TS: Rod Stewart's "Young Turks" vs. Robert Palmer's "Johnny & Mary"

this really boils down to happiest song in the world vs. saddest song in the world

In high school I was seduced by someone who bought me the cassette containing one of these songs. SEE IF YOU CAN GUESS oh never mind.

"johnny & mary" by a mile.

and, um, neither one of these gentlemen was a hack.

"Young Turks" because I've loved it for many more years. Still the best example of old-guy-goes-New-Wave.

Robert Palmer is so weird to me because while it's clear he was a hack, as a youth he wasn't even a remotely successful hack - so his breakthrough in the 80s had some kind of old-guy-makes-comeback vibe even though he'd never made a mark really in the first place

i thought no more sneaking sally through the alley et al were fairly well-regarded, if not necessarily big sellers

well I guess SOMEbody bought Vinegar Joe albums but it sure wasn't anyone I knew

He's what Bryan Ferry would have been had he no vision but considerable songwriting chops, an open mind and ear, and an ability to mix cocktails for Andy Taylor.

xpost

hah that's an interesting parallel - def some similar iconography

i.e., the jet-setting vacuous vampire gigolo lifestyle

"Johnny And Mary" by a light year. ("Looking For Clues" would win by a light year too. Neither charted, fwiw. "Young Turks" is okay, though.)

Ferry wrote songs about/for a vision of himself, while Palmer, who WAS a jet-setting vacuous vampire gigolo, wrote all kinds of songs because he was bored.

You make him sound so cool.

In the Andy Taylor autobiography (which, yeah, I've read), he describes Mick Jagger walking into the studio while recording She's The Boss next door, amazed by Palmer's chops (he was recording the vocal for "Some Like It Hot").

This my first time hearing the Robert Palmer track - not bad. Was it popular in the US?

I've liked Young Turks since it came out, such a nice, wistful track. Easy vote for me.

"Johnny & Mary" never hit the American top forty.

But it was everywhere on free-form FM radio. Never recall hearing "Young Turks" on radio, just the video on MTV.

Must be why Young Turks is so much more familiar to me: I watched MTV way more than I listened to the radio.

Also, I had a K-Tel collection with Young Turks on it.

It depends on your top 40 market. I heard "Young Turks," "Passion," "Infatuation," "Some Guys Have All The Luck," (the first version of which was recorded by Palmer), and the rest, like, all the time.

Me too. Infatuation is another great song. Lots of hot Jeff Beck licks on that one.

"Johnny & Mary" never hit the American top forty.

Or even the Top 100. ("Young Turks" hit #5; there's really no comparison at all, as far as popularity is concerned.)

"Every Kinda People" and "Bad Case of Lovin' You" aside, Palmer couldn't get arrested on mainstream radio until the Power Station (MTV was another story).

but hip FM stations were most definitely playing "sneaking sally thru the alley," "every kinda people," "best of both worlds" and some others. and by "hip" stations i mean the same ones that were playing bruce springsteen, who also couldn't get arrested on mainstream radio in those days. and van morrison. and the grateful dead. classic rock when it was current rock.

I love "Young Turks" an awful lot; the video was Pure Joy when I was a kid. It has a nice lyric too, apparently written by Stewart.

young heeeeeaaaaaaarts be freeeeeee tonight

TS: "Some Guys Have All The Luck" Robert Palmer version vs. Rod Stewart version

(Answer: Palmer = awful. Stewart = One of his best '80s singles.)

rong

Palmer's version is batshit in the best way.

"Young Turks" because I've loved it for many more years. Still the best example of old-guy-goes-New-Wave.

These are both great tracks, but I'd take Alice Cooper's "Clones" or Phil Lynott's "Yellow Pearl" over both as far as established artist goes new wave.

Voted Palmer.

"Patti gave birth to a 10 pound baby boy" ftw

BO-YO-YOYYY

TS: "Some Guys Have All The Luck" Robert Palmer version vs. Rod Stewart version

I love both but I'll give the nod to Palmer. Wikipedia says stewart started using "the palmer-style arrangement" in concerts after Robert died but none of the youtubes i've seen show that, even the one where he pays tribute by covering "Addicted to love" right after it.

Why do we need a poll when "Johnny & Mary" is by far the more superior cutting?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_TeOWD5Yw

Stilted extemporaneous fake miming by ppl with makeup that gets you mocked at even a goth vlub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ41hqlV0Kk

Richard O'Brien's beautiful reward of a mirror afterlife in which he is a choreographer of innocence

YOUNG TURKS BY A COUNTRY MILE!

<3 <3 <3

The R. Stewart joint is a glowing blossoming inner world and the R. Palmer joint is as exciting as the sound of the blinds closing

Stilted extemporaneous fake miming by ppl with makeup that gets you mocked

lol, but welcome to early 80s vids

#
rad3212001 My name is Gus. I am 43 years old. I weigh nearly 600 pounds. I have no family but my dog and job. I listen to this song, and imagine myself as a teenager with a fast car and a great girl

HAHAHAHA

Adore Johnny & Mary and even spent quite some time a few years back desperately trying to figure out what it might after hearing a faint snippet in a bank lobby. That's maybe the perfect way to hear the song: just an aching, distant fragment, overheard by accident. It's easily one of my very favorite songs of its era & style. But the answer here has to be Young Turks. It's a goddam perfect song. I don't hear it often, thankfully, but whenever I do, I'm rooted in place until its over. And i don't think it's any less sad than J&M. It merely disguises its sadness by pretending that the temporary ecstasy of youth will last forever (i.e., I see it as a more subtle version of Alphaville's devastating Forever Young). Even when i was a kid, Young Turks made me want to weep for the loss of youth. Which maybe means I'm crazy, or a sap, but so be it.

johnny and mary, easily

j+m, even after being bastardized a dozen different ways on a dozen different renault clio adverts.

The line about how she gave birth to a 10lb baby boy led me to mishear the line about how he drove a pick up like a lunatic for years.

good idea for a TS (so good i'm sure it was done). really would have to toss a coin. Young Turks maybe for being a bit more joyous.

da croupier nailed it in 2nd post

j+m so expertly constructed, all the different unassuming guitar and synth lines slowly slotting into place all the way through into the second verse.

Good thread:

Robert Palmer's "Johnny & Mary": C or D?

... where i made almost exactly the same two posts i've done here.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

cool

and, um, neither one of these gentlemen was a hack.

i think the best of rs is will better than the best of rp, but i think that as whole rp is more listenable than rs.

^^^^also i support this poll result.