Listening Room lost & found: Jonathan Richman
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- October
- 16
When artists like the Sex Pistols and Joan Jett both cover your song, you know you’ve pretty much come up with a classic.
And “Roadrunner” is just that.
Jonathan Richman’s catchy two-chord tune is rock and roll simplicity at its best — and has the staying power of any rock anthem.
This is one of those tunes you turn up when it comes on the radio. And that’s what happened: I was driving home after working late the other night and it came on, putting the melody into my head for the past three days.
Richman first recorded the song with the Modern Lovers in ’72, and released it in ‘75. It remains part of his repertoire on stage.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s done a heck of a lot more than the one song — he’s recorded over a dozen albums and he’s hardly a one-hit wonder. He also scored the soundtrack for the 1998 Farrelly Brothers hit flick, “There’s Something About Mary.” (He appears throughout the flick and that’s him getting shot at the very end).
But whatever his resume and his musical accomplishments, I just keep coming back to “Roadrunner.” It’s just one heck of a song.
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This entry was posted
on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 3:02 pm by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon.
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