rid
of the drummer. The drummer Bill Gibson yep. And after
Huey Lewis's experience with the bass player that threw up
because he was on LSD when he got fired, he
was like, no, I'm not going to fire it. Sign
don't sign us yep. The sign him anyway.
Speaker 1: That's super love the loyalty there. So Bad is Bad.
It was actually written, like you said, in the late
seventies while he was working with Phil Lennett of Finn Lizzie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he did a lot of harmonica work with Finn
Lizzie And we didn't mention this, but Clover after they
broke up, you know, they went on and recorded on
Elvis Costello's first really big album, and they offered he
Lewis to come and record with him, and he was like, yeah,
I think I'd rather have a two week vacation.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing to me and I don't quite know
how all this works out. Yeah, but Bad is Bad
was not released as a single.
Speaker 4: Should have been, should have been?
Speaker 2: This is my favorite song on this album. Okay, it's
my and I just it's so good.
Speaker 1: So this song didn't chart because it wasn't released, right,
But they made a video for it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not a fantastic video. They're just kind of
walking around in the streets.
Speaker 1: Of San Francisco. Yeah, filmed in March of nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 2: Weird. Okay, So I got to say, at age forty five,
listening to it now, I didn't really understand what this
song was about because whenever I listened to it as
a kid and he said play the guitar like chainsaw
buzz and it was like I was like.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's awesome, that's cool.
Speaker 2: No, that's not what he means. Okay, sometimes bad, he's bad. Yeah, yeah,
he meant that. The change I mean because I played
guitar now, right, I was not a guitar player when
I listened to this song the first time. If the
if it sounds buzzy, if the guitar sounds buddy buzzy,
that means it's bad. It's got a thing you don't want,
and so that that's bad. And then I should have
picked up on the the stew is the yeah, and
all one dollar's worth is all I could stand up.
I just didn't get it. And then the final lyric
in the song is a great Jimmy Hendrix redhouse style,
which Jimmy Hendrix will come up here in a second, yep,
but it's this great. You know, I tried to unlock
the door style. What he comes in the letter says,
I love you, hueye, but there's another.
Speaker 1: Strange pair of shoes under my bed.
Speaker 2: So here we are three four three and in my opinion,
building better and better and better.
Speaker 1: What are we great songs?
Speaker 4: What are we going to see on number four?
Speaker 1: Okay, number four? Last song on side one of it,
I want a new drug. That double guitar at the
beginning of this is fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do a great pan from left speaker to
right speaker. Top down, radio up. This is the song
you want to be hearing.
Speaker 1: This was the second single, released January third, nineteen eighty four.
This reached number six. Still haven't cracked the tall five.
Speaker 5: Gosh, guess it's.
Speaker 2: Such a good song.
Speaker 4: I can't believe that it didn't crack.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, right, Okay, So this song goes through every
side effect that you can think of. For Druggy, I
know that you have no experience at all. I am
embarrassed to say that I do. I can understand every
bad side effect. There are no drugs without bad side effects, kids.
Speaker 4: None, Right, he wrote, including love.
Speaker 1: Love does have effect. That It's true, it does.
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 4: But that's what the song is truly about, Hugh, he.
Speaker 5: Talks about it.
Speaker 1: It is about love. He said. This song is not
pro drug. It's not even anti drug. No, it's just
about love. Here's the interesting thing. Huey Lewis wrote the
song in a few minutes. Said he was on his
way to his attorney's house and he was in the car, okay,
and he's driving and all of a sudden, boom it hits.
He's got it in his head and he basically runs
in and says, Bob, give me a piece of paper,
give me a piece of paper, and he writes it down. Yeah,
that to me, that blows me away. Like these guys
are so creative that songs just jump into their head.
This song was covered by our main man, weird Al Yankovic.
Speaker 2: Oh right.
Speaker 4: The song was called we Can't Let It Go by.
Speaker 5: I want a new duck.
Speaker 8: I want.
Speaker 1: One wol trying to bite well, that won't chew all
my socks, one that won't quack all night.
Speaker 2: Which is why the end of that video where it's
Weird Al Yakavic and Huey Lewis together parodying America Psycho
is so brilliant.
