Ferris Bueller's Day Off 40th Anniversary, Van Halen "Fair Warning", and The Smiths "The Queen is Dead" E135

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off hits 40 years, and somehow it still feels like the kind of perfect stolen day you can step into whenever you need it. We rewatch it with fresh ears, from Cameron’s quiet sadness to Jeanie’s rage at always being overlooked, plus the running joke of Rooney trying way too hard to catch a kid skipping school. And yes, we keep coming back to the line that never stopped being true: life moves pretty fast.

We also dig into why the soundtrack is more than background noise. The art museum sequence lands differently when you catch the Dream Academy instrumental take on The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want,” and the parade scene still feels unreal when Ferris turns “Danke Schoen” and “Twist and Shout” into a citywide singalong. 

Then we take the long way through our own music timeline: Public Image Limited live in 1986, a ZZ Top Afterburner-era set packed with classics, and a current-day Echo and the Bunnymen show that sparks the tricky conversation about aging voices and crowd expectations. We look back at Van Halen's 1981 album Fair Warning and The Smiths The Queen is Dead from 1986.

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Transcript

Welcome And A 40-Year Check-In

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Hey everybody, this is Jim Beauge, and you're listening to Music in My Shoes, Podcasting Worldwide. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 135. I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's earn something new or remember something old. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. Ferris Bueller's day off premiered June 11th, 1986. 40 years ago, Jimmy. Yeah, wow. Does that make you feel old?

SPEAKER_02 0:54

It does. It does. You know, uh, it's a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

That's what I like about you, Jimmy. In the beginning of the show, you've got all that energy pent up, and woo! I think the crowd is going wild now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

I'm more I'm more Cameron than Ferris right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Oh, yes,

Characters Who Make The Movie Work

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I would agree with you on that. Matthew Broderick, who plays Ferris, high school senior. He pretends he's sick, so he doesn't have to go to school. And basically, the movie's about this one day and like the zany adventures that Ferris and his girlfriend Sloane played by Mia Sarah. Sloan Peterson. There you go. And his friend Cameron, his best friend Cameron, played by Alan Ruck, who rocks a number nine Gordy Howe Detroit Red Wings jersey throughout the whole entire movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Is that the whole movie? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah. Which is strange because it's filmed in Chicago, and I don't know the backstory. Right. But it just adds a lot to it that he wears that.

unknown 1:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

I'm not a Red Wings fan. I just think it's super cool. Gordy Howe.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

It makes him like a cartoon character almost. Does it? You know what I mean? It's like a cartoon character always wears the same outfit. You know, he's like that's what Cameron looks like. He's always got that thing on.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

There you go. Or that sad face. That's that's true.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Like, what are you why are you looking at me?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Because I'm trying to see if it's sad. No, it doesn't. I can see a smile. Yeah. I like that. I like that. You know what else I liked? I liked his sister Jeannie, who played this character. Well, no, didn't play the character. She was the character, but it was um what's her face? Jennifer Gray. But she is kind of envious of Ferris and is trying to catch him, but at the same time, she's not really sure why she's trying to catch him, but is kind of upset every time people are wondering how Ferris is doing.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Yeah, well, she's just tired of her brother always getting the attention.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, I guess that's the best way that you could put it. You know, are you tired of me getting all the attention? Is that what you're trying to tell me? I was not looking at you that way. You weren't? No. Those eyes were saying it.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

You're calling me Jennifer Gray in this situation?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Jimmy, that's what I like about you. No, I am not calling you Jennifer Gray.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Now, if you want to do the dirty dancing thing where you hold me up over your head, I'm in.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

What's that line? Something nobody puts baby in a corner or something? I don't know. I I don't I'm not sure I saw the movie. Really? Yeah. Well, that's for next year. We'll talk about that then. Um Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Have you seen it a lot? I have. I've seen it a number of times. I have too. And it's just as good as it was. I saw it in the theater multiple times when it came out. And to me, it is still a great movie. I mean, the music hasn't aged. Obviously, the characters have aged 40 years, but in the movie they're the same as what you remember. I just think it's a great movie.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

I really weird if you went back and watched a movie and the actors were now old and it didn't make sense anymore. Like, why is this 57-year-old guy in high school? You know what?

