The Regular Friday Post
Rando Lyric: The light diffused and fractured
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “Sit on the bed, look at the sky” is from the song "Talk Of The Town”. Written by Chrissie Hynde, and performed by The Pretenders, it was recorded in 1980 and released in the UK in 1980, then in 1981 on an EP titled “Extended Play”, and then as Track 6 on the album “Pretenders II”, released in 1981. Produced by Chris Thomas.
This from Genius: “Pretenders are an English-American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion).
Ed. From Wikipedia, a really interesting backstory on the song from Ms. Hynde, and a different fan/press view:
"Talk of the Town" was inspired by a fan Chrissie Hynde had encountered on the band's first tour. She explained in a BBC Songwriters' Circle special, "I had in mind this kid who used to stand outside the soundchecks on our first tour... I never spoke to him. I remember that the last time I saw him I just left him standing in the snow, I never had anything to say to him. I kind of wrote this for him, so, in the unlikely event that you're watching this, I did think about you."[3] It was also rumored that the song was written about Kinks frontman Ray Davies, whom Hynde would date and have a child with.[2] The title itself was inspired by a London nightclub of the same name.[2][3] "Talk of the Town", one of the first songs written following the Pretenders album, was recorded in Paris.[1] At the time of the creation of Pretenders II, Hynde found confidence in the song's radio success, saying "I knew that people still liked us and we were getting airplay with 'Message of Love', 'Talk of the Town', [and] 'I Go to Sleep'".[1]
Credit: Genius Link: Pretenders
From Wikipedia:
Link: Talk Of The Town Link: Pretenders II
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
Today’s “A Song To Play” is “Talk Of The Town” - Chrissie Hynde, with or without The Pretenders, has always been a favorite of mine and over the years of this Substack, I’ve featured a number of songs by her and the band - always great songs!
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Some Stuff:
Some Links (Ed. - limited to timely links this week from Music Business Worldwide)
It Never Ends...Another Ed Sheeran Appeal To The Supremes
UK - Thousands Of Deepfake Takedowns
A Song To Play: Pretenders - “Talk Of The Town”
4/4 common time, in the Key of G Major, and another 136 beats per minute song (last week’s George Harrison song “Cosmic Empire” was also a 136 BPM song).
*Note On “Talk Of The Town” on Chordify: “Song Frequency - This song has non-standard frequency tuning, you might enjoy jamming better if your instrument is tuned to 447Hz.”
Chordify hears the song in the alternate tuning of A4=447 Hz (standard tuning is A4=440). Not sure if this indicates an alternate guitar tuning, nothing else I’ve seen notes the alternate tuning, but this guide may help if you decide to: Alternate Tuning.
Also:
“The A note at 440 Hz (A4) can be found on a standard-tuned guitar at the 2nd fret of the 3rd string (G string): This is the most common position.” Credit: Quora comment Link: Quora: A=440Hz
See Also: Various Discussions On The Internet About Alternate Tunings - It’s all you might expect; have fun!
*Another Note: Not endorsements, I receive no compensation of any sort from anyone, just sayin’. I use Snarks for tuning. The basic models (cheap but effective) don’t allow for alternate tunings. Fancier Snarks do feature alternate tuning by Hz (more $, but still not bad).
I also have/use this…
…which isn’t available on Amazon anymore (was $10 when I bought it several years ago), but there are plenty of other brands that are just like it. Very useful for writing your own songs, or practicing someone else’s and getting the tempo/timing/tuning just right. Various models are reasonably inexpensive, now in the $15-$30 range.
“Talk Of The Town” uses almost all the chords in the Key of GMajor (all except the VII chord, the F#dim): G Am BMaj C D Em, but note the BMaj is non-diatonic to the Key of GMajor. The diatonic chord would be B minor (notation: Bm-). Note that other sources don’t hear a BMaj, but rather B Dominant 7 (notation: B7) throughout - I would definitely play it that way, but your mileage may vary. Others also hear most of the Major chords as a variety of extended chords, mostly Dominant 7 chords. Hard to say, if you have a subscription to Ultimate Guitar you can find a number of mostly interesting chord charts there…
…have fun!!
Chordify Link:
Lyrics Credit: Genius Link: Talk Of The Town
It's such a drag to want something sometime
One thing leads to another, I know
Was a time I wanted you for mine
Nobody knew
You arrived like a day and passed like a cloud
I made a wish, I said it out loud
Out loud in a crowd
Everybody heard
'Twas the talk of the town
It's not my place to know what you feel
I'd like to know but why should I?
Who were you then? Who are you now?
Common labourer by night, by day, highbrow
Back in my room, I wonder, then I
Sit on the bed, look at the sky
Up in the sky
Clouds rearrange
Like the talk of the town
Maybe tomorrow (Maybe tomorrow), maybe someday (Maybe someday)
Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday (Maybe someday)
You've changed (You've changed), your place in this world
You've changed (You've changed), your place in this world
Oh, but it's hard to live by the rules
I never could and still never do
The rules and such never bothered you
You call the shots and they follow
I watch you still from a distance, then go
Back to my room, you'll never know
I want you, I want you, but now
Who's the talk of the town?
The “ME!” Section…..
What I’m Listening2: -
- 25 songs, some more playable than others… (Note - you may have to go to Ultimate Guitar or Chordify - subscriptions required, but worth it - to find chord charts for them)!
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song is out! Link: “>Long Road Back<”click on this link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even Spotify
If you’re enjoying our content, please let your friends and musician acquaintances know about us!!! Thanks for supporting this free newsletter!
Disclaimer Section
This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention (except when you click on one of the links above for my song - then I might make 0.003 cents - yes 3/1000ths of a cent… just sayin…). Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). *I do not use AI for any of the text that’s found here, things I link to (such as some images) might…
-Michael Acoustic
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This Week’s Conversation With Mika, The Cat:
Me: “Are you, umm, like, on alert or something?”
Mika: “I’m the only thing between you and chaos, human…”
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
Interesting story on what inspired "Talk of the Town."