CLASSIC SONG & LYRICS - Free Nelson Mandela (Special AKA, 1984)

December 5th of this year 2013, Nelson Mandela passed away at the age of 95. For those of us that grew up in unjust era of South African Apartheid rule, Mandela represented the unwavering fight for freedom despite personal sacrifice and hardship.

I must admit that in the early 80s, even though the South African situation was gaining notoriety throughout North America,  it wasn't until I heard the song by Specials AKA in spring 1984 that I began to really appreciate Nelson Mandela's plight.

The original Specials ska 2-tone band had splintered by 1982, but under Jerry Dammers vision and Elvis Costello's incomparable production, a disturbing single was released two years later that captured the frustrations of many who were calling for an end to Apartheid rule, the release of ANC leader Nelson Mandela and a democratically run government that recognized the equal rights of black South African population.  

The lyrics affected me in a powerful manner when I first heard the song, every time I subsequently listened to it and especially after Mandela had passed away.  The plaintive cries to "FREE" Nelson Mandela, the 21 years of captivity and abuse, the shoes to small to fit his feet and ignoring the evil that persisted for far too long.

Despite world-wide condemnation and economic sanctions against Apartheid government, it would take another painful SIX YEARS before Nelson Mandela would be released, for a total 28 difficult years in captivity!!!!!   He was 71 years old when he became a free man once again, and he made up for lost time in a BIG way.  The rest was history in the making.  End of Apartheid, democratic elections for all South Africans and Mandela as President 1994-1999.

For many of us, this song was the powder keg that raised our collective consciousness of this great man's struggle for equality.   R.I.P. Nelson!

Free Nelson Mandela 

Free, Free, Free, Nelson Mandela 

Free Nelson Mandela 

Twenty-one years in captivity 

His shoes too small to fit his feet 

His body abused but his mind is still free 

Are you so blind that you cannot see 

I say Free Nelson Mandela 

I'm begging you 

Free Nelson Mandela 

He pleaded the causes of the ANC 

Only one man in a large army 

Are you so blind that you cannot see 

Are you so deaf that you cannot hear his plea 

Free Nelson Mandela 

I'm begging you Free Nelson Mandela 

Twenty-one years in captivity 

Are you so blind that you cannot see 

Are you so deaf that you cannot hear 

Are you so dumb that you cannot speak 

I say Free Nelson Mandela 

I'm begging you 

Oh free Nelson Mandela, free 

Nelson Mandela I'm begging you 

begging you Please free Nelson Mandela 

free Nelson Mandela 

I'm telling you, you've got to free Nelson Mandela

CLASSIC SONG & LYRICS - How Soon is Now? (The Smiths, 1984)

Perhaps one of the most identifiable new wave songs of the 80s, the Smith's "How soon Is Now?" opens with Johnny Marr's electrifying guitar screech, signaling the emotional desperation to come from Morrissey's naked words.  This is a plain cry for human connection and love in the Yuppie power and money obsessed 'Wall Street' decade.  The song is evocative in the same way that Munch's modern art's masterpiece 'the Scream' leaves an unsettled impression on the interloper.  This is exactly how one feels listening to this Smiths signature song - that one is eavesdropping into the fractured soul of the singer. Morrissey was always an enigmatic figure with cryptic glimpses into his unconventional life, but the feelings he expresses so convincingly are universal - the pursuit for love and the ideal life-partner/soul-mate!

On a personal level, this song was released a short while after a very painful split from a four year relationship.  I easily identified with the pain and seemingly impossible ordeal of finding lasting love ever again.  The song represented my wake-up call. I shifted from one relationship to the next, club to club, somewhat lost and disillusioned. I felt as if the song was written about ME.  That is the power of great art.

I eventually met the love of my life, Guylaine, my wife now of 22 years (and still going strong).  I took a long while after the Smiths song to find the right person, but by then I knew the exact qualities I was searching.  

As an aside, I recently heard the song played once again in a charity event.  It made my spine crawl to hear the Morrissey's howl of longing as if it were 1984/1985 once again. Not surprising my list of 100 Essential New Wave Songs ends with this timeless Smiths masterpiece.  It was a time capsule that perfectly captured my emotional state and impacted me like no other!

