Night Music: The Smithereens, “Behind The Wall of Sleep”

I promise you I haven’t thought of this song in a long time, though I think I own the 45. Still, I don’t have a story really, and can only say it came up today randomly while I was making dinner and it floored me anew.

Quote of the day (28 years later):

“She stands there like Bill Wyman
I am her biggest fan.”

The song came out in 1986, on the band’s first full length elpee, Especially For You. Opinion’s vary about the album, which sounds great, but also wears its influences fairly heavily. The most famous song from the album is Blood and Roses, which has a wicked bass line, an explosive lead guitar, and darkly foreboding lyrics. But was it a mistake for lead singer Pat DiNizio to adopt a style that was either Maynard G. Krebs or Brother Theodore or a combo of the two?

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