This song was on their second album, Wild Planet (the red one) which came out in 1980 and was recorded in the Bahamas! It had so many great songs on it: "Party Out of Bounds" (which was one of my top 3 song choices, but couldn't find a good video), "Give Me Back My Man", "Quiche Lorraine" (also in my top 3) and "Strobe Light" (also in my top 3 - I especially loved dancing to this one!)
Believe it or not the song we all probably most associate with The
B-52's and the 80's- "Rock Lobster" actually came out in 1979 on their self-titled album (the yellow one - which also had "Planet Claire", "Dance This Mess Around", and "52 Girls"on it). During the 80's if you did not play this song at your dance...then, your dance sucked. If you did not play this song at your party...then, your party sucked. There was nothing like a room full of people dancing wildly until their clothes stuck to their bodies with sweat, and then the whole entire room falling down to the floor and lying down together while Fred Schneider sang, "Down, Down, Down..." and then everyone jumping up in unison when the music kicked in again. Group fun!!!!
I first learned about the B-52's from my friend Kathy who lived diagonally across the street. She went to Catholic Jr. High School - and I think they were listening to the B-52's and playing them at their dances before we were at public school. She had the yellow album, and I had the red one and we would carry them back and forth across the street and play them back to back at each other's house.
We played the B-52's all throughout my lifetime during the 80's: at Jr. High School dances, at high school dances, and then at frat parties in college. The B-52's got their start in a college town, Athens, Georgia and were named for the big beehive hairdos that the girls in the band wore which resembled the nose of a B-52 aircraft. I remember doing a project at school a photo-journalistic booklet made from colored paper and magazine photo cut-outs entitled "Looking Back on 1980". In the music section I had a giant photo of the B-52's and did a little write up on them as a new band ushering in an au courant brand of music called "New Wave". Something new was in the air, and we absolutely loved them! Still do! I used to dress up weird and go see them every summer at The Hampton Beach Club Casino. No matter how old you were it felt like everyone in attendance was 19 again at some basement party having a ball! The whole wood floor on the joint would be shakin'! Of course, the
B-52's had other albums (with great songs) in the 80's including "Whammy", "Mesopotamia", "Bouncing Off the Satellites" and 1989's "Cosmic Thing" which included their first song to crack the U.S. Top Ten at #3 - "Love Shack". Special shout out to my Bar-Barian buddy, Bruce who I know looooooves The B-52's.
Lyrics:
Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Living in your own Private Idaho
Underground like a wild potato.
Don't go on the patio.
Beware of the pool,
Blue bottomless pool.
It leads you straight
Right through the gate
That opens on the pool.
You're living in your own Private Idaho.
You're living in your own Private Idaho.
Keep off the path, beware the gate,
Watch out for signs that say "hidden driveways".
Don't let the chlorine in your eyes
Blind you to the awful surprise
That's waitin' for you at
The bottom of the bottomless blue blue blue pool.
You're livin in your own Private Idaho. Idaho.
You're out of control, the rivers that roll,
You fell into the water and down to Idaho.
Get out of that state,
Get out of that state you're in.
You better beware.
You're living in your own Private Idaho.
You're living in your own Private Idaho.
Keep off the patio,
Keep off the path.
The lawn may be green
But you better not be seen
Walkin' through the gate that leads you down,
Down to a pool fraught with danger
Is a pool full of strangers.
You're living in your own Private Idaho,
Where do I go from here to a better state than this.
Well, don't be blind to the big surprise
Swimming round and round like the deadly hand
Of a radium clock, at the bottom, of the pool.
I-I-I-daho
I-I-I-daho
Woah oh oh woah oh oh woah oh oh
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah
Get out of that state
Get out of that state
You're living in your own Private Idaho,
Livin in your own Private Idaho.
No comments:
Post a Comment