Hi Everyone, sorry for the prolonged absence and for not visiting your blogs lately. Work is a little hairy at the moment….Luckily my good friend James Lipton has returned with another of his insightful interviews. Here is a real, 100% genuine interview with ELO leader Jeff Lynne about his song “Don’t Bring Me Down“.
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James Lipton: “Don’t Bring Me Down” is, in my opinion, one of the great songs of the late ’70’s
Jeff Lynne: Thanks James, I appreciate it.
JLip: There’s one thing I’ve always wondered about it, though.
JL: What’s that?
JLip: Who’s Bruce?
JL: Bruce?
JLip: You know, (singing) “Don’t bring me down….Bruuuuuce”
JL: No, it’s not “Bruce”, it’s “Groose”
JLip: “Groose”?
JL: That’s right, “Groose”
JLip: Hmmm….I don’t know quite how to say this….
JL: Go ahead….
JLip: It isn’t prounounced “Groose”, its prounounced “Grouse”. It rhymes with “house”
JL: (puzzled) “Grouse”?
JLip: Yes. Surely if there’s no “Bruce”, the song must be about the polygamous gamebird and its elaborate courtship displays?
JL: No, the song isn’t about birds.
JLip: Oh….(pause) Then what is it about?
JL: Hmmmm….(pause). Good question…..
(awkward silence)
I’m glad you’re back! I was starting to worry.
“Don’t Bring Me Down” is the greatest roller skating song of all time! Ah, the memories!
JLip’s looking good just like a pimp in the grass. I shouldn’t have said that, now I’m feeling midnight blue.
Yeah, I back. I can’t stay away.
To prove my theory that everything in life leads back to Ace Frehley, I would like to know Jeff Lynne’s opinion on Ace’s cover of “Do Ya”.
JLip is a crabby ass.
Yeah, I’M back. Douh! No more comments out of me without spellcheck.
There must be some sort of ELO voodoo going on. I was at a party last week were someone was telling me what a great song Livin’ Thing was. Then I couldn’t get it out of my head for about three days. Jeff Lynne over and over and over and over. I’m passing along the infection.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ivFM0pYyUcY
I’d always wondered about that. Thanks.
Elizabeth: Yes, he/she who has never been on the roller rink can never fully appreciate this one. And thanks for the Ace link. I loved the little touch at the end “DoYa DoYa want…the ACE?”.
Dale: One of these days someone will break his glass…Which brings me to a question JLip should have asked “wouldn’t the song be a lot cooler if the line was ‘one of these days someone will break your ass’?”.
CP: True, but he’s got that hip rapper-like nickname. Yo’ JLip….
Tenacious S: There’s been some weird ELO voodoo in the air since 1973. I think the semi-annoying way their songs stick in your head is the reason they went out of vogue for a while there. People just can’t handle it…
Bubs: We were put on this earth to help.
Glad to have you back. I turn to stone when you are gone.
Anyway, I always thought it was “Bruce,” too. Glad JLip clarified things for us. I think Elizabeth also nailed this one pretty good — man, I did some serious-ass roller skating to this tune.
Maybe JLip could ask JL a few questions about Fire On High sometime.
Hillman: You talking about the satanic backwards messages? JLip doesn’t touch the devil stuff. He’s all about the good.
you mean it’s NOT “Bruce”??
I’m surprised JLip let him off so easy….he should have grilled him over his involvement in the Xanadu soundtrack and all the harm that unleashed. (Although I still think Olivia Newton-John is hot!)
My wife knows 1970s rock much, much better than me, so I can’t quite place this song. But isn’t it a cover of Beatles tune by the same name? My wife would be so embarassed if she knew I asked that question.
Yeah… Aside from the “satanic” part, Fire on High rocks. And of course, that “turn to stone” comment of mine was in reference to another of their major hits.
Funny, their backwards masking on Fire on High freaked the shit out of my mother. But, it couldn’t have been more non-satanic, when you think about it. Clearly, it was just tape played backwards, placed there purposely and prominently, more as a marketing stunt than anything else. But, my mother was convinced that some band member recorded it live like that, possessed by a demon or something.
Large, Warm Citrus Fruit: I understand how you feel, it kind of shook my world view when I found out….
Chris: Yeah, JLip kind of pussed out at the critical moment…
Grant: For asking that question you are sentenced to a week roller skating to “Don’t Let Me Down” by the Beatles. It will be the most dour roller skating experience of your life !!!!
Hillman: Ha, my mom was all about that backward masking stuff too…Like somehow when you listen to a song you’re absorbing not only the forward message but the backwards one as well. Which is laughable, given that I’m hardly bright enough to know what’s going on in a song even when I know the lyrics. I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but my favourite backwards message on a song was by the B52s. When you played it backwards it said “don’t play the record backwards, you’ll damage your needle”. Genius.
I am ashamed to admit that I’m not really familiar with this song or this band. What a blow, I thought I knew all the cheesy 70’s hits! How could I have lived this long without it? Thanks, Anadamide!
I always thought it was “Pruitt.”
Prunella: You and Grant need to click on the you tube link above and be transported into roller skating heaven.
Delia: “Pruitt”? But that doesn’t make any sense !!! “Groose”, now that makes sense !!!
Silly me….I thought “back-masking” was a way to get rid of unwanted body hair for men over 40.
For asking that question you are sentenced to a week roller skating to “Don’t Let Me Down” by the Beatles. It will be the most dour roller skating experience of your life !!!!
it’ll be pretty ugly, too, since the thing changes time signatures multiple times. 5/4 is not the most graceful signature to skate to.
Chris: Well done !!!
Cleek: Damn straight, and visions of Yoko dancing through your head the whole time….
Pruitt makes plenty of sense. Ray Pruitt from 90210!! He pushed Donna down the stairs!! That guy deserves a song…and a better one than “Hold On.”
I think ELO and Manfred Mann should team up for a song called “Don’t Bring Me Down, Douche.”
Damn, I knew that name sounded familiar. Who could forget the guy who made us all say “poor Donna, when is she gonna win at the game of love?”
To build on an earlier comment, how much better would that song be if the lyric had been “break your ass” and “don’t bring me down, douche”? good stuff, BeckEye.
Greatest roller skating song of all time? In my days at Wisconsin Skate University, I majored in “New York Groove”, with a minor in “Hot Child in the City”.
You attended WSU too? Small world !!!
Those are great roller skating tunes too. I’d also throw in “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”. The roller rink was the only place disco KISS made sense.
Somebody should do a “greatest roller skating tunes of all time” list. Which would essentially boil down to a “greatest roller skating tunes 1976-1982″ list.
I agree about the list…. I am trying to put together a “Roller Skating Tunes” CD to listen to in the car but can’t remember all the songs….. Doesn’t some DJ have a list for each year what was hot at the rink?