SPEAKER_01 4:09

That was that's actually a pretty cool idea that they should do with some sort of movie. Yeah. Try and get the you know, original actors back to do their roles, but I guess in today, I don't know. It sounds good in my head. I like it. You think they make money on it? Yes. Do you think that it would go straight to video?

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yes. But everything goes straight to video now, Netflix and everything.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Well, do you think this would go straight to YouTube? Yeah, probably. Yeah, I was afraid of that, Jimmy. I was afraid of that. So also, Ed Rooney, he's the dean of students. He's trying to catch Ferris because he knows Ferris can't be up to any good. And throughout the whole movie, I mean, he does some crazy things. He's like at Ferris's house trying to break in.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Yeah, it's kind of like home alone was based on that a little bit, you know, the way that the the burglars were like grown people, but they were really getting, you know, this kid was getting the best of them. And they ended up hurt and, you know, making a fool of themselves, the same way Principal Rooney would, you know, by the end of the movie, he's like climbing in Ferris Bueller's window and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Why is that so much creepier though on Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Well, he's the principal. He's not a big deal. Is that what so if he was really a robber, then it would be okay. But the fact that he's the dean of students the principal. Oh I got it. Hey, do you remember Ben Stein? He's the teacher.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

You could win his money.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Yeah. Was this before then? Yes. Oh, way before, right? When he it's like taking attendance and he's like, Bueller, Bueller.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

It's like the most memorable line from the movie, probably.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Or when he's teaching the class and he would say stuff and he was like, anyone? Anyone? And then he'd ask another question. Like he never gave you a chance to answer anything, and then he's already back to something, and he's like, Something?

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Something economics. Yes. Something D-O-O Economics.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah. And they they show each one of the kids. Christy Swanson is actually one of those kids from Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. This is her. She's in that class. I'm not sure why I brought it up, but she's actually in that. But they never get a chance to answer because even when he's asking them and he's trying to give them the answer, they're all just staring at them. Right, nobody's staring at him. Nobody's hand goes up, though. No, because I think that they're just like baffled by his whole demeanor.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

I think they just aren't interested. Really? That's what I thought the the whole premise was that the kids just were bored.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Maybe. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

That's why Ferris He's like the ultimate boring teacher.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Ferris needed the day off. Yeah. He got it. So I mentioned Ferris, his girlfriend Sloan, his best friend Cameron. You know, they go all over Chicago. They go to a Chicago Cubs baseball game. And don't you know Ferris catches a foul ball? Yeah. Like everything that you would want to have happen ends up happening.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

And what's their baseball chatter?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Swing, bada, bad, yeah. And it's just funny how they're doing it. And I don't know. Again, I think this movie is fantastic. I really truly do. You know, I love throughout the movie how Ferris will just look at the camera and talk to you, the viewer, give you his opinion, kind of talk about whatever that he's not, you know, you know, in what he breaks the fourth wall, as they say. That's it. But he just does it so deadpan and talks to you, you really feel like he's talking to you. It's just crazy how he does it.

The Museum Scene And Music Meaning

SPEAKER_01 7:59

So one scene, Ferris, Cameron, Sloan, they're in an art museum, art gallery, and there's an a song playing, and I'm like, I know this song, but I don't know the song. It took me a long time to realize that the song playing is Please, please, please, let me get what I want by the Smiths. But it's done by the Dream Academy, who released that song, Life in a Northern Town. And it's the instrumental version of it, and it's what a great song. And you know, Cameron is staring at one particular painting, it's gotten kind of got like a small boy. And I think Cameron sees himself in this painting. Right. And Sloan and and Ferris are making out and just having the time in their lives. But I think for for Cameron, it's a big moment of being able to relate to something and being able to relate to something that he thinks is him.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah. Art endures, as I say.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

You know, we six people on a different level.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

