Guitarist Mike Connell formed the band in 1984, along with his brother David Connell on bass, Doug MacMillan on vocals, and future filmmaker John Schultz on drums. This initial four-person line-up was quickly supplemented by the addition of George Huntley on second guitar, keyboards, and vocals. Around the same time, former Johnny Quest drummer Peele Wimberley replaced Schultz, finalizing the "classic" line-up of the band.
From the beginning of the group, Mike Connell wrote both the music and the lyrics of the majority of the band’s songs, although he was not the band's primary lead singer. Connell’s influences included the 1960's guitar pop of his childhood, including The Byrds and The Beatles; in an early interview, he stated that the first song he wrote as a teenager was titled “Psychedelic Butterfly."
Like Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Connell and Huntley played Rickenbacker guitars for the first several years of the band’s career, creating a jangly, folk-rock sound reminiscent of The Byrds and other Southern U.S. and North Carolina bands of the era, such as the dB's and Let's Active.
A re-recorded version of “Darker Days” provided the title track to the band’s debut album, which was produced by fellow North Carolinian Don Dixon and released in 1985 on Elvis Costello's Demon Records in the UK and the band’s own Black Park Records label in the U.S.
After touring heavily behind Darker Days, the Connells re-entered the studio in 1986 with Dixon and R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter to record their second album, Boylan Heights. The decision to work with Easter continued to perpetuate the comparisons to R.E.M.
Although the band shopped Boylan Heights to various labels, the major record companies, including Columbia Records, which expressed some mild interest, passed on it; the record was ultimately released in 1987 on mid-major TVT Records, which had made its name releasing a series of "Tee Vee Toons" television theme song compilation CDs. TVT would prove to be no commercial match for R.E.M.'s own mid-major label, I.R.S. Records, and over the next decade, The Connells would engage in a series of disputes with the label, on at least one occasion suing, unsuccessfully, to break their recording contract.
Despite the problems with TVT, Boylan Heights was a substantial college radio hit, and The Connells continued to tour relentlessly. During this period, both Connell and Huntley began to move away from their twelve-string Rickenbackers towards six-string Fender and Gibson guitars, leading to a heavier, less folky sound on Fun and Games, the 1989 follow-up album.
Fun and Games was quickly followed in 1990 by One Simple Word, which was recorded in Wales with U.K. producer Hugh Jones.
After a three-year recording hiatus, which included more legal jousting with TVT Records, a rejuvenated Connells released Ring in 1993. While European music fans made Ring a platinum record outside the United States, such high level success in America remained elusive. 1996's Weird Food and Devastation failed to build on the momentum established by its predecessor.
In 1998, the band released Still Life, which marked their final album for TVT. The band released Old School Dropouts on the revived Black Park Records label in 2000. The band recorded the record themselves and promoted it sparingly in the American South.
Peele Wimberley and George Huntley have since left the band. Wimberley briefly played with another band called Parklife, and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue interests in Hollywood and in electronic music. He is currently a member of the Los Angeles band, The Lamps.
Huntley is now selling real estate and working part time at the University of North Carolina music department.
Peele Wimberley was replaced on drums by Steve Ritter; after several years Ritter was soon replaced by Chris Stevenson on drums, and Mike Ayers took George's place on lead guitar. The new lineup recorded the album Old School Dropouts.
In 1993, they released "''74-'75" which remains their most popular song. It is based on experiences of the Class of 1975 in a high school in Raleigh, North Carolina. The video juxtaposed original yearbook pictures with the class members as they appeared at the time. And then in 2015, the producers tracked down the original members once again, and produced a remixed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6l3Lh2cb_g
The last official release of the band was in 2001. They still occasionally perform together, including a reunion concert in 2020.
Something To Say
The Connells Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I still believe that you were dying to be everything
To everyone and for all time
Ah, the golden boy did you stop trying?
Did it turn out stale, or did it simply lose its wonder?
Could you hold it up from out and under?
Does the distance seem to dim-dumb-dim your memory?
So, you're left with your thoughts and where do you go
Out the window or an open door
And once you believed they could keep you awake
It's so deceiving
So, you talk to yourself and what do you know
You answer back with a, "Don't say so"
And once you believed you had something to say
It's so deceiving
So, you never learned the way to hold a crowd
And it turns out now that you were dying to be everything
To everyone and for all time
Ah, the golden boy did you stop trying?
So you're left with your thoughts and where do you go
Out the window or an open door
And once you believed they could keep you awake
It's so deceiving
So you talk to yourself and what do you know
You answer back with a, "Don't say so"
And once you believed you had something to say
It's so deceiving
The Connells's song Something To Say is a poignant reflection on the pressures of living up to the expectations of others, and the consequences of losing oneself in the pursuit of those expectations. The opening lines of the song, "Oh, you never learned the 'Whens' and 'Wheres' and 'Whys'" suggest that the subject of the song never learned the essential elements of life, resulting in a sense of aimlessness and unfulfillment. Despite this, the singer still believes that the subject was "dying to be everything to everyone and for all time", highlighting the immense pressure that can be placed on individuals to meet social expectations.
As the song progresses, the singer questions whether the subject has lost their sense of wonder and purpose, asking "Did it turn out stale, or did it simply lose its wonder?", and "Does the distance seem to dim-dumb-dim your memory? / Does the distance seem to fell the hunger?" The latter questions present the idea that distance, both literal and figurative, has led to a loss of passion and a reduced appetite for life. The chorus then brings us back to the subject's struggles with self-doubt and disappointment, as they talk to themselves and are met with unconvincing answers.
The final verse of the song offers a more sympathetic view, as the singer acknowledges that the subject was never taught how to hold a crowd or deal with the pressures of life. However, despite this lack of guidance, the subject is still left feeling unfulfilled, leading to the same self-doubt and deception that permeates throughout the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, you never learned the 'Whens' and 'Wheres' and 'Whys'
You lack the knowledge of timing, location, and cause
And I still believe that you were dying to be everything
I am convinced that you were so overwhelmed with ambition that you wanted to excel at everything
To everyone and for all time
And you wanted this to last forever and be recognized by everyone
Ah, the golden boy did you stop trying?
I am wondering if you lost your motivation, my once successful and talented friend
Did it turn out stale, or did it simply lose its wonder?
Did your success lose its charm or was it a fleeting phase?
Could you hold it up from out and under?
Could you keep it alive and not let it die?
Does the distance seem to dim-dumb-dim your memory?
Does distance have a dulling effect on your memory?
Does the distance seem to fell the hunger?
Did distance weaken your determination?
So you're left with your thoughts and where do you go
Now that you are alone with your own thoughts, where would they take you?
Out the window or an open door
Would you do anything to escape from your thoughts, like jumping out of a window or walking through an open door?
And once you believed they could keep you awake
You used to think that your thoughts could keep you alert and stimulated
It's so deceiving
But that feeling was just an illusion
So you talk to yourself and what do you know
When you talk to yourself, do you have anything useful to say?
You answer back with a, 'Don't say so'
Or do you argue with yourself and hold back your opinions?
And once you believed you had something to say
You used to think that you had a message to deliver
It's so deceiving
But it turns out that this belief was also false
So, you never learned the way to hold a crowd
You lacked the ability to captivate an audience
And it turns out now that you were dying to be everything
But now it seems that you were simply craving for recognition and power.
To everyone and for all time
You wanted everyone to see how great you were, and you wanted this to last forever.
Ah, the golden boy did you stop trying?
Did you lose your motivation, my once successful and talented friend?
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: MICHAEL CONNELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
B Bloem
on In my Head
I always thought this was being sung to an aborted baby.