Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder: classic or dud?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Last night I had the strangest dream
I sailed away to China, in a little rowboat to find ya
And you said you had to get your laundry cleaned

Didn't want no one to hold you, what does that mean?
And you said...

Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride
Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh no
I got to keep on moving
Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride
I'm running and I won't touch ground, oh no
I got to keep on moving

You're on the road and now you pray it lasts
The road behind was rocky
But now you're feeling cocky
You look at me and then you see your past
Is that the reason why you're running so fast?
And she said...

refrain

Never let another girl like you work me over
Never let another girl like you drag me under
If I meet another girl like you I will tell her
Never want another girl like you have to say - oh!

refrain

― Sylvia North, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

Refrain.

― wtin, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:24 (twenty years ago)

The road behind was rocky
But now you're feeling cocky

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:24 (twenty years ago)

I don't know that couplet strikes me as misogynistic hahahaha. Seriously this is a classic one hit wonder, sorta annoying but comepletely catchy w/that hiccup-y vocal hook in the chorus. "Never gonna break-ah my stride..." Who the hell was this guy anyway?

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:31 (twenty years ago)

You look at me and then you see your past
Is that the reason why you're running so fast?

http://www.radhole.com/photos/mt_wilder.jpg

I couldn't possibly comment.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:34 (twenty years ago)

Great song, not quite classic, but close.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:38 (twenty years ago)

Are those special anti-cocky-feely trousers he's wearing in that picture?

Break My Stride midi file.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:42 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to listen to that every time I post on this thread.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

What classic barnstormer of a single. The opening riff takes a handful of Booker T & the MGs' "Green Onions" and spreads them like flares along the Autobahn of "Hallo Gallo". That's only the bedrock rhythm, and as the song progresses Wilder indulges his fondness for dynamic builds and folds in a chorus that leads to a booming drum crescendo. Break My Stride's powerful motorik beat rides the efficient engine through the kandy-kolored dreamland of eighties pop, exploding from dark tunnels into a vast, yawning mother sky with a wailing "Ahhh!!!!"

― RF Parker, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:45 (twenty years ago)

Now that's just popist wishful thinking, and you know it.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

Fuckin' DUD. Those responsible should be flayed alive.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:51 (twenty years ago)

Oddly enough, my commentary on "Break My Stride" in my as-yet-unpublished 1984 singles chart analysis has more in common with the latter post than it does with the former.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:52 (twenty years ago)

http://images.juno.co.uk/150/CS176863-01A.jpg

Hey wait there - this thing is released April 25, 2005 on Konsum/Universal. MP3 sample here.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

Ah, yes, the Blue Lagoon version. Was massive all over Europe last year. Infectious. A lot better than the Eurodance-by-numbers cover by Unique II in the mid-90s, that's for sure.

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:56 (twenty years ago)

Is it too late to commit suicide?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 11:01 (twenty years ago)

Is this question for real?

― Jabberwocky (Jabberwocky), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

Then of course there's the No Doubt connection. (Check the production credits on Tragic Kingdom...)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

you know, i'd never seen a picture of this dude till this thread came along. WHUDDA DORK.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

He was Hall and Oates in one.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

Matthew Wilder?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

damn you, jaymc, for beating me to it!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

DUD of massive proportions - seriously, if you actually "like" this, you should just swallow a bullet right now because you are lost beyond possible redemption

― first time caller, Sunday, 22 January 2006 20:58 (twenty years ago)

strange.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 22 January 2006 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Big dud.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 22 January 2006 21:28 (twenty years ago)

Classic and he was sexy too!

http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/images/mwilder.jpe

― Mel B, Monday, 23 January 2006 02:04 (twenty years ago)

ohmygod. I just heard it for the first time in years. It's no weirder than other songs hitting the top 5 in 1983.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 January 2006 02:30 (twenty years ago)

Rocky, cocky, rocky, cocky.

It's good.

It's no 'Nooo don't stop dee carnival - you'll never find a better way...

oooh sunshine, I'm only dreaming...'

by Alan Price though.

― beaux knee (boney), Monday, 23 January 2006 02:36 (twenty years ago)

This song is so totalistically cheerful but the words are all about getting ditched! It's unnerving. I have to say classic, if only for the reactions it provokes in people. And it is catchy as a motherfucker, it's like the song in the Homer Price story that the entire town gets stuck in its head and nobody can stop humming it.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 23 January 2006 03:56 (twenty years ago)

This song gives me the horrors in a big big way, because I did jazz ballet in high school and THIS was the song my dance teacher used to torture us with for a whole term. Having to rehearse hearing this in bits over and over and over was insanity plus.

