Having worked in radio for over twenty years and being a lifelong music aficionado there’s lots of useless trivia and tales on songs and artists I’ve picked up along the way. Often times I assume EVERYONE is aware of these little tidbits (especially in our high-speed internet/information age) but I can sometimes be wrong on that. So here are a few stories you may or may not know about some past popular songs.
“HOW LONG” – Ace While this 1974 hit sung by the great Paul Carrack sounds like your basic “My lover has been cheating on me” tune, that is not the case. “How Long” was written about Ace bassist Terry Comer who was sneaking around playing in other bands. The rest of the group got wind of Comer’s musical duplicity and they felt like they were being cheated on. So “How Long” WAS a cheating song but not about issues between a man and a woman.
SUNSET GRILL- Don Henley Most people know this hit was about a REAL place. The Sunset Grill was a burger joint on Sunset Boulevard owned for many years by the same immigrant family before they sold it in 1997. The new owners tore it down and rebuilt the place. The song was said to be about the different types of people who frequented the place and wondering why so many chose to live in L.A. That answer is found in the last line of the song, “All our friends are here.” In concert Don Henley has often mentioned that the food served at the Sunset Grill was, “Bad for the heart but good for the soul.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used that line when talking about other places to eat.
NO SUGAR TONIGHT The Guess Who This might be my favorite story behind a song of all time. Back in 1970 Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman was walking in Berkeley California and came upon some biker dudes. Randy wanted to slip across the street to avoid any hassles but then a car came screeching around the corner and it pulled up to the rough looking guys sitting on their Harleys. A woman got out of the car and got into a heated argument with one of the bikers. Lots of screaming and lecturing ensued and as the woman left her man she yelled out, “One more thing honey, you’re not getting no sugar tonight!” Bachman heard this and knew he had a great song title.
KILLING TIME- Clint Black Back in 1988 Clint Black was signed to a deal with RCA records. However, after Black and his band recorded all their tracks there seemed to be a long delay in releasing his debut album. Anyway, one evening Clint and his songwriting partner and guitarist Hayden Nicholas were driving to a gig in Houston and sharing frustrations over waiting for the album to be issued to the public. Clint said to Hayden, “This killing time is killing me.” Both of them looked at each other and knew they had a great frame up for a song. The two of them turned it from a ‘waiting on our album’s release’ song to one about killing time over “a love that’s passed away.” Once “Killing Time” was recorded, RCA went nuts for the tune. The song was included at the last minute on Clint’s debut disc and it became the title track for the album and a number one hit!
So there you have stories about some songs from the past. I have a few more to share, and they’ll wait until another blog.
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