Speaker 1: Last line, yep, brilliant, brilliant. Hey, I will tell you
just from personal experience. Okay, So I had this tape,
had a cassette tape. Uh you know, I told you
my parents they analyzed my music pretty good. My dad
picked up the tape Harder, rock and Roll, hard and Soul,
Bad is bad, Walking on Thin Line? All good?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Wait, what's this song called I Want a New Drug?
He had to pause and ask my uncle if it
was okay. Uncle gave the thumbs up, So now I
wore out.
Speaker 5: Sports way to go Uncle, I know, right, Okay.
Speaker 1: There is something at the end of the song that
I did not know until we were driving in the
car today to record this.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember it from when I was a kid,
and I don't know how I it back then, but
I knew it. And yeah, as we're driving, I'm like, oh,
there's Jimmy Hendrix and you're like, there's who what what?
Speaker 1: I know?
Speaker 4: But here it is, and that's Purple Hayes by Jimmy Hendricks.
Speaker 2: Guys. I don't know if nobody else noticed it but me,
but there you go.
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: Any guitar, any guitar stuff there is going to hear
that and go, oh, I know what he's doing there. Again,
these guys are not masterful musicians. They just are out
there having some freaking.
Speaker 1: Good time and they're tight throwing in fun stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's real. Love it, love it.
Speaker 1: Okay, this is where we talk about the lawsuit between
Huey Lewis and Ray Parker. R.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So the guys who are making Ghostbusters go to
Huey Lewis say hey, we'd like you to record a
song for the soundtrack, and he says no thanks, but
no thanks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, writing a song called Ghostbusters.
Speaker 2: And then later the song that was written for Ghostbusters
that is called who You're Gonna Call? Ghostbusters? Yes, sounds
real familiar.
Speaker 3: Play it right here, Okay, something strange?
Speaker 1: Who you Call?
Speaker 2: All right, it's unquestionable. It's a little faster, but it's
absolutely unquestionably a copy. And I've heard Ray Parker talk
about this.
Speaker 1: He did.
Speaker 2: It's not like he wrote that part of the song.
He had a guy who wrote it, but he didn'tant
to throw him under the bus, right, It was just
like just came to me and it was the cool
sounding guitar riff. So I said, great, I can write
some lyrics to this, and that's how the song came about.
That's right, but that's his name was still the one
on the lawsuit.
Speaker 1: So here's the interesting thing. I heard an interview with
Ray Parker. They settled out of court. Huey Lewis sued
Ray Parker Jr. And they settled out of court.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: Okay for an undisclosed sum of money.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Now flash forward about like six seven, eight, ten years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was quite a bit. It was like VH
one behind the music, it was, Yeah.
Speaker 1: And Huey Lewis is talking about how Ray Parker stole
their song I Want a New Drug and turned it
into Ghostbusters.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this song is not for sale. And then he says,
but I guess it turns out as it was because
they paid us for it. Yep.
Speaker 1: Then Ray Parker Junior sues Huey Lewis because he was
he had some sort of no talk about.
Speaker 2: Its Most settlements are confidential, and by Huey Lewis saying
they paid us for it, he just said, what was
the confidential part? Which was a violation? As I understand
that there's been no resolution to that.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. This is because these are two songs that
I loved and could have gone my entire life without
even really dawning on me that they were the same roots.
You know, I love that song Ghostbusters. I mean, I
love I Want a New Drug sonny. So funny how
that works out, right now, Ray Parker Junior did say
that Huey Lewis did have to pay him for mentioning
that on VH one. Behind the music here you may
have countersuit based on that statu.
Speaker 2: But it goes round and round. All right, enough of
this lawyer stuff.
Speaker 1: Okay, A couple more things I want to mention about this, Okay, Okay,
So this, as we mentioned, I Want a New Drug
was actually put in as the tempt track for Back
to the Future.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Oh, for the for the opening scene in the video,
there is one iconic scene that you mentioned to me,
and I remember it's the head in the ice water
and that's from a movie yeah that I didn't know.