And it does, I think so. I agree with you uh a hundred percent. You know, I I've been to a museum and you go and you know, there's a a painting where they paint it all white, and then there's like a black spot, and it doesn't have to be in the center, it could be wherever. And you see all these people that are staring at it and coming up with their interpretation of what they see, and other people are it's just a black spot on a white painted thing. Yeah, but that's what's cool is that you can get out of it what you want. I think the same thing with music when you hear words, you hear a song, what's going on in your life or what's happened in the past, that you're able to take all of that and kind of make it the way that you see it. True. Or I guess not see it, the way that you hear it. Yeah, everybody's interpretation is uh their own. It is. Have you ever seen a video, you know, especially back when you watched MTV, and the video comes on, you're like, no, that's not how the song goes. Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Because you've heard the song before you saw the video. Correct. Yeah. And you're like, no, that's not how it is. A lot of videos back then in the 80s, I feel like, were way sillier than the songs were.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

And uh that bothered me a little bit. Yeah, me too. It did. But what didn't bother Cameron was looking at that painting and seeing that boy and realizing that's him. That is

Parade Energy And Beatles Revival

SPEAKER_01 10:31

him. So they go to a parade in Chicago, and all of a sudden you have Ferris up on a float, and he's singing Donka Shane by Wayne Newton, and everybody's into it, everyone's enjoying it, everyone's into it, everyone's enjoying it. And they do the Beatles twist and show. And if you look at it, there's like thousands of people. This had to be a real parade. I don't know, but it had to be the way that it's all set up. They had to know this parade is is going on, and we're gonna just jump in. Because I don't know. When you look at behind the float and everything that's going on, it's for blocks, and you see people dancing, it's almost like they pipe the music in all the way so people could kind of hear it, but it's insane.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

I think they just had a lot of extras, like they they'll have those where they're shooting in a stadium and they get like 10,000 people to come out, so that's probably one of those. You think?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Yeah. Oh, all right. Well, one of the cool things from Twist and Shout is that the movie comes out, two days later, Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School comes out. Oh Twist and Shout is featured in both the movies. Right. In Back to School, Rodney actually sings it. The song ends up going to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in I I want to say it was like September of 1986. And to think that two movies could really make a difference like that and take an old Beatles song and just boom, number 23 is pretty high in the charts. Pretty high. Yeah. And it's it's really cool. I mean, I'm sure most people have seen it. If you you haven't seen it, YouTube that scene because it's a lot of fun for sure. So there's a bunch of different musical influences you know, in the movie. It's got a poster in in Ferris's um bedroom. It says Simple Minds, Don't You Forget About Me, which was from The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club, another John Hughes film. And it was just kind of cool how he just kind of put that reference in there. Sigzig Sputnik, they have the you know, one of the first songs in the beginning of the movie, which was uh I think it's called Love Missile F-111, and they had some different members of I think maybe Generation X and just you know had Tony James in it, yeah. Tony James, yes, Tony James was in it, and it's a pretty cool song. And you know, I kind of forget about that song until I watch the movie, and then also I'm like, oh, and not too shabby, not too shabby. Ferris dances to the theme from I Dream of Genie at one point. I'm not even sure why. Like, I don't understand why that part is even in it. I love the part, I love the song, I love his dance. I just don't get how it made it to there. Like, hey, I think this is a good point. You need to dance to I dream the genie. And then the yellow song, oh yeah, playing while they um take Cameron's car, you know, they take it out of the garage and they're gonna go driving into Chicago. Yeah, and that song's playing, and it's just like the perfect song. And I don't think I heard that song before Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. And then the English beat March of the Swivelheads, and that's played towards the end of the movie, kind of like the scene where Ferris and his sister Jeannie are both trying to get home first because Jeannie wants to uncover that Ferris isn't sick. Ferris wants to get home and get into bed and pretend that he's sick, and she gets pulled over by the police for driving too fast, and that's a great song. Um, that's off the special beat service album. If you don't know that song, give give that a listen to it. It's really good. So one of the cool scenes, and I'm not trying to go through the whole movie, it sounds like I am, but I really do like the movie. A lot of times we talk about movies, and I talk talk more about the music parts of it because the music is much more than the movie. I really do enjoy this movie. So one of the cool scenes is Jennifer Gray, I mean Jeannie, you know, she plays the part Jeannie. She's at a police station, and Charlie Sheen is at the police station. And Jennifer Gray and Charlie Sheen were actually friends. They were in Red Dawn together, and she got him the audition for the part and really worked hard because she really thought he would do a good job. So he ends up like not sleeping for a day or a couple of days. Like they didn't really have to put a whole lot of makeup on him. He really looked the way that he looked. That scene is just great where he turns it around, it's like, you know, you need to look at yourself. You know, it's not about Ferris and about what he gets away with. You know, you need to look at you. And then next thing you know, the two of them are making out when her mom shows up, you know, and like I think that she got to experience a little bit different life than what she was kind of used to, you know. Yeah. So the end of the movie, the credits begin.