Also the dance we learnt to it was the wankiest jazz-hands cheese ever. So embarrasing.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 23 January 2006 04:02 (twenty years ago)

Wanky jazz-hands cheese?

Eeeeew!

― beaux knee (boney), Monday, 23 January 2006 04:12 (twenty years ago)

He was Hall and Oates in one.

See, I was right! Look at that photo!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 January 2006 04:25 (twenty years ago)

hall, oates, and this guy

http://www.discogs.com/image/A-150-4205-001.jpg

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 23 January 2006 04:27 (twenty years ago)

Homer Price!

― Paul Eater (eater), Monday, 23 January 2006 04:59 (twenty years ago)

that album is briliant .apart from title track i like "i don't speak the language " and "the kid's american" .

― retroboy, Monday, 23 January 2006 08:41 (twenty years ago)

you know, i'd never seen a picture of this dude till this thread came along. WHUDDA DORK.
-- Eisbär (llamasfu...), April 26th, 2005.
thankyou tom cruise , brad pitt , jude law.
if you're not a nerd you're a loser.

― retroboy, Monday, 23 January 2006 08:42 (twenty years ago)

i love this song.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Monday, 23 January 2006 11:35 (twenty years ago)

Original was great. Cover version was awful.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 January 2006 17:03 (twenty years ago)

Not my favourite 1984 one-hit wonder, but I like it fine. Dude was roughly the (male) sonic equivalent of Cyndi Lauper for a month or so in early '84: A weirdo with a hiccuping vocal style and a chirping, vaguely ska-ish uptempto synth-pop backing. ("Pop" in both the popcorn and bubblegum sense.) Of course, Lauper went on to have more than one hit.

That picture of him (1st one I've seen) does nothing to alter my opinion: Lotsa folks (incl. myself) looked like huge dorks back then, including many of the finest recording artists of the era.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:44 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

lol
[lonk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOt6vte9evk[/link]

― gershy, Monday, 26 March 2007 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

I was hoping this revive was with such a link.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 26 March 2007 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha oh my god. That is so cheesy it makes me truly embarassed for the 80's.

― Bimble, Monday, 26 March 2007 05:09 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

That look is very fashionable now.

― u s steel, Saturday, 13 December 2008 22:03 (seventeen years ago)

seven months pass...

Don't care what anyone says, I have had "Break My Stride" and "The Kid's American" alternately stuck in my head for two months and I don't mind one little bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlyQC-MvzFg

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 14:21 (sixteen years ago)

^^^ video for "The Kid's American"

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 14:22 (sixteen years ago)

six months pass...

this record makes me very happy

― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:40 (sixteen years ago)

DUD of massive proportions - seriously, if you actually "like" this, you should just swallow a bullet right now because you are lost beyond possible redemption

― first time caller

― i know who the sockpuppet master of ilx is (velko), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 22:03 (sixteen years ago)

Christ, you had to go and put that in my head...

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 22:54 (sixteen years ago)

oh, blimey: The Kid's American!

I remember when BMS was on TOTP, and he looked exactly like how my dad would have been if it was him on the show.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 24 February 2010 08:49 (sixteen years ago)

six months pass...

Hate all you will, but this is a lovely cheesy slice of white reggae pop. The kind of song that I was peripherally aware of when I was a child and then grew up believing I'd imagined or dreamt, only to discover while researching the reggae-disco project that, yes, it does really exist.

― village idiot (dog latin), Wednesday, 15 September 2010 16:31 (fifteen years ago)

how can anyone hate this?

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 15 September 2010 16:45 (fifteen years ago)

got it in the blood THE KID'S A-MER-I-CANNN

― Doctor Casino II, Friday, 17 September 2010 19:35 (fifteen years ago)

this song draws a roar out of the locals at this one bar's "80's night". it was one of my first favorite tunes as a kid. just because of the laundry clean line, which was wtf to me even then.

― turn in yer badge (San Te), Friday, 17 September 2010 19:37 (fifteen years ago)

haha

― andrew m., Friday, 17 September 2010 20:07 (fifteen years ago)

loved it as a kid. probably among the first 10 45s I bought for myself.

