Sunday's post about Genesis' "Home by the Sea" and "Second Home by the Sea" spawned a lot of fun commentary across the digital platforms. Let's go creeping up the blind side, shinning up the wall and check it out...
"When I was in college, I was a PT bartender at a little local dive bar. Yes, I was a bartender 3½ years before I could legally drink ... go figure. Their jukebox was roughly 50/50 split between Metal & Contemporary Country. However, the owner's SIL at some point added a novelty 45 with the 'The Ballad of Gilligan's Island' theme song on it. On weeknights, Last Call was whenever the owner's daughter felt like leaving and it was rarely at the same time from night to night. It was often my job to override the current song and play Gilligan as a Last Call signal. The regulars were used to it ... but it frequently pissed strangers off."
John Byrne, who says "Second Home by the Sea" is in his Top 10 favorite Genesis songs, then started ruminating about the length of the single as it relates to potential jukebox play:
"If I can nerd out here for a moment — that B side has to be an edited version — 'Second Home by the Sea" is 6+ minutes long. Nothing worse than an edited single. I bought the Fleetwood Mac 'Sara' single as a kid and I was heartbroken when I discovered it was an edited version."
To which I replied: "I wondered about that, too. But I've also seen plenty of jukeboxes with 'Stairway to Heaven' and some of the other iconic longer songs of the 1970s. ... This interesting thread seems to indicate a number of 8-minute singles on 45's."
John Byrne: "Very interesting! I thought for sure longer songs had to be edited if released on a 45. Thanks for sending."
Wendyvee: "I'm pretty sure that I had to endure 13 or 14 minutes of drunk people singing 'Free Bird' while I was working lol lol."
(Though it seems like a godawful eternity, "Free Bird" is only 9:08 in the album version.)
***
Meanwhile, in the comments here on blog, Brian Busby of the terrific website The Dusty Bookcase wrote: "[Regarding] 'Who the heckfire played "Second Home by the Sea" on a jukebox??' I was going to suggest a really big fan — but then, as you write, you wouldn't have played it yourself. The weirdest thing I ever played on a jukebox was Bowie's 'V-2 Schneider,' the B-side of 'Heroes,' in a smalltown Quebec pool hall. Well worth the two-bits!"
***
Finally, when I linked to the "Second Home by the Sea" post on Twitter, I ended up going down an odd National Hockey League rabbit hole with Delmonico Steiner (@ssteiner13), who wrote: "It is so weird you posted this. I have been in a quest for confirmation from anyone please it is driving me crazy: Does anyone remember PHL17 playing this song during [Philadelphia] Flyer Highlights? Second Home by the Sea? Anyyyyonnneee?"
To which I tied almost everything together and replied: "This does remind me of a great story. On May 28, 1987, Genesis was playing at Veterans Stadium for the first of two nights. Next door, Flyers were playing the Oilers in Game 6. When Daigneault scored The Goal, the Veterans Stadium crowed erupted in cheers in the middle of a song."
Delmonic Steiner, clearly a Flyers fan at some level, replied in a way that gave me the sinking realization that he didn't know what I was referring to with Daigneault and The Goal in that year's Stanley Cup Finals.
The. Goal.
And now I feel very, very old.
Speaking of very, very old. Genesis is touring later this year. Or at least planning to. Unfortunately, the tickets for the Splendid Septuagenarians are very expensive, causing Wendyvee to lament: "Thought I might treat myself to a ticket for Uncle Phil & the Boys down at the Senior Citizens Center. Unfortunately, I would have to sell a few organs (and perhaps my soul) on the Black Market to fund it. Anyone want to buy RoadsideWonders as a non-fungible token for a few million $$$?"
P.S. from me: Don't get me started on non-fungible tokens.
No comments:
Post a Comment