Speaker 2: Okay, So the face in the ice water scene, yes,
probably the most memorable part of the video, right right.
I think it's from the Verdict with Paul Newman story
where he's a drunk attorney and I think he wakes
up with a hangover and that's just cure for the
hangover is singing his head in a book of ice water.
I don't think it's the same like way he did it,
but I think that's where he got that. They didn't
put a camera in the scene to you know that.
But that's really the best part of that is the
best part. The bubble is coming and then he's singing
the song under the water.
Speaker 1: That is the coolest part.
Speaker 5: And as a kid, I'm like, that is awesome.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's it for.
Speaker 2: I wanted to drug push stop on your tape player.
Speaker 1: Kick it out, flip it over side too. And we
started off with walking on Thin Line.
Speaker 9: Sometimes I'm a.
Speaker 1: Fad of night.
Speaker 9: I just look for the light and sometimes likes their.
Speaker 2: So this is interesting how the song starts off. It
is different than the other ones. And I just want
to point something out that we haven't kind of pointed
out as we've gone along here. Okay, but every single
one of these.
Speaker 4: Songs is a different style of song.
Speaker 2: Okay, you know they come They came into the album
thinking we want any one of these to be a
potential hit single, right, trying to hit the top forty.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So the first one hard rock and roll, that's rock,
heart and soul is pop rock. Bad is bad, that's
like do up blues. Yeah, and then you got I
want a new drug, which is very new wave. And
then we hit this one with this awesome intro. You
got different instruments introing each of these songs. This one
starts off heavy keyboards, like five the keyboards given the rhythm,
and then coming in with the melody, and then it's
really nice how the guitar takes over that rhythm spot
from the keyboard. But this one, I don't know whether
they call this rock or new wave or new wave rock.
It's just kind of its own thing. But it's just
to me that these guys are doing all these different
styles of songs.
Speaker 1: We haven't even got to country yet, which we will
yeah on this side of the album. Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2: So this is the fifth single YEP, released.
Speaker 1: October ninth of nineteen eighty four. This only reached number eighteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was their least successful single. But this to
throw back to our Bruce Springsteen episode, this is They're
Born in the USA, not because it's a big hit,
but because this one is about what it's like to
be the Vietnam vet that nobody cares about. Right.
Speaker 1: In fact, I called you the other day and I said,
which one of the songs on Sports belongs on Born
in the USA, and we both agreed this.
Speaker 2: One, this is it for sure? Yes?
Speaker 1: Not if this is it?
Speaker 5: Not this one?
Speaker 1: Yes, Andre Pessis wrote this song. He also wrote this
song just Take My Heart by mister Big.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay from Yeah I remember that one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, mister Big was kind of hot for a moment.
Speaker 5: They're in They're nice to Big for a second, they
were mister.
Speaker 2: Bag for a second. Yes, I've got a great story
about this song, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: So during live performances, Huey Lewis has been surprised before
by Chris Berman.
Speaker 5: He's a famous ESPN personality.
Speaker 1: Right, so they asked him, what do you get up
on stage and sing walking on a fin line? Right
with Huey Lewis, he said, because if I sing power
of Love there'll be a riot.
Speaker 2: And you know what, he's probably right Okay, So interestingly, yes,
and you say that this song was the last single
released off of this album, right, The next single power
of Love? Right?
Speaker 1: Yes, moving on, okay, the next song is called Finally
Found a Home. Okay, So this has got some strong
guitar work here at the beginning, right here.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, I love it and it's an acoustic guitar
that they've got going. This could I mean, this could
be a Tesla song when it starts out right, nice this,
I mean this is and Tesla isn't coming along for
a little bit now right Again, we have a completely
different style of song that they're doing here. And what
I love about this song is how it kind of
sums up what's happened to Huey Lewis at this point.
You know, everybody expects all of these great things from
him because he's the guy who got the eight hundred
on the math portion of the act, right, He's the
guy who had the promising pitch your arm, who was
going to go to you know, Winter Cornell was going
to be a success, and then he spent eleven years
failing around him, right, failing, only to have that band
break up and become a house band somewhere and just
by like I said, the best hustle move ever manages
to do it. But he always stuck with doing what
he loved. He didn't compromise what he wanted to do,
and ultimately he found his home in that song nice Nice,
I love it.
