Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Parker sang in small-time amateur English bands such as the Black Rockers and Deep Cut Three, while working in dead-end jobs at a glove factory and a petrol station. In late 1974 he placed an ad in Britain’s "Melody Maker" music mag seeking like-minded musicians and he began performing professionally. In 1975, he recorded a few demo tracks in London with Dave Robinson, who would shortly found Stiff Records and who connected Parker with his first backing band of note.
Graham Parker & the Rumour (with Brinsley Schwarz and Martin Belmont on guitar, Bob Andrews on keyboards, Andrew Bodnar on bass and Steve Goulding on drums) formed in the summer of 1975 and began doing the rounds of the British pub rock scene. Their first album, Howlin' Wind, was released to acclaim in 1976 and rapidly followed by the stylistically similar Heat Treatment. A mixture of rock, ballads, and reggae-influenced numbers, these albums reflected Parker's early influences (Motown, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan) and contained the songs which formed the core of Parker's live shows -- "White Honey", "Soul Shoes", "Lady Doctor", "Fool's Gold", and his early signature tune "Don't Ask Me Questions", which hit the top 40 in the UK. Like the pub rock scene he was loosely tied to, the singer's class-conscious lyrics and passionate vocals signaled a renewal of rock music as punk rock began to flower in Britain.
Parker preceded the other "new wave" English singer-songwriters, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. Early in his career his work was often compared favorably to theirs, and for decades journalists would continue to categorize them together, long after the artists' work had diverged. Characteristically, Parker would not hesitate to criticize this habit with caustic wit.
The first two albums' critical acclaim was generally not matched with LP sales. Graham Parker and the Rumour appeared on BBC television's Top of the Pops in 1976, performing their top 30 hit version of The Trammps' "Hold Back the Night".
At this point, Parker began to change his songwriting style, reflecting his desire to break into the American market. The first fruits of this new direction appeared on Stick To Me (1977). The album broke the top 20 on the UK charts but divided critical opinions.
Energized by his new label, Arista, and the presence of legendary producer Jack Nitzsche, Parker followed with Squeezing Out Sparks (1979), widely held to be the best album of his career. For this album, The Rumour's brass section, prominent on all previous albums, was jettisoned, resulting in a spare, intense rock backing for some of Parker's most brilliant songs. Of particular note was "You Can't Be Too Strong", one of rock music's rare songs to confront the topic of abortion, however ambivalently.
Squeezing out Sparks is still ranked by fans and critics alike as one of the finest rock albums ever made. Rolling Stone named it #335 [1] on their 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In an early 1987 Rolling Stone list of their top 100 albums from 1967-1987, Squeezing Out Sparks was ranked at #45, while Howlin' Wind came in at #54 [2].
Although marginally less intense than its predecessor, 1980's The Up Escalator was Parker's highest-charting album in the UK and featured glossy production by Jimmy Iovine and guest vocals from Bruce Springsteen. Nevertheless it was Parker's last album with the Rumour, although guitarist Brinsley Schwarz would join most of the singer's albums through the decade's end.
The 1980s were Parker's most commercially successful years, with well-financed recordings and radio and video play. Over the decade, the British press turned unkind to him, but he continued to tour the world with top backing bands, and his 1985 release Steady Nerves included his only US Top 40 hit, "Wake Up (Next to You)". The singer began living mostly in the United States during this time.
In early 2011, Parker reunited with all five original members of The Rumour to record a new album. The record, titled Three Chords Good, was released in November 2012.
Baggage
Graham Parker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Em am em
Come and pick up your baggage it's cluttering up my head
Em see am d
There always seems to be a catch to everything you've ever said
Em am em
There always seems to be a lock a belt or a buckle or a key
The world is filling up with stuff I can't even see
Bridge number one
Bm see bm
It's like a mountain of debris that doesn't do anything
F#m g f#m
It just gets deeper than the sea and piles up to the sky ooo ooo
G a
It stops you being where you should be, somewhere else
Come and pick up your baggage. put it on another plane
It complicates the simple things steps on the brakes again and again
Shift it lug it move it on together with your point of view
It's getting hard to separate your baggage from you
Bridge number two
Bm see bm
It's like a virus or a germ that grows and divides and multiplies
F#m g f#m
Then eats your insides like a worm and piles up to the sky ooo ooo
G a
It makes you old and infirm before your time
Come and pick up your baggage
Bridge number one (1st half)
Come and pick up your baggage it's weighing down my heart
You never seem to understand the horse is not the cart
Shift it lug it move it on together with your point of view
It's getting hard to separate your baggage from you
Pick it up /pre>
Graham Parker's song Baggage revolves around the theme of emotional baggage. The lyrics talk about someone who is carrying a lot of emotional baggage and how it is affecting Parker's head and heart. In the first few lines, Parker asks the person to take their baggage as it is cluttering up his head. The baggage here represents the emotional baggage that the person is carrying around, which is causing Parker to feel weighed down.
Throughout the song, Parker describes the emotional baggage as a burden that needs to be lifted. In the second verse, he asks the person to put their baggage on another plane as it is complicating the simple things and holding them back. He explains how it is getting harder to separate the person from their baggage, and it's affecting their point of view.
In the bridge, Parker compares emotional baggage to a mountain of debris that doesn't serve any purpose and a virus that eats away at someone from the inside. Through these comparisons, he emphasizes how emotional baggage can be harmful and destructive.
Overall, the song is a call for the person to let go of their emotional baggage and move on with their life. It's a message that resonates with many people who carry emotional baggage, which is a common phenomenon in human life.
Line by Line Meaning
Come and pick up your baggage it's cluttering up my head
The emotional baggage that you carry is affecting my thoughts and feelings
There always seems to be a catch to everything you've ever said
Your words are filled with hidden agendas and ulterior motives
There always seems to be a lock a belt or a buckle or a key
You're carrying around so much baggage that it's become locked and trapped within you
The world is filling up with stuff I can't even see
The baggage you carry is so overwhelming that it's invisible to others and even to yourself
It's like a mountain of debris that doesn't do anything
Your emotional baggage is useless and does not serve any purpose in your life
It just gets deeper than the sea and piles up to the sky ooo ooo
Your emotional baggage keeps growing and expanding endlessly without any control
It stops you being where you should be, somewhere else
Your past experiences and traumas are holding you back from living your life in the present
Come and pick up your baggage. put it on another plane
You need to find a way to release your emotional baggage and leave it behind
It complicates the simple things steps on the brakes again and again
Your emotional baggage creates unnecessary obstacles and difficulties in your life
Shift it lug it move it on together with your point of view
You need to shift your perspective and attitude towards your emotional baggage in order to move past it
It's getting hard to separate your baggage from you
Your emotional baggage has become so ingrained in your identity that it's difficult to distinguish between the two
It's like a virus or a germ that grows and divides and multiplies
Your emotional baggage is like a disease that keeps spreading and growing out of control
Then eats your insides like a worm and piles up to the sky ooo ooo
Your emotional baggage is slowly deteriorating your mental and physical health and it's getting worse over time
It makes you old and infirm before your time
Your emotional baggage is taking a toll on your overall health and well-being and aging you prematurely
Come and pick up your baggage it's weighing down my heart
Your emotional baggage is affecting our relationship and causing me emotional distress
You never seem to understand the horse is not the cart
You're confusing the roots of your emotional baggage with the symptoms and consequences it has caused in your life
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: GRAHAM THOMAS PARKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind