Thursday, December 25, 2008

A "lost" Canadian classic-- Tom Cochrane, 1983

So...

I hesitated to post this, since i know i post so much random 'net stuff, but...

The fame that Tom Cochrane achieved with "Life is a Highway" in 1991 was rather unfortunate, since that's probably among his worst songs, imo.

It made people forget that Cochrane, who was born and grew up in Lynn Lake, Manitoba, was/is actually a fairly decent singer/songwriter/musician who put out some pretty good music in the 80's-- at a time when Canadian pop was all Corey Hart, Mitsou, and Glass Tiger (who also have their place, I guess).



Anyway, this here is two fabulous songs (they're really part 1 and 2 of the same song) and a cheesy-but-cool video. It's "Light in the Tunnel/Race of Life"-- from his album Neruda, made all the way back in 1983.

The album title, of course, refers to the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. I don't know much about him, except that Gabriel Garcia Marquez called him "the greatest poet of the 20th century, in any language".

If you're impatient, and don't want to sit through the intro, the "real" song starts at 01:40, but spending 4 minutes listening to or watching the whole thing while you clean or play chess won't be a waste of your time, trust me.

And the simple guitar part he uses from 01:35 on is really nice-- a good example of the "less is more" school.

I had forgotten all about this song until my friend Sean, who was born the year it came out, re-introduced me to it. We work together in the kitchen at the gay bar. But we're not, like, gay or nuthin'.

Merry Xmas and Joyeux Noel to one and all of you, my fellow bloggers and good people.

3 comments:

Lorne Roberts said...

I can see it on the road ahead
Running hard I'm here
But I could be there instead
Many houses with the lights on
Silhouettes behind the shades
Beside fires
I'm sure that I saw you in one
I loved you but,
That was way back then
Now I'm alone outside
And I face the wind
The rain washes me thin

Knocked me down and I got back up
And I got myself back in the race again
Knock me down, and I'll get back up
And I'll get myself
Back in the race again

Race through the shadows
Race against stone
The sunken city that
I thought was my own
Might be in a brave new world
But it's really not my home
Roll over fall in
"My god", I screamed
They might catch them,
But they won't catch me
I'm out here clean
I'm free...yes I'm free

Knocked me down and I got back up
And i got myself
Back in the race again
Knock me down, and i'll get back up
And i'll get myself
Back in the race again

Anonymous said...

You're gay.

Jokes.

D. Sky Onosson said...

I remember this tune - very nice.

Agreed about "Life is a Highway"!

It never ceases to bother me when youtube loses sync between audio and video, but it's way worse with drummers...