I think this is one of the most heartbreaking songs. It's one of those songs I used to listen to in my room after a break-up and torture myself with. I had never ever seen the video until I started doing 80's Quest. I almost didn't want to post it, because it is just one of the worst, cheezy videos I have ever seen in my life, and I didn't want it to ruin the song for anyone. So my suggestion is: 1) Listen to the song alone first (don't look at the video). 2) Then look at the video later for shits and giggles.
I mean....c'mon!! How did this guy get to have a guitar with strings in his jail cell, in what I assume is supposed to be Alcatraz? Why does Marty Balin want us to see him in bikini swimsuits and underwear so much? First he's frolicking on a beach in bikini swim trunks with his woman. Marty grew up in San Francisco, not Europe...I really don't understand this. The water is also freezing in San Francisco! Then we get a second round of Marty in black binkini underwear right before some softcore cell action. Let's not leave out the cliche montage of "lovers in love" where he and his woman frolick on the beach, cross arms at the cafe to sip martini's, hug on a bridge in what nearly looks like a Sassoon jeans commercial, and run around together holding hands while wearing easter egg colored sweaters. Egads!!!
Yes, the video is unfortunate, but Marty Balin is one of the most interesting voices in psychedelic rock. He started out as a lithographer creating posters for bands' shows all around San Francisco in the 1960's and opening a rock club called Matrix. He started out in folk music, but then took it electric when he formed Jefferson Airplane with Paul Kantner. Marty sang with them from 1965 - 1971 including their gigs at the famed shows: the Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, and at Altamont Speedway where he was famously knocked unconscious by a member of the Hells Angels who had been hired as "security" for the concert, but proceeded to beat upon and even kill one concertgoer. He left Jefferson Airplane and later reunited with them after the band changed their name to Jefferson Starship, and that's when I become really partial to Marty Balin's singing because some of my favorite songs by them feature him on vocals: "Count on Me", "Runaway", and "Miracles".
The song "Hearts" came off Balin's 1981 solo album. For awhile in the early 1990's he hooked up with Wayne Green an entrepreneur from NH (and I'm told...an odd dude) to record an album in Green's newly created recording studio in a barn in NH over near Keene/ Peterborough way. I don't know what became of all that, but I remember being surprised Marty Balin was involved in this.
I mean....c'mon!! How did this guy get to have a guitar with strings in his jail cell, in what I assume is supposed to be Alcatraz? Why does Marty Balin want us to see him in bikini swimsuits and underwear so much? First he's frolicking on a beach in bikini swim trunks with his woman. Marty grew up in San Francisco, not Europe...I really don't understand this. The water is also freezing in San Francisco! Then we get a second round of Marty in black binkini underwear right before some softcore cell action. Let's not leave out the cliche montage of "lovers in love" where he and his woman frolick on the beach, cross arms at the cafe to sip martini's, hug on a bridge in what nearly looks like a Sassoon jeans commercial, and run around together holding hands while wearing easter egg colored sweaters. Egads!!!
Yes, the video is unfortunate, but Marty Balin is one of the most interesting voices in psychedelic rock. He started out as a lithographer creating posters for bands' shows all around San Francisco in the 1960's and opening a rock club called Matrix. He started out in folk music, but then took it electric when he formed Jefferson Airplane with Paul Kantner. Marty sang with them from 1965 - 1971 including their gigs at the famed shows: the Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, and at Altamont Speedway where he was famously knocked unconscious by a member of the Hells Angels who had been hired as "security" for the concert, but proceeded to beat upon and even kill one concertgoer. He left Jefferson Airplane and later reunited with them after the band changed their name to Jefferson Starship, and that's when I become really partial to Marty Balin's singing because some of my favorite songs by them feature him on vocals: "Count on Me", "Runaway", and "Miracles".
The song "Hearts" came off Balin's 1981 solo album. For awhile in the early 1990's he hooked up with Wayne Green an entrepreneur from NH (and I'm told...an odd dude) to record an album in Green's newly created recording studio in a barn in NH over near Keene/ Peterborough way. I don't know what became of all that, but I remember being surprised Marty Balin was involved in this.
Lyrics:
Is everything alright
I just called to say
How lost I feel without you
Miles away
I really can't believe I'm near
And how I still care about you
Hearts can break
And never mend together
Love can fade away
Hearts can cry
When love won't stay forever
Hearts can be that way
Is everything the same
Do you ever think of me
And how we loved one another
Will you change your mind
Will you want me back again
Or have you found yourself a new love
Hearts can break
And never mend together
Love can fade away
Hearts can cry
When love won't stay forever
Hearts can be that way
Is everything Ok
I just thought I'd write a song
To tell the world how I miss you
'Cos each and every day
I think of all the words I never said
And all the chances that I had to
Hearts can break
And never mend together
Love can fade away
Hearts can cry
When love won't stay forever
Hearts can be that way
Hearts can be that way
Hearts can be
Is everything alright
Great post. I agree that "Count on Me" is a good composition. I'd like to hear Matthew Sweet cover it.
ReplyDeleteFor me there's something weirdly repellent about Marty Balin's voice. I figured this out when Jefferson Starship had a hit with "Runaway" in 1978. It's beyond not liking his voice. It tweaks something physiological in me.
For years I thought I was the only person anything like this had ever happened to until a friend of mine told me about how her mother couldn't look at drawings by Dr. Seuss without getting nauseous, and then a few years later I found out my mother-in-law consistently cringes physically whenever she comes within earshot of Glenn Tilbrook's voice -- and it's not as if she knows who he is or can identify his voice. It's involuntary.
I guess it's kind of like those people who have seizures when exposed to blinking lights.
On the other hand, maybe I just don't like Marty Balin.
OMG, what you're describing reminds me of the case of the woman who for years had epileptic seizures everytime she heard Mary Hart's voice on Entertainment Tonight. What you describe is real!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/strange-case-mary-hart-induced-epilepsy-19918
Aw...I feel bad for your Mother-in-law that she's unable to listen to Glenn Tilbrook's voice though. That's a shame!
Don't you wish there was some kind of suggestion hotline straight to various artists that we could use to suggest great songs they would be perfect to cover?! And let me add, I'm big on lyrics, so I always thought the lyrics from "Count on Me" were so dreamy! Who else uses a line like "Emerald eyes and china perfume" in their song. Pretty!:
Precious love
I'll give to you
blue as the sky and deep in the
eyes of a love so true.
Beautiful face,
you make me feel
light on the stairs and lost in the
air of a love so real.
Emerald eyes and china perfume
caught in the wheel and lost in
the feel of a love so soon.
Ruby lips,
you make my song
into the night and saved by the light
of a love so strong.