Speaker 5: His hard work paid off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he finally kind of this one could have been
a single.
Speaker 5: This is a great song of it.
Speaker 1: If this, if you put this on you know, top
forty radio, and you put a cool video with this, this.
Speaker 2: Is a hit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm convinced. I'd love to hear Tesla sings.
Speaker 2: That'd be good. We got to call Frank Hannon up.
All right, would you guys do a cover of this
song for us please?
Speaker 5: Okay, so we're done with Finally Found a Home. Now
we're moving in to my favorite song on the album.
Speaker 1: If This is it?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: That guitar right there, it just sings right, It's just
a it's just a melodic guitar, and it's almost sad.
It's a great breakup song.
Speaker 2: You know, it is a great breakup song. That's right.
That's it is the perfect music to go with the
lyrics of this song because it is such a great song.
This is solid guitar, but it's so hooky. Yeah, yeah,
I mean that the.
Speaker 5: Line at the beginning, I feel the pain.
Speaker 1: I heard you say, tell am, I'm not heartbreak?
Speaker 5: How does heartbreak is heartbreak?
Speaker 1: I feel the pain?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: And I've been there, and you've been there, We've open
I've never been there.
Speaker 1: Okay, So this was their fourth single, released April tenth,
nineteen eighty four. To me, this song is the summer
of nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 2: This song was on a lot all the time, a
lot for sure.
Speaker 1: So we are going through this incredible run through summer
of eighty four and this song was all huge.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, Yes, yes, this is it.
Speaker 1: No, as we've gone track by track for this, yes,
I've said, pay attention to the chart toppers, yes, okay,
and where they finish Okay, Hard and Soul went to
number eight, Hard rock and roll number six, Yes, I
want a new drug number six. If this is it
third consecutive number six.
Speaker 2: That's got to be frustrating, I'm telling you.
Speaker 4: Is it frustrating or is it like, yeah, we did
it again.
Speaker 2: I mean yeah, I mean I bet at number three,
they're like, can we just crack the top five?
Speaker 5: I know, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: Well, so none of them reached the top five. That's
the power you all right, Thankfully we got power of
Love coming.
Speaker 2: So the video if you guys, anybody, if you can't,
if you're not calling the video right off the top
of your head, all I have to say is heads
buried in the sand, right like the guys are buried
up to their necks rocking back and forth. That is
this video right here.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of those silly kind of play videos.
It's really cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So the guy who directed this video is a
guy named Ed Griles. Ed Griles, Yes, okay, Ed Griles
started He started making videos back in seventy nine with
Deep Purple and Rainbow, and then he also made videos
for a group called Blue Angel.
Speaker 4: Okay, do you know what singer came from Blue Angel now?
Speaker 2: She just wanted to have fun.
Speaker 5: Cindy Lauper was also huge in.
Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty four Age, which is, by the way, the
year that the MTV Video Music Awards started. And guess
who directed Ed Ed Grives?
Speaker 5: Nice?
Speaker 3: Yeah, nice?
Speaker 1: I do have my notes that Ed Growls directed Heart
of rock and Roll Stuck with You, which is Huielu's
song off A four Right off A four Yeah, which
is another great huge Lowis album. And they also directed
girls Just Want to Have Fun and Time After Times,
not the Ozzy Osbourne version, right, Okay, all right, I've
got something that's gonna blow you away.
Speaker 5: This video, yes, was shot at a beach.
Speaker 2: Yes, Okay, how am I gonna phrase it that is
not surprising that that was a colossal fail.
Speaker 1: All Right, here we go.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna try to teat this up a little bit better.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: This video was shot at a beach.
Speaker 2: Yes, hang on hand on him. I'm waiting with hated bread.
Speaker 5: This video was shot and set at an amusement park
on the beach.
Speaker 2: Okay about a movie that we've already covered.
Speaker 5: Oh shoot, does this ring a bell with you at all?
Speaker 2: Okay, So beach movie that we've covered.