Credits Gags And The Big Quote

SPEAKER_01 16:04

The movie's still continuing. You got the movie in the left-hand side, you got the credits on the right, and Ed Rooney, after you know not being able to show that Ferris was lying because of his own hijinks of leaving his wallet inside the kitchen of the Mueller home, he ends up getting on a school bus full of kids, and he sits next to a girl who says, I bet you never smelled a real school bus before. And then she hands him a gummy bear and says, It's been in my pocket, they're real warm and soft. And it's like, that is so gross. Like, that's not what I want. All this going on while Yellow's, oh yeah, is playing again. And it's just perfect for that whole ending. And then the movie finally ends, but then Ferris shows up again saying, You're still here, it's over, go home, go. And friend of the show, Johnny Hickman, reenacted that for us, Johnny Hickman of Cracker, and did it at the end of episode 102 when he was on and uh we were interviewing him. And it was kind of fun to have him do that. Definitely kind of cool. I said it before, and I'll say it again. Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. That is so true, and I've never forgotten it since the first time I saw the movie.

Public Image Ltd Concert Memories

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Public Image featured John Leiden, the former Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. It was my second time seeing them, and I was shocked because the first song was a cover of Led Zeppelin's Cashmere. I was not expecting that to happen whatsoever. It was all right, it was pretty good. I can't complain about it. So they were touring on the album, album, which we've talked about before.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Did he have the all-star band with him?

SPEAKER_01 18:12

No, he did not. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

He had just touring musicians with him, but not his old band from the previous tour that wouldn't have been able to even play these songs. Correct. So that's why they played Led Zeppelins because they had a band that could do it.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

I never thought of it that way. That is great, Jimmy. So they're torn off that album and they played all seven songs from the album. Like, you don't really see that where a band plays every single song off of the album. Uh Rise, that was kind of the hit single. They played that. You know, some of the other songs were low life. They did Pretty Vacant uh Sex Pistols cover, which was great. Absolutely great. Uh Public Image, I think that's one of the best punk songs of all time. The Order of Death, Annalisa. They did World Destruction, which was a Time Zone cover, which was uh John Lynn and African Bombada. They released a thing called Time Zone, which was a pretty cool song. It was a good show, really good time. Opening band arrived late and did not play, and it was the Beastie Boys, so they announced that they couldn't play. The crowd went wild because this is June of 1986. All right. Licensed to Ill album, still five months away. They're playing Hold It Now, Hit It, but not a whole lot. Like there's not, you know, any Beastie Boys buzz. You know, they had a song out in I think it was in um 85. They had some songs that they did in 83 and 84, but nothing really going on. And then five months later, they released license to ill and it all exploded.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

But they would have been probably kind of cool to see playing had they made it on time. So they they came in, they were late, didn't play, but they ended up uh, I want to say it was in July, somewhere in Texas, they ended up opening up for uh Public Image Limited. All

ZZ Top With The Ticket Guy

SPEAKER_01 20:10

right. Next night, June 13th, 1986, I went to the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island in New York to see Z Z Top. So I know this guy, John, and I'll call him John the Ticket Guy instead of John the Ticket Scalper. I'll just call him the ticket guy. I knew him through somebody, and we liked a lot of the same bands. And I would get tickets to shows, like I just say, hey, I want to go to this show, I want to go to this show, and I get them at really good prices. And a lot of the times I'd go with him, but a lot of times at the last minute, he wouldn't go and be like, Hey, here's an extra ticket. You know, do you think you know someone? Yeah, I'd always say, Yeah, I know someone that can go, you know. So I got to go to good shows, but I got to sit in really good spots. So for this show, I got one seat first row. Now I gave it to my brother because my brother was a much bigger Z Z Top fan than I was. I sit like the 300th section somewhere on like the back curve or something. But man, it was a good show. It really was. It was the afterburner tour. They did uh got me under pressure, Jesus just left Chicago, Gimme All Your Lovin', cheap sunglasses, legs, sharp dressed man, uh tube snake boogie, Lagrange, Tush. I mean, that's some glassic, glassic. That's some classic Z Z top if there ever was some. Tush, but yeah. Yeah, I always struggle saying that. I gotta be honest with you. I don't know why. It makes it sound dirtier when you say tush. I know, and I always do say that. I I mean, I do. Like, even when I am like, don't say it, I still do. I don't know what why I do.

