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.
Passion Is No Ordinary Word
Graham Parker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A e a
It worked much better in a fantasy
D a e
Imagination's one thing that comes easy to me
A e a
Cause this is nothing else if not unreal
D a e
Chorus
F#m d e a d e
Passion is no ordinary word, passion is no ordinary word
F#m d c#m d
Passion is no ordinary word, ain't manufactured or just another sound
Bm e a e d
That you hear at night at night
Ain't got no idols for the screen today
Although they make a lot of noises they got nothing to say
I try to look amazed but it's an act
The movie might be new but it's the same soundtrack (repeat chorus)
Bridge
E a
Say how it feels real useless ain't it
E d e
Wait until it bites right down inside you
A e d e
The world is easy when you're just playing around with it
A e a e
Everything's a thrill and every girl's a kill
A e d e
And then it gets unreal and then you don't feel anything
A d e a d e a d e
You don't feel anything you don't feel anything
A d e a d e d (solo)
An object of desire you don't desire to be
I bet the shop window dummies give in just as easily
I try to stop but have to make you drop down to the floor
Moaning in the darkness as we fake some more
Repeat chorus twice
Just another sound that you hear at night
Ain't just another sound (repeat and fade on d chord) /pre>
The song "Passion Is No Ordinary Word" by Graham Parker explores the complexities of desire, imagination, reality and the way that popular media can distort our perception of the world. In the first verse, Parker acknowledges that his fantasies are more compelling than the mundane reality of his interactions with his lover. He draws attention to the way that they both participate in a kind of performance, pretending to feel emotions that they may not genuinely experience. The chorus repeats the title phrase, stressing the importance of passion in our lives and contrasting it with manufactured emotions or meaningless sounds.
In the bridge, Parker reflects on the power of passion to both thrill and disappoint us. He suggests that our actions and emotions can sometimes feel useless or unreal, and that the world can be both easy to manipulate and difficult to comprehend. The final verse portrays Parker's conflicted feelings about desire, highlighting the way that even the most desired object can become less desirable through repetition or imitation.
Overall, the song seems to suggest that passion is a complicated and multifaceted emotion that can be both exhilarating and frustrating. By drawing attention to the ways in which our desires are influenced by external factors such as media and performance, Parker encourages listeners to examine their own thoughts and feelings more critically.
Line by Line Meaning
It worked much better in a fantasy
In my mind, things always seem to work out better than they do in reality
Imagination's one thing that comes easy to me
I have a vivid imagination and find it easy to picture things in my mind
Cause this is nothing else if not unreal
What we have between us feels like a dream, it's not based in reality
When I pretend to touch you, you pretend to feel
Our relationship is based on pretending and acting out what we think we should be feeling
Passion is no ordinary word, passion is no ordinary word
Passion is a powerful and intense emotion that cannot be described with ordinary words
Passion is no ordinary word, ain't manufactured or just another sound
Passion is not something that can be created or faked, it is a genuine feeling that cannot be replicated with just any word
That you hear at night at night
Passion is not something that can only be experienced at night, it is a feeling that can happen anytime
Ain't got no idols for the screen today
I am not impressed or influenced by any celebrities or movie stars at the moment
Although they make a lot of noises they got nothing to say
Even though they are famous and make a lot of noise, they do not have anything meaningful or important to communicate
I try to look amazed but it's an act
I pretend to be impressed or excited, but in reality, it is just an act
The movie might be new but it's the same soundtrack
Even though the movie may be different, it still follows the same tired and predictable storyline
Say how it feels real useless ain't it
It is frustrating and feels pointless to try and describe or explain how something feels
Wait until it bites right down inside you
The true impact and intensity of an emotion like passion is not fully felt or understood until it deeply affects you
The world is easy when you're just playing around with it
When you are not taking things seriously, the world can seem like a fun and easy place to be
Everything's a thrill and every girl's a kill
Every experience and every woman seems exciting and worth pursuing, without considering the consequences or depth of feeling
And then it gets unreal and then you don't feel anything
Once reality sets in, the initial excitement and passion fades, and you are left feeling nothing
An object of desire you don't desire to be
Being an object of desire does not necessarily mean you desire the attention or objectification
I bet the shop window dummies give in just as easily
I imagine even inanimate objects like store mannequins would give in to someone's desires just as easily as some people do
I try to stop but have to make you drop down to the floor
Even though I am hesitant or unsure, I am pushed to force myself and my partner into sexual situations
Moaning in the darkness as we fake some more
Our sexual encounters are not genuine or based in real passion, but rather fake and acted out in the darkness
Just another sound that you hear at night
Passion is not just another sound you hear in the night, it is a powerful feeling that cannot be replicated by any ordinary word
Ain't just another sound
Passion is not an ordinary or meaningless sound, it is a genuine and intense emotion
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: MORRISON, JAMES NEIL MORRISON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind