This post first appeared last week as a contribution on A Sound Day, penned by fellow blogger Dave who hosts a great monthly feature titled Turntable Talk where he invites fellow bloggers to share their thoughts around a topic he suggests.
This time, Dave asked us to write about a song that we felt should have been a hit but wasn’t. Following is what I submitted. After the post had been published, I found what I feel is a better live version of the song and used it to replace the original clip. This version of the post has also been slightly edited to fit the format of my blog.
Turntable Talk, now in its 16th round, truly is a gift that keeps on giving. I always enjoy participating, so thanks for having me back, Dave!
This time, thanks to Max from PowerPop blog, our task was to identify a song that we feel should have been a hit but wasn’t. Dave rightly acknowledged that defining what is a hit can be tricky but did not set any guidelines other than suggesting we should only focus on tunes that were released as singles. Of course, this still leaves many options from which to pick.
As I further reflected on how I would define a hit, I decided it should be a single that entered the top 40 pop/mainstream singles chart. The next question was which country’s chart. Since I live in the U.S., naturally the Billboard Hot 100 came to mind first. Looking at that chart, you can find some incredible examples of songs that failed to become hits, such as AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Purple Haze and Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, stalling on at no. 47, no. 65 and no. 86, respectively.
Then I thought while the U.S. undoubtedly is an important music market, so are Australia, Canada and the UK, to name a few others. Once you consider more markets, finding a song that should have been a hit but wasn’t becomes more complicated.
While Highway to Hell missed the top 40 in the U.S., it climbed to no. 4, no. 9, no. 17, no. 24 and no. 30 in the UK, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Australia and Germany, respectively, clearly satisfying my above-mentioned definition of a hit in these countries. Or take Purple Haze, which undoubtedly was a hit in the UK (no. 3), Norway and Austria (no. 7 each), The Netherlands (no. 11) and Germany (no. 17).
This little exercise finally made me conclude that my real task was to find a single I really dig, which was released in multiple markets but failed to place within the top 40 in any. At first, it looked a bit like a daunting task. Then I suddenly remembered Joe Jackson had a number of singles that didn’t make the top 40 or didn’t chart at all. This includes one of my all-time favorites by the versatile English artist and my pick for this post: Down to London.
Written, arranged and produced by Jackson, Down to London was included on his 10th studio album Blaze of Glory released in April 1989. It also became one of three singles. Based on Wikipedia and Discogs, Down to London appeared as a single in the UK and various other European countries, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and Canada. Incredibly, not only did it fail to make the top 40 in any of these markets, but it didn’t chart at all anywhere except for Australia where it reached a measly no. 126!
According to Wikipedia, Down to London is an autobiographical tune that was inspired by Jackson’s early music career in London. “The song is from the point of view of a teenager who’s going to the big city for the first time,” Jackson told VH1 during an interview in 1989. “The songs on Blaze of Glory are loosely a journey through time from the perspective of someone who’s getting older as it goes along. The song is the third on the album. To me, it’s when I was about 17.”
He went on, “It’s an old story that’s retold everyday – people going to the big city to seek excitement, fame or just a job. The ambivalence of the song, I think, is although it’s your first exposure to that big city excitement, at the same time you’re exposed to a certain amount of harshness. You can’t afford to stay in a nice hotel, you’re sleeping on someone’s floor. There’s an element of that, but on the whole, I think the song is pretty positive.”
Here’s a version, included on Jackson’s 2004 live album Afterlife that was recorded during various gigs in California in August 2003.
Down to London may not be quite up there with Joe Jackson classics like Is She Really Going Out with Him?, One More Time, It’s Different For Girls or Steppin’ Out, but it sure as heck is a great song that at least would have deserved to land in the top 40 in the UK and the other markets in which the single appeared.
I’ll leave you with the lyrics.
Stop – what’s that sound
It’s the death rattle of this rusty old town
Stop – listen again
It’s the sound of laughter all along the Thames
Hey – what’s my line
Do I have to stay here ’til the end of time
I’m – good looking and bright
I want to see life after ten at night
So if they ask you where I am
I’m in the back of a transit van
In a squat on the earls court road
Gone down to London turning coal into gold
Down to London – down to London
Gone down to London to be the king
Hey – what’s your name
The boys back home all seem to look the same
You – should stick with me
And one of us will make it, just you see
Stop – what’s that sound
Seems like the sixties are still swinging around
Hey – can you hear me back there
Or is there anybody left to care
So if you ask me where they are
They’re hanging tough in a soho bar
Playing guitars in the underground
Gone down to London trying to chase that sound
Down to London – down to London
Gone down to London to be the king
So I ask you should I cry or laugh
Drinking tea in a kings cross caff
A leather jacket against the cold
Gone down to London turning coal into gold
Down to London – down to London
Gone down to London to be the king
Sources: Wikipedia; Discogs; YouTube