Echo And The Bunnymen Live Review

SPEAKER_01 21:56

So the other night, I went to see Echo in the Funyman at the Tabernacle.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Here in Atlanta, Georgia. And it had been 39 years since I saw Echo play. And the last time was 1987. It was at Jones Beach on Long Island. And they played with New Order and Gene Loves Jezebel. It was a really good show, had a lot of fun, enjoyed it. But back here to May 30th, 2026, at the Tabernacle, Ian McCulloch on vocals and Will Sgt on guitar. Will Sargent is the only band member that's been with the band since they started in 1978. Because Ian McCulloch left the band like 88, 89, and then didn't come back until I don't know, maybe 97 or something like that. They actually had a different singer for a number of years. So the show started off good with songs. Going up, all that jazz, Heads Would Roll, Crocodiles. And then during The Cutter, which was like their first really big international song from '83, Ian was encouraging the crowd to sing parts of the song. Now his voice started to change a little bit. It wasn't as sharp, and he was relying a lot more on people. And as the show went on, his voice just kind of weakened, and he was really, really just like wanting everyone to sing more than what you normally see at a show. And from what I could see, he probably had one pint too many or so. And you know, now if you look at people's reviews, a lot of people say that was a great show, had so much fun, and a lot of people were like, his voice was you know really bad. And it's funny interpretation again here of people seeing different things and hearing different things when they're at the same thing as it's happening. Yeah. For me, I thought he started off strong. I was surprised actually at how strong he started, but as it went on, you could see there there was a bit of a struggle with it. And it's kind of sad. It it is. So they did over the wall, seven C's, rescue, bedbugs, and ballyhoo, bring on the dancing horses, the killing moon, lips like sugar was the encore. I didn't think that they would be able to play that. I didn't think his voice would be able to do it, but his voice did okay with it.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

All right.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

He was saving up for it. Yeah. And uh finished off with Ocean Rain, which is a little bit slower song, and he sat in a chair as he did it. I think, you know, we we talked about Paul McCartney's voice, you know, recently. I think Paul goes out, he's playing the bass, he's doing everything he can to be the best that he can be. And I I'm fine with that. Again, here I think Ian might have had one too many liters of uh, excuse me, one too many pints.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

He just had one gallon too much.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

One too many pints, and it definitely affected the way that the show went as it just got a little bit further. You know, Ian used to play the guitar when they would play. There was no way he was going to play the guitar that night. Okay. I'm still glad that I went to the show. It was a lot of fun. I got the shirt to say that I was there. I got the poster. I wish that the whole show was as good as the beginning of the show because the beginning surprised me, and then as it went on, it became more of what I was thinking it might be. Anyway, that's that's what it is. I'm jumped up, maybe I'm losing my touch, but you know I didn't have it anyway. Won't you come on down to my rescue? Sounds exactly like the song. Well, thank you, Jimmy. I didn't think so, but I appreciate that. And you know, just for that, tick tick-tick, it's Minute with Jimmy.

Minute With Jimmy: Prince Vault Mystery

SPEAKER_01 25:55

It's time for a minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy. It's time for a minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

All right, so friend of the show Kathy sent us a text today or yesterday talking about Prince. And who was talking about Prince? Sir Paul McCartney. And he was talking about how amazing he thinks Prince is, what a great guitar player he was, and how the song uh Kiss was just like Prince coming in the studio, laying down a few really sparse tracks really fast, and it still sounded amazing. But then he drops this little nugget there at the end. He says, Oh, and then I found out that Prince recorded a version of the Long and Winding Road in a rehearsal at one point, and they've still got the recording, and they sent it to me, and it sounds great. And I told them, Oh, I want to be involved in this and help put it out, and they haven't done it yet. So I'm wondering, you know, when are we gonna get to hear the long and winding road done by Prince?