I am the son and the heirOf a shyness that is criminally vulgarI am the son and heirOf the nothing in particular

You shut your mouth, how can you sayI go about things the wrong wayI am human and I need to be lovedJust like everybody else does

I am the son and the heirOf a shyness that is criminally vulgarI am the son and the heirOf nothing in particular

You shut your mouth, how can you sayI go about things the wrong wayI am human and I need to be lovedJust like everybody else does

There's a clubIf you'd like to goYou could meet somebodyWho really loves you

So you go and you stand on your ownAnd you leave on your ownAnd you go homeAnd you cry and you want to die

When you say it's gonna happen nowWell, when exactly do you mean?See, I've already waited too longAnd all my hope is gone

You shut your mouth, how can you sayI go about things the wrong wayI am human and I need to be lovedJust like everybody else does

The embedded video conveys the mid-80s fashion style and increasing social isolation very accurately. (Sorry for the opening advertisement!!)

the smiths - how soon is now.. by robertjgunn

CLASSIC SONG & LYRICS - Smalltown Boy (Bronski Beat, 1984)

The first time I heard the  build up to the song that would be later recognized as 'Smalltown Boy,' I was instantly drawn into the music and plaintive lyrics of pain and bullying.  Then the video was released on MTV at a time when videos were as important, if not more important, than the actual music.  And what a captivating video!  I still get goosebumps at the scene where Joey Sommerville extends a hand to his father to say goodbye for the last time, and his father refuses to shake it.  Why? Because his father has learned, or strongly suspects, that his son is homosexual.  Remember this was 1984, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, misinformation and backlash against the homosexual lifestyle at large. 

What the video did was to present a sensitive and poignant side to the individual rather than the broader stereotype.  It was an important achievement and in my opinion, helped to raise the awareness of the ignorant bullying and homophobia that was prevalent in the UK and US at that time.

The music is soaring and lyrics piercing.   Take a listen!

You leave in the morning with everything you own
In a little black case
Alone on a platform, the wind and the rain
On a sad and lonely face

Mother will never understand
Why you had to leave
For the answers you seek will never be found at home
The love that you need will never be found at home

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away

Pushed around and kicked around, always a lonely boy
You were the one that they'd talk about around town
As they put you down

And as hard as they would try, they'd hurt to make you cry
But you'd never cry to them, just to your soul
No, you'd never cry to them, just to your soul

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away

Cry boy, cry, cry boy, cry, cry boy
Cry boy, cry, cry boy, cry boy, cry, cry boy
Cry boy, cry, cry boy, cry boy, cry, cry boy
Cry boy, cry, cry boy, cry boy, cry

You leave in the morning with everything you own
In a little black case
Alone on a platform, the wind and the rain
On a sad and lonely face

Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away

100 Essential New Wave Songs (1977-1984)

  
   

Below is my personal listing of 100 Essential New Wave Songs (1977-1984) from 100 different artists (listed by YEAR of release).  It begins with the punk anthem 'God Save the Queen' that dared to challenge the monarchy and was an attack on the  complacency of dull, 'progressive' music that preceded it.  And the list ends with the haunting cry for love 'How Soon is Now,' a harbinger of the impersonal isolated social period to come, and 'Do They Know it's Christmas' which brought to light the plight of Africa and the social activism and power of music.

Please comment if you have different song choices from the period covered.  I would love to hear from you!