Speaker 1: No, what movie have we covered? Where the action takes
place at an amusement park on the beach.
Speaker 2: Lost Boys, The Lost Boys?
Speaker 5: Oh, same beach?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 1: The Santa Cruz Cruise Boardwalk murder Capital of the World.
Hue and the Boys are lucky to get out of
there os after four attempts on that one.
Speaker 5: Hey, blew my mind.
Speaker 1: There we go. Didn't want to blow that. Okay.
Speaker 5: Let's talk about the women in this video.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, Yeah, you got two ladies, one that's ready
to get rid of him and one that's ready to
take her spot. Okay, the pretty one. The one that's
ready to get rid of him is Janet Cross.
Speaker 1: Janet Cross was Babe City in nineteen eighty four, the
white swimsuit, the burnette. You know, she's walking around with
different boyfriends all the time breaking here.
Speaker 2: This's heart right.
Speaker 1: She is now a renowned New York architect.
Speaker 9: What wow?
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, yes, that's awesome. That is good.
Speaker 1: She was hoping that this video would kind of be
your big break. Didn't pan out for her, So now
she's an architect of New York City.
Speaker 2: Wow, you got something on Sandra Wilder. She Jeene Wilder's niece.
I can tell you that she was also in a
Scorpions video and also in The Woman in Red, which starred.
Speaker 1: Kelly LeBrock and Gene.
Speaker 5: Hey. Maybe right, maybe, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: No, Jean Wilder's not as really it's Frankenstein. Oh my gosh.
That was so good. That was so good. All right?
We done with this is Yes? This is it for?
This is it?
Speaker 1: All right? Next one is called you Crack Me Up?
Speaker 2: Okay, fantastic new wave beginning. This sounds like a car song, right,
they've hooked into that that car sound very cool sense intro.
You know where you got the idea for all of
the horrible things that this person he's talking.
Speaker 5: To tell me?
Speaker 2: So this came from people who would try to meet them,
like after the show, like they'd come and meet them,
you know, try to corner them in the parking lot
or whatever. Before they were super big and famous, like
when they were playing at Uncle Charlie's, they would have
these people that constantly could just kind of came up
and just did all of these annoying things, or were
obviously high or thought they were a star already, And
that's where they got all the lyrics for this obnoxious
person that he's retreated nice. Nice.
Speaker 1: This song was written after he met with that young
reporter from the Arkansas High.
Speaker 5: School, Denny.
Speaker 1: Denny So too bad.
Speaker 5: This song is not about Denny, but it could have been,
right right.
Speaker 1: This song was written by Hugh Lewis and Mario Sipalina.
It's only one of four songs on this whole album
that wasn't released as a single.
Speaker 2: It's a great song. It's a good.
Speaker 1: It's not a skipper.
Speaker 2: No giffers on this out maybe one. Are you referring
to the last song.
Speaker 5: I am referring to the last song.
Speaker 2: Okay, we need to just jump right into it, mister,
all right, Mink Williams is gonna come down and back
you for this?
Speaker 1: Okay? All right?
Speaker 5: Moving on to the last song.
Speaker 2: That song is called Honky Tonk Blues. I can't believe
that you hate the song.
Speaker 5: I don't hate it.
Speaker 2: You're skipping this. I'm Oh my gosh, this is like
this is like a sleep at the Wheel. Roy Benson,
cold close personal friend of Huey Lewis. This is bluegrass
steal guitar at its finest. How can you be against
the song?
Speaker 1: I'm just in a rush to get back to hard
rock and froll.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Okay. So this song was originally recorded
by Hank Williams.
Speaker 1: I got the huncle Uncle.
Speaker 2: They got His son has re recorded Hank Williams Junior.
It was on Nitty Gritty Dirt Band nineteen seventy two
album Will the Circle Be Unbroken? It was a big
hit for Charlie Pride. It was on Waylon Jennings' nineteen
eighty two album Black on Black, and then Huey Lewis,
and then after Huey Lewis, the Pirates of the Mississippi
came out with it and got to number twenty six
on the Hot Country Singles charts with this song.
Speaker 4: This is an amazing song. I'm waiting to be impressed.