SPEAKER_01 27:04

That was a perfect minute with Jimmy. Jimmy, I I was on that text thread also. I have never heard that before. I think that is really cool. And what he did with while my guitar gently weeps, yeah. I don't know if he does anything similar. I have no idea, but I would love to hear that version.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Yeah, I'm not picturing a blistering guitar solo on Long and Winding Road, but you never know. The long and winding road. Yeah, it's true. He might have.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Yeah, who knows? But I would like to hear that. I thought that was cool. And I gotta be honest with you, if it wasn't Paul talking about it, I think if it was something that I just read, I don't know if I would believe it. But when you got to hear him sit there and talk about it, and he seemed pretty thrilled by it.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Well, and you remember when Prince died, they were like, oh my god, the vault has so much great stuff in it. You know, he put out another 10 albums or whatever, and it's like I haven't heard anything really good yet, and that sounds like it could be really good.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

I think so. I would definitely like to hear that. And I wonder what makes them wait for things that are in the vault. Why I I don't know. I guess there's some sort of plan for everything, but I would want to get something out that is a cover of a Beatles song sooner than later.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Could be legal issues, people, you know, fighting over his estate. I don't know. Uh good point. I never thought about that.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

But yeah, that is a good Minute with Jimmy, and hopefully one day on Minute with Jimmy, we're talking about the first time that you get to hear it. I know, I hope so. My name is Jimmy. Let's revisit some more music in my shoes.

Anniversaries: Stones Van Halen Smiths

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Rolling Stones Painted Black reaches number one on Billboard, June 11th, 1966. 60 years ago, Jimmy. I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors anymore. I want them to turn black. What is he talking about? A red door? Uh you know what? I don't know. I guess he just sees darkness and everything that he's looking at. That's my thought of it. You know, I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I turn my head until my darkness grows. If you kind of think about it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Yeah, he's like a vampire.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Yeah. Brian Jones on Sitar is fantastic. That sitar is excellent. Uh, this is a really good Rolling Stone song. I mean it is. It really is. I think this is much better than Satisfaction. I know that that's the big song for the Rolling Stones in the early days, but this song is a great song. It's not the same song without the sitar. So why do the University of Georgia Marching Redcoats, is that the name of the band? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Why do they Redcoat marching band?

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Okay, why do they play this song so much?

SPEAKER_02 30:05

Because the colors are red and black. Oh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Got it. So if you go to a UGA football game, you'll hear it. But do they play it at like if you went to a basketball game?

SPEAKER_02 30:16

They might. I don't know. I haven't I don't picture it at a basketball game, but they they might play it there. They have the band there.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Oh, all right. Well, excellent. I do. I love the song. And if you're not familiar with it, I'm not sure why you wouldn't be familiar with it. It is much better than satisfaction.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

Hey, music's not a competition, Jim.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

