This has been a Simply Red kind of weekend for me. Shut up.
There are only a few bands that get me like Mick Hucknall's band. And it has nothing to do him copying my red haired-blue eyed thing I've been working all my life (anybody from back in the day remember when I was Mick for Halloween in 1987? Yeah, that was me). I'm talking about some blue-eyed soul, though. Few bands did that better than Simply Red in the 80's. Now the band's just Mick and that's fine with me.
Simply Red debuted in 1985 with the superfantastic album, Picture Book, and released the great "Money's Too Tight (to Mention)" — a song about tough financial times (hmm, strangely familiar, no?) with the line "we talkin' 'bout Reaganomics." Now, does it get better than that? If I could make a list of phrases for be included in a song, "Reaganomics" would definitely be on that list (along with "after school special," but that's a blog for a different day). I used their title "Holding Back the Years" (their first US #1 single) as a title for a short story once, as I do love using song titles in my writing. The other videos I'm including today are a fan's vid of "Heaven," also from Picture Book, which is a lovely song about a bar; the song that never fails to make me tear up, Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" from 87's Men and Women and the cover of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "If You Don't Know Me by Now" from 89's A New Flame. If you're a fan, Simply Red has a nice You Tube channel with heaps of high quality vids, lots of concert footage and more. It was nice to find high quality stuff for today's post, it's usually such a chore. When you go to the channel, check out "Infidelity," "For Your Babies," and "Stars." Enjoy.
EDIT: shut up. I found an 80's leftover. 1992's "Your Mirror," which I listened to relentlessly while going through a particularly hard time. Here is the video, a live version, and the lyrics — because it's right on, baby.
"Your Mirror"
I've got to stand up for myself
This society don't care about nobody else
I've got to be strong
Even if I know that this feeling is wrong
I've got to not care
Even if I know that this world is meant to
Share
Wait a minute. This is wrong
Even the birds still sing their faithful song
And your beauty lies within you
Look in the mirror baby
Look in the mirror baby
What you gonna do when your friends have
Gone away
And deserted you
You'll have to be strong
24 hours can seem so long
You're taught to not care
And then not realise this world is meant to
Share
Wait a minute. It's wrong
Even the birds still sing their faithful song
And your beauty lies within you
Look in the mirror baby
Look in the mirror baby
We've got to stand up for ourselves
Even if a leader so cold wants to glory himself
We've got to be strong
Even if our reasons seem wrong
We've got to not care
Even if the world that we know may not even
Be here
Hold it! It's wrong
Even the birds still sing their faithful song
And your beauty lies within you
Look in the mirror baby
Look in the mirror baby
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