Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust


Reel Big Fish, "One Hit Wonderful" from We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy (The Last Angry Rude Boy)

Skammentary: The Reel Big Fish have played the paramount if not dominant rôle in this SKAugust (providing nearly one-third of the R.B.D.S.O.T.D.) because no other band has so persistently & incisively commented on the Summer of Ska & its aftermath. This SKAugust is different from all the SKAprils because it's not just a showcase of the manifold splendors of ska, but an extended musing upon that golden moment in 1997, the Summer of Ska, & its afterglow over the twenty years since.

We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy was released in 2005, almost a decade after Turn the Radio Off, the album that contained R.B.F.'s one big hit, "Sell Out" (iconic music video pictured above). "One Hit Wonderful" opens radio promo samples for "flashback lunches" featuring their one hit, "Sell Out."
"Fourteen minutes and fifty-nine second into our fifteen minutes of fame,
When the luck runs out, I won't wonder who's to blame,
Because nobody ever said they had a guaranteed way
To win the hearts of the public who are easily swayed,
And just this time last year, I thought we had it made.

"We were one hit wonderful,
Livin' the life, playin' the rôle,
We were one hit wonderful,
Well, it can't last long,
They don't love you,
They just love that one song!

"Well, things don't last long in life; that's how it goes,
They'll smile and applaud, then turn up their nose,
Things will shrink as quickly as they've grown,
But it's perfectly normal for us to ask why,
Company wasn't untrue, they just didn't try,
A new career is born, it will eventually die.

"We were one hit wonderful,
Livin' the life, playin' the rôle,
We were one hit wonderful,
Well, it can't last long,
They don't love you,
They just love that one song!

"So many lovely melodies,
So many messages to convey,
But they don't care about any of these,
'Play that one damn song!' is what they say.

"We were one hit wonderful,
Livin' the life, playin' the rôle,
We were one hit wonderful,
Well, it can't last long,
They don't love you,
Oh, no!
We were one hit wonderful,
Livin' the life, playin' the rôle,
We were one hit wonderful,
Well, it can't last long,
They don't love you,
They just love that one song!"

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