Sunday, March 31, 2013

"45 45's until I'm 45" (#23/45)

Good morning friends,

there is not a lot I can say that hasn't already been said about this song: its truly a classic and thus surely Buzzcocks' greatest hit. Nevertheless I don't get tired to listening to it every once in a while ... dunno why, perhaps it's because I've always been a sucker for neat tunes broaching the issue of unfulfilled love. The Undertones' 'Teenage Kicks' comes to mind here as well ... and whenever I find the time I will try to make t.h.e. definitive mixtape of songs about this subject, you'll wait and see! In the meantime, here's to you your number twenty-three in my little list. Enjoy:


United Artists Records - UP 36455 (1978)


Some excerpts from Wikipedia:

Sometime during November 1977, the band watched the musical Guys & Dolls in the TV lounge of a guesthouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the dialogue "Have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have" from the film which inspired the song. The following day Shelley wrote the lyrics of the song, in a van outside a post office, with the music following soon after.

Critic Ned Raggett describes the song as a "deservedly well-known masterpiece." Mark Deming notes, "Pete Shelley's basic formula in the Buzzcocks was to marry the speed and emotional urgency of punk with the hooky melodies and boy/girl thematics of classic pop/rock. When he applied this thinking to that most classic of pop themes, unrequited teenage love, he crafted one of his most indelible songs, 'Ever Fallen in Love?'".

Well described and there ain't much to add to that.

Have fun and enjoy your Easter bank holidays,

Dirk

1 comment:

TheRobster said...

Can't believe no one has commented on this yet. Either everyone has gone away for Easter and has no access to the Internet (unlikely) or there isn't anything left to be said about this track (far more likely).

Even my teenage daughter loves this record, which sums up what a terrific pop song it is. Mind, she is beginning to develop some decent taste of late. I try my best, you know...