1. Clem Burke is one of the best drummers of all time.
2. I really need to start paying attention to the speakers/lecturers schedule at the 92nd Street Y.
I just found out yesterday that I missed a candid chat with Debbie Harry and Chris Stein at the Y a few months ago. I'm totally kicking myself right now. For a measly couple of bucks and a 4-block walk from my apartment, I could have listened to two of my favorite people in rock yak about everything from CBGB to Fab 5 Freddy for an evening, and I frigging missed it. (No doubt I was sitting at home, doing something stupid that evening, like watching Chopped while playing "Name That Toupée" on Sporcle. **sigh**)
Anyway, if you need an explanation for item #1 above, just take a listen to the drums on "Dreaming" from Blondie's 1979 album Eat to the Beat. They sound like rolling thunder throughout the entire track, and Burke just never lets up. His energy level is as intense at the start as it is by the time the song fades out 3 glorious minutes later. (His closest counterpart for sheer rhythmic intensity is the late Keith Moon.)
But props also have to go to Harry for her heartfelt lyrics and Stein for his tasty pop-punk melody. (Seriously, why isn't anyone writing pop music with brains and muscle like this anymore?) According to the Interwebs, Stein came up with the basic chord progression and the line Dreaming / Dreaming is free, and then he handed it off to Harry, who ran with the theme.
And based on a transcript of their conversation at the Y (did I mention that I missed it?), the song was inspired by a very unlikely muse.
Said Stein, "'Dreaming' is basically (ABBA's) 'Dancing Queen.' It's a direct cop. There's not enough (similar) notes to get sued, though."
I'm a pretty astute listener when it comes spotting the influence of one song on another. (That's generally why things are sequenced the way they are on my list of favorites.) But never in a million years would I have picked up on the influence of "Dancing Queen" on "Dreaming" had I not read that quote. Consider me floored.
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