It's been a long time since we said that, but it's not. But I still think that song's better. Van Halen, Fair Warning, peaked on Billboard 200 album charts, number five on June 13th, 1981, for three weeks. I think this is a great Van Halen album. Fourth straight year of putting out an album. 78, 79, 80, 81. I mean, that's asking a lot. Now I know albums back then were 30 to 31 and a half minutes. And I know 40 tops, yeah. You know, it was definitely different. But still, you know, trying to do something different four straight years in a row. We've talked about, you know, Pet Shop Boys, West End Girls. It was a year and a half from it came out before it hit, you know, number one on Billboard. They're putting out four albums in four years. Starts off with um Eddie Jamming on Mean Street. At night I walk this stinking street past the crazies on my block. And when I was a kid, like I would hear that. And you know, there were certain parts of my block that there were the crazies, and it just felt like, man, David Lee Roth, he wrote this song. He's thinking of me. He's thinking about Walcott Road, going past you know, the Walcott Road pool and all the shenanigans that are going on there. And I know he didn't, but as a kid, you think that he is. Right. You know? It's got dirty movies, Sinners Swing, hear about it later. That's the end of side one. Side two opens up with Eddie rocking out with Unchained, David Lee Ronz singing all right, as the drums and Michael Anthony's bass line kick in. Change ain't nothing stays the same. Unchained. Yeah, you hit the ground running. And I just love the song. I love that line. It makes me just want to, you know, go out and just do something, and I'm all in. This is the song to listen to when you when you want to do that. It's also a great driving song, uh, especially a uh convertible driving song, like blasting it and oh man, really good. So there's a line that I used to think was blue and white murder in a satisfied dress. It's actually blue-eyed murder in a size five dress. Oh, that's good. And he's talking about someone that he had dated, and I never could get blue and white murder in a satisfied dress. What does that mean? And I could never figure it out because he doesn't say it. That's why I could not figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Uh, you know, I've as long as you're talking about misheard Van Halen uh records, I thought he had something against Korea. Why is that? Because he uh in And the Cradle Will Rock says, God, no love, no love you, Korea. No love you call real.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Oh my lord. Like, but I can hear that when you say it, you know? Isn't that funny? Yeah. Oh man, that is funny. Push comes to shove. So this is love, Sunday Afternoon in the park, which was a Eddie Van Halen instrumental, uses the synthesizer to do it. Uh, album finishes with uh one foot out the door. And what an awesome bass line again on So This Is Love. They would show a concert, like footage video on MTV in the early days of So This Is Love, and I would just be like, Oh, please play that, please, because I want to watch it because it's just such a cool video, even though it's kind of old and grainy and everything, but it was just oh man, I loved it. Got me on Pins and Needles, and she knows she's mine and ain't letting go. So this is Love. This is a great Van Halen album to check out and remember it all again if you know about it. The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead, released June 16th, 1986. Rolling Stone magazine has this album at number 113 on its 2020 version of the 500 greatest albums of all time. I didn't know many fans of the Smiths, and then this album came out, and then everybody I knew were listening to them. It was kind of crazy because nobody did, and then boom, everybody's listening to them. Side one includes The Queen is Dead, Frankly, Mr. Shankly, I know it's over, Cemetery Gates, side two is 16 minutes of excellent music, starting with What's Moving Me? Big Mouth Strikes Again, a WLIR Screamer of the Week, third week of June 1986. This is in my top 100 songs of all time. I think this is great. And I purposely have listened to it probably about 10 times over the last few days. To one, do I feel the same as when I heard it? Two, does it stand the test of time? And three, is it really as good as I think that it is? And it met all that criteria to be a song that's moving me. I didn't see this song coming. You know, I had listened to The Smith since they came out, never saw this, but it was a perfect song. I'm I'm 19 when it comes out. And hearing it on the radio or I'm at Spit, a dance club, dancing to it in Levitown, New York, driving around, blasting it on the Wantor Parkway to Ocean Parkway, starts off with an acoustic guitar, but then Johnny Maher with the electric guitar comes in and just gets more ferocious as the song goes on and it just builds up. It still, I just think this song is absolutely an excellent song. I love it. And then Morrissey, sweetness, sweetness. I was only joking when I said, I'd like to smash every tooth in your head. I mean, who writes that? Now he's talking about how the press was against him and you know, writing his take on it. That's kind of what the song has to do with. But Andy Rourke has a you know a killer bass line. You know, like I said, Johnny Maher on the electric guitar, he just kills it. Now I know how Joan of Arc felt as the flames rose to her Roman nose and her walkman started to melt. And that's what's moving me. More songs on the album, Jimmy. The Boy with the Thorn in his side, Vicar in a Tutu, There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, and I think that's the song that really made people notice the Smiths. And it was a Screamer of the Week on LIR, the third week of July 1986. And how could you not like a song that starts with Take Me Out Tonight, where there's music and there's people and they're young and alive. To me, that was me. He's singing about me again. But there's nothing better than a group of people singing the chorus as morant as it is, and if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die. I mean, those words are unbelievable. They really are. It's an album with some very good songs. I love the album, it moves me. Big Mouth Strikes Again really moves

Wrap-Up And Where To Find Us

SPEAKER_01 38:36

me. And unfortunately, I moved to the point where I have to say that's it for this episode of Music in My Shoes. I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios, located right here in Atlanta GA, and Vic Thrill for our podcast music. You can reach us at musicinmyshoes at gmail.com. Please like and follow the Music in My Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages. This is Jim Boj, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing. And there is a light that never goes out.