The Connells is an American band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a … Read Full Bio ↴The Connells is an American band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a guitar-oriented, melodic, power pop style of rock music, with introspective lyrics that reflect the American South.

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.

Speak To Me
The Connells Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Slow down, I'm not looking for an answer.
But at least not today.
Instead entertain me for the moment.
Oh this won't go away.

You speak to me then sentence me.
You change me around.
Turn me over and around you like that.

Then just let me be.

Outside, it's always from the outside.
'Cause you can't hear a word.
Some things come cheaper by the dozen.
At least that's what i've heard.

Too strong to be held tight,
Too young to be told.
Too strong to be so tired.
Seems like i would know.

You speak to me then sentence me.
You change me around.
Turn me over and around you like that.
Then just let me be.

Slow down, I'm not looking for an answer.
But at least not today.
Instead, entertain me for the moment.
'Cause this won't go away.

Too strong to be held tight,
Too young to be told.
Too strong to be so tired.
Seems like i would know.

You speak to me then sentence me.
You change me around.
Turn me over and around you like that.
Then just let me be.

And speak to me, them sentence me.
(And from the left side, the right side)
All that you see.

Turn me over and pound me out flat.
Then just let me be.

Overall Meaning

The Connells’ song “Speak to Me” is a pensive, introspective piece that reflects on the uncertainty and transience of life. The song begins with the plea to slow down, and the admission that the singer is not seeking answers to life’s many questions but instead needs a moment of distraction or entertainment. At the heart of the song lies the sense of the uncontrollable and how people can be changed in drastic ways by external forces that they have no control over. This idea of being changed around and turned over “like that”, suggests a sense of powerlessness and being buffeted about by circumstances beyond our control.

The lyrics contain a subtle critique of modern society, with the mention of things coming “cheaper by the dozen” and the sense that people are losing their grip on what is truly important. The lines “Too strong to be held tight, Too young to be told, Too strong to be so tired, Seems like I would know,” suggest a frustration with the platitudes of the older generation, and the idea that the younger generation has to figure things out on their own. The song ends with a repetition of the phrase “speak to me then sentence me”, which perhaps highlights the arbitrary and unpredictable nature of life.

Line by Line Meaning

Slow down, I'm not looking for an answer.
I don't want an immediate answer, please take your time.

But at least not today.
I am not ready to hear the answer today.

Instead entertain me for the moment.
Distract me while I wait for the answer.

Oh this won't go away.
The wait is consuming me.

You speak to me then sentence me.
You communicate with me, but then judge me.

You change me around.
You manipulate me.

Turn me over and around you like that.
You are controlling me in every possible way.

Then just let me be.
But then you leave me alone without any support.

Outside, it's always from the outside.
I am on the periphery of everything.

'Cause you can't hear a word.
No one wants to listen to me and hear my story.

Some things come cheaper by the dozen.
Sometimes, things are easily available in bulk, but not what I am seeking.