Robert Palmer's "Johnny & Mary": C or D?

Er, well, that'd be Placebo for you then.

I really need to get digital copies of these tracks. I lost the liner notes to Addictions almost 15 years ago!

Never said it would (though actually, I don't think I have much idea what the lyric is about -- except, um, people named Johnny and Mary. Though maybe if I went back and listend to the thing, I'd remember.)

I do remember some writer in *NY Rocker* once saying he (the writer) collected versions of "Some Guys Have All The Luck". (He was reviewing one by a reggae singer named Junior Tucker or somebody.)

man these lyrics are HARSH

Johnny’s always running around
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain’t lonely
Mary counts the walls
Knows he tires easily

Johnny thinks the world would be right
If it could buy truth from him
Mary says he changes his mind more than a woman
But she made her bed
Even when the chance was slim

Johnny says he’s willing to learn
When he decides he’s a fool
Johnny says he’ll live anywhere
When he earns to time
Mary combs her hair
Says she should be used to it
Mary always hedges her bets
She never knows what to think
She says that he still acts
Like he is being discovered
Scared that he’ll be caught
Without a second thought
Running around

Johnny feels he’s wasting his breath
Trying to talk sense to her
Mary says he’s lacking a real
Sense of proportion
So she combs her hair
Knows he tires easily

Johnny’s always running around
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain’t lonely
Mary counts the walls
Says she should be used to it

Johnny’s always running around
Running around

Argh God it's so bleak. And it's not got a chorus, as if to emphasise that the relationship isn't going to go anywhere. Re the delivery: it is calm and measured as Palmer is a detached observer. In the clip, he's actually writing it down on a typewriter - he may be an author.

OTM Moley.

weirdly, i was sent the notwist version the other day (a propos of nothing) ... two days after i heard the placebo version for the first time. now an ILM thread appears. freak-eh.

Hey, Ken L and Alfred: ha ha to you both.

Anyway, I like "You Overwhelm Me" a whole lot better.

:)

His version of Numan's "I Dream of Wires" has a similar detached feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPHeK05bDA

haha this video! makes it a sort of lost ghost b-side to 'addicted to love', which i suppose it is really.

sounds like rod stewarts 'young turks' mixed with joe jackson's 'steppin out'. can't complain

speaking of Rod, his version of "Some Guys Have All The Luck," I've decided, is vastly inferior to Palmer's.

Stone cold classic.

I borrowed this album from my father on a lark; he'd been trying to get me to listen to Power Station and I think I grabbed this instead. It blew me away, and I tracked down a copy online (which, unfortunately, has a lot of cold stops, so it's not great for mixes). My girlfriend fell in love with it, and on a trip to some library conference at Southern Illinois, ditched out on her boring crew and made it to some used record store where she found the album and bought it for a dollar. At the same time, I was buying it at Record Surplus here in LA for a dollar. It's by far my favorite track of his, and my favorite album of his (and I agree that the Numan cover is better than the original).

I like the Palmer version, never heard another, only ever hear this on occasional radio really. But my favourite Palmer is still the untouchable 'She Makes My Day'.

i've been on a Palmer kick lately. digging his cover of You Are In My System, but heard Woke Up Laughing at the end of Pineapple Express and man... i'd only ever heard it pitched up to 45 before (some weird beardo joke). it's so amazing at it's regular speed

Yeah, the "You Are In My System" cover surpasses the original, methinks.

here's 'Woke Up Laughing' at 45 if you're curious
http://artdecade.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-palmer-woke-up-laughing-at-45.html

Always loved Johnny and Mary. It's one of those songs where every instrument arrives quietly, in its own time, and slots into place perfectly. The little rock guitar riff that barely announces itself in the middle of the second verse, the shiny synth that comes in a few bars later, with that motorik-esque beat running underneath the whole time. Flawless.

A friend made me a mix CD with the Tina Turner version. She gives it a little more urgency but not, perhaps, at the right moments.

I love this to bits, but my favourite Palmer track is the title track of Clues.

he looks like ewan macgregor playing david bowie in that italian video.

This is the soundtrack my current summer of complicated love, by the way.

Anyone who hates this song, should be shot (with lots of super furry bunnies).

agreed

Anyone who hates this song, should be shot (with lots of super furry bunnies).

― Nathalie (stevienixed), Wednesday, 11 February 2009 12:27 (1 year ago) Bookmark

^this.

CLASSIC CLASSIC CLASSIC, even after we in the UK had to suffer crappy french cafe style accordian versions soundtracking a bunch of Renault ads on TV during the early 90s

Let's just shoot Placebo instead, for their cover versions in general.

i swear i had this song somewhere lingering in the back of my head for about 20 years straight and had no idea it was Robert Palmer! was at a friend's place a few weeks back and it popped up on one of his mixes, giving me an immediate jolt of nostalgia unlike any i have experienced in a long time. have since dug out the album "Clues" and it's a fantastic listen.

Noted elsewhere but for reference:

It's album time for Norwegian DJ/disco producer Todd Terje. He'll release his new long-player, titled, yes, It's Album Time, on April 8 via his own Olsen Records. It features some amazing artwork from illustrator Bendik Kaltenborn, and it's got a guest spot from Bryan Ferry, covering Robert Palmer's "Johnny and Mary".

this has been in my head all day. didn't think much of the terje/ferry version

duet cover with the gal who covered it in French:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGIQB8Wf0rE

oohlala... fr.wiki.org suggests they were dating around this time as well.

They must have been on a promo junket:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXkgOAD0z2s

very nice finds!

His first greatest hits praises Leonor for being the first singer who got one of his songs right.

He looks so young then!

oohlala... fr.wiki.org suggests they were dating around this time as well.

Feel like early '80s Robert Palmer probably had a lot of dates.

and he was never young, just "less old."

Johnny says he’s willing to learn
Then he decides
He’s a fool

Clueswas the soundtrack for a road trip across half of the U.S. I took with in the late 80s one of my best friends. This song is the highlight for me. Absolute classic.

Clueswas the soundtrack for a road trip across half of the U.S. I took in the late 80s with one of my best friends. This song is the highlight for me. Absolute classic.

So classic I posted twice!

Classic

Just heard this song in the wild the other week, I think on a restaurant patio, I was very pleased.

Maybe in fact the best song

Johnny says he’s willing to learn
Then he decides
He’s a fool

is this a gag or... (it's when not then)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgBGDv

hmmm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W35Kjuspn4

is this that rarest thing: agreement across all ilxor?

“Ça plane pour moi” maybe?

_Johnny says he’s willing to learn
Then he decides
He’s a fool_

is this a gag or... (it's when not then)

Johnny says he'll live anywhere
Then he earns time to

Yay for Johnny and his exciting new life, wonder where he's gonna move to!

Okay that one is obviously “when.”

On Spotify the lyrics thinking has moronic quotes around the second part of both those phrases, as if Johnny is referring to himself in the third person.

I’m not going to go to the matte on this, you and Spotify are no doubt right. And thanks for the tv spot.