Our mom’s a cool cat!
Need a little audio inspiration to rise to the challenge of another week? Well, The Nest has one simple trick that’s guaranteed to help you achieve greatness! It’s Monday, and that’s the day we sort through our past baggage to pick out a great moment that deserves to be highlighted in the present from that lofty castle in the sky we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! Miss Scratchy will be your motivational DJ for this session, while the Sponkies work on their self-esteem coloring book which has no lines to color outside of. These words of wisdom won’t put money in some inspirational hack’s pocket….
We’ve met Cheap Trick before on the Dusty Vinyl Archive. About four years ago, I featured the much lesser known studio version of their breakout hit “I Want You To Want Me.” The Rockford, Illinois based quartet was one of America’s ultimate “big in Japan” outfits, achieving an insane level of popularity across the Pacific Ocean before anyone in America would even give them a listen.
But before the live Budokan version of “I Want You To Want Me” made Cheap Trick stars in their own country, they managed their first US Hot 100 hit with this rather interesting song…
“Surrender” was released as a single in June 1978, shortly after their famous tour of Japan, and managed to peak at #62. It’s definitely a song whose lyrics will stick in your head as one of the odder teen anthems ever written. How many reasonably well known songs have an entire verse dedicated to strange STD’s your mother warns you about catching from foreign women?
Some Indonesian junk that’s going around…
Ah, but the parents are alright! Just a little weird, as by the last verse, our teenage singer catches them rolling “numbers” and doing some other kind of rolling on the couch while listening to Kiss records. Yeah, your parents were probably hipper than you gave them credit for too…
Oh boy, Grandma’s giving out candy again!
Come back next Monday for another song that’s alright, but just seems a little weird…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
a gem from the past…and I’m alright too ;O)
We’re all alright!
So funny – I totally remember that song but never paid any attention to the lyrics (oops) and had no idea it was about STDs. I guess the beat and the band had my attention enough that I didn’t notice the subject matter! Duh.
Pam
Before breaking this song down for this post, the only two lyrics that stuck in my mind were the “Indonesian junk going round” and the parents “rolling on the couch.” I thought the band must be pretty obsessed with kinky stuff…. maybe they could write for The Nest!
I think even THEY would have trouble keepin’ up with The Nest! 🙂
Couldn’t get the video but remember the song.
Oh my – hahaha – I hear this all the time on the radio. Had no idea who sang it, or what the lyrics were. 🙂 Love it.
Cheap Trick did a lot of crazy songs like this back in their early days!
🙂 🙂
Who needs to import women to catch STD? Screw American-be patriotic,
Yeah, but some American women might be packing. And I don’t mean a gun…
That’s a pretty good tune but it’s the lyrics that make the song this time!
So now I just got to find one of those songs where you only liked the music and glue these lyrics after the intro….
This has always been a classic earworm! Love it.