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.
Love or Delusion
Graham Parker Lyrics
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In the information flow
Where strange things come and go
From despair to ecstatic glow
Where the flesh meets the dust
But there's nothing there to trust
Where the rhythms pulse and bind
Where the human heart takes over the mind
And the sky's only blue
If you think it is
And you think that's true
But you don't get to choose
Between love or delusion
I was right there in your bed
But I could not get in your head
No I could not penetrate
I unlocked the code too late
From the zeros to the ones
In between those complicated sums
In a system so advanced
That it runs on blood
And it works by chance
But the sea's only blue
If you think it is
And you think that's true
But you don't get to choose with
Love or delusion
Well i've smelled your hair
And i've kissed your lips
Felt the touch of your fingertips
But the sky was only blue
When it looked that way
And I wanted it to
I was out of my head
Between the living and the dead
Where the stars don't align
In a paradox of time
From the zeros to the ones
In between those complicated sums
In a system so advanced
That it runs on blood
And it works by chance
But the sky's only blue if you think it is
And you think that's true
And the sea's only green
In a certain light that you think you've seen
And you don't get to choose
Between love or delusion
In the song "Love or Delusion," Graham Parker tells us about his experiences being in a situation where he sees the realities of life, the fragility of things and how nothing certain can be trusted. He is somebody who has seen strange things come and go, from despair to ecstatic joy. He describes being close to the goal, in the information flow where the rhythms pulse and bind, but where the human heart takes over the mind. He also tells us that while things may appear a certain way to us, they aren't always what they seem to be. For example, the sky's only blue if we think it is. We think that's true, but we don't always get to choose whether we experience love or delusion.
Parker continues by telling us about his personal relationships with people. He is right there in someone's bed, but he is unable to get into their head; he unlocks the code too late. He describes a system so advanced that it runs on blood and works by chance. He also tells us about the zeros and ones and the complicated sums that lie between them, which create a system far more complicated than he could ever have imagined. Despite this chaos, Parker realizes that the sky is only blue if we think it is, and we don't get to choose between love or delusion.
Line by Line Meaning
I was right there near the goal
I was close to achieving something significant
In the information flow
In the midst of constantly changing and evolving circumstances
Where strange things come and go
Where unusual and unexpected events occur
From despair to ecstatic glow
From feeling hopeless to feeling extremely happy
Where the flesh meets the dust
Where physical existence meets mortality
But there's nothing there to trust
But nothing is reliable or predictable
Where the rhythms pulse and bind
Where patterns and connections emerge and persist
Where the human heart takes over the mind
Where emotions overpower rational thinking
And the sky's only blue
And reality is only as pleasant as we perceive it
If you think it is
If our perception leads us to believe it is
And you think that's true
And we believe that perception to be accurate
But you don't get to choose
But we cannot control or alter the reality we see
Between love or delusion
We cannot distinguish between genuine love and false beliefs
I was right there in your bed
I was intimately close to someone
But I could not get in your head
But I could not understand their thoughts or feelings
No I could not penetrate
I could not access their innermost thoughts or feelings
I unlocked the code too late
I figured out what I needed to know after it was too late
From the zeros to the ones
From the simplest to the most complex
In between those complicated sums
In the midst of intricate patterns and details
In a system so advanced
In a highly sophisticated and complex structure
That it runs on blood
That is driven by fundamental human needs
And it works by chance
And relies on random and unpredictable events
But the sea's only blue
But our perception of the world is subjective
In a certain light that you think you've seen
Depending on the context in which we see things
And you don't get to choose with
And we cannot control how we perceive reality
Love or delusion
And we cannot discern between true love and false beliefs
Well I've smelled your hair
I have been up close and personal with someone I care for
And I've kissed your lips
And I have expressed intimate affection for that person
Felt the touch of your fingertips
And I have experienced physical contact with them
But the sky was only blue
But the reality we experienced was only as pleasant as we thought it was
When it looked that way
When it appeared to be so
And I wanted it to
And I desired that to be the case
I was out of my head
I was overwhelmed and not thinking clearly
Between the living and the dead
Caught between life and death in a way
Where the stars don't align
Where things are not working out as expected or hoped for
In a paradox of time
In an ironic situation that defies logic or reason
And the sky's only blue if you think it is
And our perception of reality is a construct of our thoughts and beliefs
And you think that's true
And we believe that perception to be real
And the sea's only green
And the reality we perceive is subjective and conditional
And you don't get to choose
And we cannot control or change our perception of reality
Between love or delusion
Between what we believe is authentic love and what is actually a false belief
Contributed by Sophie K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.