Song		Year		Title	Artist
# 1		1977		God Save the Queen	Sex Pistols
# 2		1977		Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll	Ian Dury
# 3		1977		Peaches	Stranglers
# 4		1978		I Wanna Be Sedated	Ramones
# 5		1978		Public Image	PIL
# 6		1978		Pump It Up	Elvis Costello
# 7		1978		One Way or Another	Blondie
# 8		1978		Best Friend's Girl	Cars
# 9		1978		Lucky Number	Lene Lovich
# 10		1978		Roxanne	Police
# 11		1978		Teenage Kicks	Undertones
# 12		1978		Model	Kraftwerk
# 13		1979		London Calling	Clash
# 14		1979		My Way	Sid Vicious
# 15		1979		New York City	Demics
# 16		1979		Life During Wartime	Talking Heads
# 17		1979		Look Sharp!	Joe Jackson
# 18		1979		I Don't Like Mondays	Boomtown Rats
# 19		1979		Making Plans for Nigel	XTC
# 20		1979		Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag	Pigbag
# 21		1979		One Step Beyond	Madness
# 22		1979		Cool for Cats	Squeeze
# 23		1979		What I Like About You	Romantics
# 24		1979		Video Killed the Radio Star	Buggles
# 25		1979		Planet Claire	B52s
# 26		1979		Money	Flying Lizards
# 27		1979		Warm Leatherette	Normal
# 28		1979		Johnny Be Rotten	Monks
# 29		1979		My Sharona	Knack
# 30		1980		Love Will Tear Us Apart	Joy Division
# 31		1980		I Will Follow	U2
# 32		1980		Going Underground	Jam
# 33		1980		Precious	Pretenders
# 34		1980		People Who Died	Jim Carrol Band
# 35		1980		High School Confidential	Rough Trade
# 36		1980		Rudy, A Message to You	Specials
# 37		1980		Mirror in the Bathroom	English Beat
# 38		1980		Echo Beach	Martha + Muffins
# 39		1980		Whip It	Devo
# 40		1980		I Got You	Split Enz
# 41		1980		Turning Japanese	Vapors
# 42		1980		Somethin' Else	Teenage Head
# 43		1980		Cars	Gary Numan
# 44		1980		Fade to Grey	Visage
# 45		1980		Quiet Life	Japan
# 46		1980		Video Verite	Blue Peter
# 47		1980		Enola Gay	OMD
# 48		1981		To Cut a Long Story Short	Spandau Ballet
# 49		1981		Planet Earth	Duran Duran
# 50		1981		Just Can't Get Enough	Depeche Mode
# 51		1981		Love Action	Human League
# 52		1981		Tainted Love	Soft Cell
# 53		1981		Dancing With Myself	Billy Idol
# 54		1981		Pretty in Pink	Psychedelic Furs
# 55		1981		Jet Boy Jet Girl	Elton Motello
# 56		1981		Never Say Never	Romeo Void
# 57		1982		Add It Up	Violent Femmes
# 58		1982		Look of Love	ABC
# 59		1982		SEX (I'm a...)	Berlin
# 60		1982		Come On Eileen	Dexy's Midnight Runners
# 61		1982		Der Commissar	Falco
# 62		1982		One Thing Leads to Another	Fixx
# 63		1982		I Ran	Flock of Seagulls
# 64		1982		Safety Dance	Men Without Hats
# 65		1982		Mexican Radio	Wall Of Voodoo
# 66		1982		Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum	Fun Boy Three
# 67		1982		New Gold Dream	Simple Minds
# 68		1982		Favorite Shirts	Haircut One Hundred
# 69		1982		Situation	Yaz
# 70		1982		Stool Pidgeon	Kid Creole
# 71		1982		Sleepwalk	Ultravox
# 72		1982		I Want Candy	Bow Wow Wow
# 73		1983		Sweet Dreams	Eurythmics
# 74		1983		Red Red Wine	UB40
# 75		1983		Mad World	Tears for Fears
# 76		1983		99 Luftballons	Nena
# 77		1983		Blue Monday	New Order
# 78		1983		Da Da Da	Trio
# 79		1983		We Live So Fast	Heaven 17
# 80		1983		Big Country	Big Country
# 81		1983		Radio Free Europe	REM
# 82		1983		The Lovecats	Cure
# 83		1983		Living on Video	Trans-X
# 84		1983		Lies	Thompson Twins
# 85		1983		Girl's Just Want to Have Fun	Cyndi Lauper
# 86		1983		This Is The Day	The The
# 87		1983		Walk Out To Winter	Aztec Camera
# 88		1984		Forever Young	Alphaville
# 89		1984		Small Town Boy	Bronski Beat
# 90		1984		Relax	FGTH
# 91		1984		88 Lines About 44 Women	The Nails
# 92		1984		Church Not Made with Hands	Waterboys
# 93		1984		Everyday Is Like Halloween	Ministry
# 94		1984		Wouldn't It Be Good	Nik Kershaw
# 95		1984		Send Me an Angel	Real Life
# 96		1984		It's My Life	Talk Talk
# 97		1984		Free Nelson Mandela	Specials AKA
# 98		1984		Tenderness	General Public
# 99		1984		How Soon Is Now?	Smiths
# 100		1984		Do They Know It's Xmas	Band Aid