Where Hustle’s the Name of the Game

It’s Friday, and time for a new Friday 10! Last week’s post was a little less extravagant, a little less verbose, just a little less in general, so we’re going to do this week’s in the reverse of the usual order — lyrics first, then jabbering about the previous two weeks. Except, of course, to tell you that 7 lyrics were correctly identified last week! 4 by Fred, 2 by Frodis Caper, and 1 by John.

Now, get in the comments and identify this week’s lyrics! Remember, no searchin’ (and definitely no asking an LLM), and you get credit for identifying a different cover version than the one I list — but only if it’s a cover that I can actually find.

1. Jonny wants a brain, Jonny wants to suck on a Coke
   David Bowie, “I’m Afraid of Americans” 📺
   Identified by Fred
2. Sheriff John Stone, why won’t you leave me alone?
   Beach Boys, “Sloop John B” 📺
   Identified by Fred
3. ‘Cause if this heart is gonna break, it’s gonna take a lot to break it
4. Monkey hear, monkey think — there is no fear in this dojo
5. And if I have been unkind, I hope that you will just let it go by
6. Born into Nixon, I was raised in Hell
7. I see a poster of her, and I’ve just got to rip it apart
8. When they touch my shoulder (oh!) that’s the touch that kills
9. Messed up the line? Nope, sometimes I don’t rhyme
10. Once is never enough with a man like you

Now, last week’s 10 had 7 lyrics identified, as I said above — and that’s a lot for my usual 10! I don’t know if we’re going to match that this week. Among the lyrics that went unidentified was Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life,” It’s fascinating to think that a song from certified box office flop Daredevil (the version starring Ben Affleck) was pretty much an inescapable pop culture moment as MTV and the radio was quick to jump on the Nü Metal single. Part of its signature sound is, infamously, the rap verse from Paul McCoy, which writer and lead vocalist Amy Lee added under protest after the label insisted on it following ten demos.

…a couple of years later Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee revealed that her record label had refused to release it unless she agreed to make it a duet.
“It was presented to me as, ‘You’re a girl singing in a rock band, there’s nothing else like that out there, nobody’s going to listen to you,” she claimed. “‘You need a guy to come in and sing back-up for it to be successful.'”
—The Guardian

Lee would also tell George Garner of “Kerrang!” that the addition of a male rapper to “Bring Me to Life” was a position she had to argue the label down to, saying that if the label had had its way, “then there would be a rap on, like, eight out of 11 songs on Fallen.” Lee has since re-recorded the song to reflect both how she would approach it now with years more experience in music production, and the way she originally wanted the song to sound without the male vocals.

As for the week before, the two lyrics identified out of 10 is a lot closer to how this game usually goes. Among the lyrics left unidentified was one of my old favorites, “I’ve Got a Radio,” by The Coyote Sisters. The trio of Marty Gwinn Townsend, Renée Armand, and Leak Kunkel (who was Cass Elliot’s younger sister) had their biggest success with “Straight from the Heart (Into Your Life)” which topped out at 66 on the US Hot 100 and 16 on the Adult Contemporary chart. “I’ve Got a Radio” is their only other single, and it reached 39 on Adult Contemporary, but didn’t place on the Hot 100.

The below music video is really the best place I’ve been able to find the song, as it’s not officially available anywhere. It was produced for Michael Nesmith’s critically successful (but short-lived) TV series “Television Parts,” and as a kid I encountered it on the compilation video that was released to rental stores, Dr. Duck’s Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce. That was also the first place I ever encountered Jimmy Buffet, and it took me years to realize that the “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” guy was the same guy who did my second favorite video on that VHS tape, “La Vie Dansante.”

Featured Photo by Animesh Paul