Night Music: The Modern Lovers, “Roadrunner”

All that traffic yesterday landed us outside Boston, where the Red Sox started the ALCS against the Tigers tonight. Nice to see friends checking in from the ballpark, which got me thinking about tunes about the city. Too much congruence to ignore. My first impulse was a piece of premier cheese, Dave Loggins’ maudlin “Please Come to Boston,” but as I type this the hometown boys are down 1-0 in the top of the ninth, with the Tigers threatening. Consider this classic a rally cap, in the neon when it’s cold outside:

PS> I hadn’t been paying attention, I was out at the movies seeing Captain Phillips, so I didn’t realize that the Red Sox had been no hit through eight. In the ninth Daniel Nava singled, breaking up the no hitter and introducing some offense into the Red Sox dismal night. But it was not enough.

PPS> Captain Phillips is very well done, but any reviews that suggest that there is extra thinking going on here are wrong. Very exciting action sequences are connected by succinct storytelling bits, but apart from the thrill ride there isn’t much here to make you say wow.

PPPS> All the acting, by Tom Hanks and the non-professional Somali crew, as well as everyone else, is great. As far as they’re asked to go. The Somalis go far because they’re not at all trained. Hanks goes far because he is really good when he’s inside his zone. He is here.

 

3 thoughts on “Night Music: The Modern Lovers, “Roadrunner”

  1. Hey guys, I’m about to see what’s happening in Paris, where I’m going tomorrow with my wife. Then it’s off to Greece and Turkey on a cruise. I have never been to Europe or taken a cruise. This is our first vacation in a long time. We are going to relax. Thank you for the jolt of Roadrunner. See you here in two weeks, then AZ!

    • This is the album version. The other “official” version, I think, is the one on Beserkley Chartbusters. Both are equally great, as is the Sex Pistols’ cover (well, great probably isn’t the right adjective for that).

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