Speaker 2: Are you what you can make me blow a vein?
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, this is not my style.
Speaker 2: Oh all right, you're not a country I'm not a
country guy either, but this is good. This is good
country music.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Plus it shows the versatility of this band. Who's given
us pop and new wave and blues and do wop
and now they come and they give us what the
monkey dog.
Speaker 5: Listen, this is versus country. They are showing off their versatility.
I cannot argue with that. It sounds like a great
country song. I'm just not a big country guy.
Speaker 1: I would rather have another new wave, pop, radio friendly
hit this.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Can we exchange this one for power of Love and
just trade them right out?
Speaker 2: Okay, that's fine, we can turned off. We turned off.
It's kind of soured I full experience. I am sorry,
I am sorry. I can't believe you said there's a skipper.
But that's all right, You're just wrong.
Speaker 5: I'm just ready to get back to harder rock and roll,
you know, all right?
Speaker 2: All right, fair enough, Okay, So this is the end
of the album.
Speaker 1: Yes, HiT's stop on your tape player, kick an afflip,
But I'll return it back to hard rock and roll
and restart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, or grab your Back to the Future soundtrack
throw it in, because man, what a freaking good soundtrack
that was. We are into final judgment, Okay, am I
going first?
Speaker 5: I went first last time, your first?
Speaker 2: This time? Okay. So here's what I gotta say, all right.
The songs on Huey Lewis and The New Sports are
all ear candy. They're wonderful, And it took me a
little while to fall in love with Bruce Springsteen Born
in the Usa. But I realized what the difference was,
and it took an experience of life to make happen.
When I'm in my car and the sun is out
and it's summertime and I want to have fun, I'm
listening to Hugh Lewis in The New Sports. When I've
just had an argument with my wife and it's late
at night and I'm driving fast and angry. I need
those deep, picture painting lyrics of Born in the USA.
So which album I'm gonna pick when I'm walking out
the door depends on which situation I'm in, all right,
But I gotta say as good as Born in the
USA is and it is fantastic. It is fantastic lyrics,
no question, better deeper lyrics. But for pure listening pleasure,
I got to pick Hue listen to the news, sports,
so good, so much a part of my youth growing up.
That's where it is form.
Speaker 4: Okay, where you're at.
Speaker 1: Basically, that's the exact same way that I feel. Born
in the USA has deep, meaningful, poignant, serious even songs. Okay,
now there are a few exceptions. I think Glory Days
is great fun and it is ear candy. Yep, Glory
Days is a top down, turn it up song.
Speaker 2: My favorite favorite song of his. Overall, I think I.
Speaker 5: Think so too right.
Speaker 1: You know, Born in the USA we talked about how
that is a not quite what you think it's about song,
And then they have some some more subdued songs like
I'm on Fire and Hometown and so Great, iconic, huge
seller of nineteen eighty four, deeply ingrained in the mid eighties.
But for me, I'm a feel good guy, and Huey
Lewis is all about feel good music. So if I'm
walking out the door, it would have to be a rainy,
stormy day.
Speaker 5: For me to grant Born in the Usa over sports.
Speaker 1: Right for me, it's almost always going to be sports.
Speaker 2: All right, we're on the same page again. How about
that's let's see we've had a couple this year so far.
Oh right, you're finally coming around.
Speaker 4: Tell us what you think.
Speaker 2: Hit us up on Twitter at Charley Podcast. Hit us
up on Facebook at Charley Podcast. Be sure to check
out our Patreon page, where you can become an executive
producer of one of our episodes with a very small
donation to our podcast. And Jason, what have we got
coming up next?
Speaker 5: Okay, you thought this one was big? Yeah, nineteen eighty four,
Wait till we talk about next week.
Speaker 1: Next week is Ghostbusters versus Gremlins.
Speaker 2: Fantastic. We've got more funny than scary month stir tight movies. Yeah,
sort of super nature gigantic in nineteen eighty four, I
mean they were everywhere that you could not go somewhere
without seeing a Mogwai or a slimmer. Tune in for that,
come back and listen in with us, join the fun.
See you guys next week.