Songs That Need Our Love....Part 12

On The Loose by Saga.

Another Canadian band that caught a spark in the US for a few minutes. The song, On The Loose, was a top 40 hit in 1981.....but not because the video is any good (early MTV was filled with great songs....terrible videos). I'm not sure why the lead singer breaks out of jail and hides on stage in the middle of a concert. And why don't the police recognize him??? He's only wearing a giant white jump suit with a spot light on himself. Oh well, the song is awesome.

So please enjoy.

Songs That Need Our Love....Part 11

Caught Up In You by 38 Special.

I love me some Gibson guitar fueled rock....and this song has 3 Gibson guitar players....and 2 drummers (The bass player must have felt very lonely). 38 Special was founded by neighborhood friends Don Barnes (lead singer) and Donnie Van Zant (middle brother of the Van Zant brothers, from Lynyrd Skynyrd) in Jacksonville, Florida in 1974. By the early 80's the band had crossed over from Southern Rock to mainstream rock with a series of radio friendly hits. Thank goodness they never needed music videos to break into the big time, 'cause this video is not the way to sell this song....maybe they wanted to sell beer (just look at the drum riser and you'll see what I mean).

If you want to have a hour or so of fun, go to the Wikipedia page for the band and try to chart out the members of the band over the years.

But since the song is the star of this show....please enjoy.

Judgement On Your Friends and Staring At Your Hands.

S....A.....F....E....T....Y....Safe.....Dance....

Ok, What We're We Thinking???

The song that probably raises more questions than it answers. But lets take a look at the whole picture and see what we get. Men Without Hats was a band from Canada and this was their one big hit. Released in early 1983 its supposed to be about bouncers at Canadian dance clubs that were stopping people from pogo-ing (an early, non-violent form of slam dancing). Um...what?

Ok, well the song is one of those classic 80's synth-pop songs that had a great hook and a great dance beat so it makes sense that it was a #1 US dance hit. But what is going on with some of the lyrics? "...'cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance well they're no friends of mine".....that seems a bit judgmental. But lets take a look at the one line that always has me stopping mid-Safety Dancing....."Everybody Look At Your Hands". WHAT???? Every time that line comes up...I look at my hands....but now what do I do??? And why am I being asked (or is it told?) to do this??? I'm still confused.

The video provides no help. Only the lead singer (and chief songwriter), Ivan Doroschuk, appears in the video. But don't let that fact confuse you...'cause there's a whole gang of strange people to fill this video. There's a dwarf that is playing a lute, there's a hyper-active blond woman and some sort of Renaissance Faire going on and every few seconds or so someone forms their arms into the shape of an "S"...see, 'cause its the Safety Dance....like I said, this video doesn't offer any help. It should be noted that the blonde woman has since been identified as Louise Court. She is an Editor and Writer at Cosmopolitan Magazine (it still seems odd to me that she was "missing"....I never knew there were people looking for her).

Enjoy the video and re-live the oddness.