In the wake of the Pulp-Strokes duet to "Just What I Needed":
I'm pretty much a lightweight drinker, but that afternoon in the winter of 1987, when Iman and I trudged into "The Ivy Room" in Long Island City, New York, I hadn't even advanced to lightweight. I was still drinking in the molecule-weight class. That's why when, half way through my second Long Island Ice Tea, I tried to explain why "Just What I Needed" would come to be considered a "classic" of the genre, I melted down into blathering incoherence. I couldn't say why JWIN was destined to be a touchstone of the pre-New Wave era, I just knew it.
Fortunately, many years later, my daughter Darcee, via Circuit City, came to the rescue. Back when the electronics giant had brick-and-mortar outlets (they are online only now) they nicked JWIN for their nationwide advertising campaign. Darcee sent me an email in which she mentioned the ad and wondered what song was being played. Ah! A learning moment for the God Forbid!
I dug out my analog copy of the song (vinyl, 45rpm), transferred it to digital and sent it to her along with the explanation I was too wasted to articulate to Iman as we drank away our meager telemarketing wages and watched "Walk Like an Egyptian".
01/27/2007
Robert Nevin <robertnevin@hotmail.com> wrote:
Subject: It doesn't matter where you've been as long as it was deep.
"Just What I Needed" was the first hit record for The Cars; circa 1978, I
believe. Post-punk/Pre-New Wave, the opening riff immediately set this song
apart from other songs on the radio at the time. When I first heard that
odd, staccato intro, I had to wonder: "where is this song going?".
Ben Orr, the bass player, sings the lead (he died of cancer in the mid
90's), and Elliott Easton plays the excellent lead guitar, which can be
heard to exhilarating effect throughout the final chorus. But my favorite,
FAVORITE part was always the chirp of the A.R.P Synthesizer trailing off in
the fade out! (sigh)
I loved electronic music back then, and still do.
Google Wendy Carlos or Moog (rhymes with "vogue") Synthesizer for further
information.
The Cars were definitely a studio band. They were fairly boring live. But
they had their own sound and put out some good, catchy pop music throughout
the early 80's.
note: during a drunken argument with Iman back in 1987, I insisted that this
song would be considered a "classic" in years to come. I feel pretty
comfortable with my inebriated prognostication.
Still Old School,
Dad
I got a couple of things wrong: Ben Orr died in 2000, and I don't know that Greg Hawkes used an A.R.P. synthesizer on that track. But Darcee's reply confirmed that my instincts about JWIN were correct. She replied:
"Daddy, YOU ARE AWESOME!!! I just love that song- makes me want to dance and cry and laugh and fall in love!!
How crazy is that? Thank you so much for making it possible for me to add that to my collection! Love you!!!"
Yeah. Can't really add anything to that…
And kudos to my good friend Iman for giving it up after all this time. During the 24 years we've known each other, he's gotten a lot of mileage out of our barstool argy on that snowy afternoon.
Now, our lad, about that Ray Davies interview…