The idea for this short series was inspired by today's song. The other day our pal the Swede commented on the post about the
Paley Brothers, saying, "I'm not sure why I didn't follow up on these guys as I was a big fan of early Dwight Twilley, who wasn't a million miles away, musically speaking." His words made me think of "I'm on Fire" by Dwight Twilley Band, and I also mentioned the Flamin' Groovies and the Rubinoos in that same post. I knew I had all three of those bands on a fantastic Rhino compilation that came out 20 years ago called 'Poptopia! Power Pop Classics of the '70s.' I listened to all 18 songs on the disc, and as I played the 1979 classic "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," I had a faint recollection of a girl singing this one but couldn't for the life of me remember who it was. I was stumped until just before bed as I brushed my teeth. I should brush dozens of times a day as that seems to be when I do my best thinking.
In 1996, Lush compiled all of the 'Lovelife-'era B-sides on a Canada and Japan only release called 'Topolino.' This version was the flip side of the bad-ass 'Ladykillers' single. That hit was worlds away from Lush's dreamy sound of the early days, but I loved it anyway. As for this cover, it doesn't always work when boyfriend becomes girlfriend and vice versa -- for some reason Tracey Ullman singing Madness' "My Girl" as "My Guy" comes to mind -- but I bought in to this one. Hearing it makes me wonder how Miki and Emma discovered this cult classic straight outta Berkeley. Sure glad they found it.
The Rubinoos - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Lush - I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend
3 comments:
Back in high school I had a Rubinoos t-shirt...I know I picked it up at a second hand shop in the East Village. It was white with blue lettering - I seem to remember that their logo looked like it at some point. Berserkley records was on my radar because of Jonathan Richman and then Greg Kihn back then. I think the first thing of The Robinoos that I owned was a song on a Berserkley EP.
The Lush version has lots of Power Pop cred. The band comes dangerously, but pleasingly, close to sounding like The Primitives. In fact, Tracy, if you are reading this...
Echorich, The Rubinoos had a great logo made to be on the front of a T-shirt. Don't you wish we had hung on to our band T-shirts? This version by Lush actually sounds a lot like the Primitives, doesn't it? That band has performed a slew of fantastic covers through the years, including this decade.
I was thinking a bit like the Primitives too. Like this a lot.
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