― andrew m., Friday, 17 September 2010 20:08 (fifteen years ago)

i like this song but it never feels right without the accompaniment of women in leggs pantyhose walking with great purpose and confidence.

― Philip Nunez, Friday, 17 September 2010 20:13 (fifteen years ago)

two months pass...

Will be playing this out over the Christmas break. Hope people remember it. I love it to bits!

― Bernard V. O'Hare (dog latin), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:22 (fifteen years ago)

This song got rejected HARD in my car by my bro's GF.
Hurts.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:36 (fifteen years ago)

Sure it hurts, but... just got to keep on moving.

― O Permaban (NickB), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:41 (fifteen years ago)

This song rules and anyone who can't recognize that is a fool.

― ˙❤‿❤˙˙❤‿❤˙ (ENBB), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:44 (fifteen years ago)

It's not gonna breaka my stride

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:47 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID9J9am7JxY

― would like a calmer set (Eazy), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:47 (fifteen years ago)

Goofy video, good album cover:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UjRpW1RlbC0/R1WW04OT_gI/AAAAAAAACxs/IiLA3jyWBZQ/s400/84.jpg

― would like a calmer set (Eazy), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:50 (fifteen years ago)

one of the 80's songs i despise most.

― Let me explore your musky garden. (chrisv2010), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:52 (fifteen years ago)

i have no heart.

― Let me explore your musky garden. (chrisv2010), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 16:52 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah, I don't know how it's possible to reject this song but I don't want haters to "enlighten" me either. I'm guessing that it's lyric freaks with all the bloody hate

― ZOUNDS? (CaptainLorax), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 19:42 (fifteen years ago)

^ knows what's up

― ENBB, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:24 (fifteen years ago)

Dilemma: I've been having a Prince evening, do I have to interrupt it to listen to 'Break My Stride'?

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:29 (fifteen years ago)

I think I do.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:29 (fifteen years ago)

I think you do too.

― ENBB, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:29 (fifteen years ago)

I owe my love of this song to this compilation goldmine, a staple of my Grade 4 hairbrush-songs setlist

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TsIbtM3EEuA/SDBo_Qk3KdI/AAAAAAAAARE/4FSCLqfGCvw/s320/throbbin%2B84.JPG

― Square-Panted Sponge Robert (VegemiteGrrrl), Wednesday, 15 December 2010 22:04 (fifteen years ago)

I really got into this last night at karaoke. Complete with arm spinning mic and pelvic thrusting. I got a big applause too

― more affecting actually. (CaptainLorax), Saturday, 18 December 2010 23:14 (fifteen years ago)

Nice! It's tough to do, that last key change sort of...broke my stride.

I wish they had "The Kid's American," though, dammit!

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 19 December 2010 03:51 (fifteen years ago)

DUD of massive proportions - seriously, if you actually "like" this, you should just swallow a bullet right now because you are lost beyond possible redemption

― first time caller

― buzza, Sunday, 19 December 2010 04:20 (fifteen years ago)

ten years pass...

thread definitely needs a post after that last one, so... good song!

― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Sunday, 14 March 2021 02:08 (five years ago)

completely despise this song

― brimstead, Sunday, 14 March 2021 02:44 (five years ago)

ah, balance restored

― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Sunday, 14 March 2021 03:07 (five years ago)

classic af

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Sunday, 14 March 2021 04:22 (five years ago)

Last night, I had the strangest dream

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Sunday, 14 March 2021 10:01 (five years ago)

(and classic)

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Sunday, 14 March 2021 10:01 (five years ago)

TOTP dancers bringing it here in spades

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY-t8xobJLQ

― fuck this for a game of soldiers (Matt #2), Sunday, 14 March 2021 10:24 (five years ago)

This is the best song ever made

― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Sunday, 14 March 2021 11:02 (five years ago)

Seems like he's just this year put out a (soundtrack?) album of under his own name for the first time since 1984 (?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chN4rmPqfdg

― Noel Emits, Sunday, 14 March 2021 11:54 (five years ago)

completely despise this song

― brimstead, Saturday, March 13, 2021

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 March 2021 12:55 (five years ago)

that is...not at all what I expected Wilder to look like

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Sunday, 14 March 2021 15:44 (five years ago)

He was one-half of the Greenwich Village folk rock group Matthew & Peter in the 1970s.

!!!!

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Sunday, 14 March 2021 15:45 (five years ago)

lol he's still performing it (and well!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCsgB39jahM

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Sunday, 14 March 2021 15:51 (five years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.