1) Hands Up!-project from Germ… Read Full Bio ↴There are 3 groups called The Hitmen.
1) Hands Up!-project from Germany. Members: Ronny Bibow (a.k.a Ron-Bon-Beat Project) & Michael Bein ( a. k. a Money-G or MG Traxx). Nowadays they have quitted the project, and both are now going on to their own projects.
2) UK New Wave band of the late 70s/early 80s led by Ben Watkins. They released two albums - Aim For The Feet (1980) and Torn Together (1981). The latter album contained the nearest thing they got to a real hit - "Bates Motel", which was widely played on radio in the UK and featured on the newly-formed MTV in the States. Keyboard player Alan Wilder later joined Depeche Mode before going solo as Recoil. Sadly, none of their material is currently available on CD or legal download.
3) Sydney. The early 1980s. If you were a fan of live rock and roll and weren’t even peripherally aware of The Hitmen, you desperately needed someone to check your pulse. In fact, you didn’t even have to hail from Sydney - Australia’s most bombastic and cocksure rock outfit toured all over Australia. Relentlessly.
The Hitmen were originally an outgrowth of Radio Birdman, with most of its membership passing through the ranks of what was originally a party band.Their all-enduring member was frontman Johnny Kannis, whose Greek-Australian lineage didn’t preclude him from being a descendant of the Dictators’ Handsome Dick Manitoba and Elvis Presley. He leaned his stagecraft as Radio Birdman’s Master of Ceremonies and one-half of their back-up singers The Glutonics. The other constant in all but one post-Birdman Hitmen line-up was Chris “Klondike” Masuak, a Canadian-born teenage schoolmate of Kannis and close spiritual guitar kin of James Williamson and Ross the Boss.
Johnny and The Hitmen became The Hitmen soon after Birdman collapsed in on itself, reaching well beyond the radiitonal inner-Sydney haunts and staking a claim for the hearts, minds and dancing shoes of suburbia. With high-energy music breaking out all over Australia, The Hitmen became big business, signing to a major label and becoming part of “the industry”. Just the sort of behaviour to burn bridges with fickle inner-city fair-weather friends.Carrying themselves with a swagger born of near fanatical self-belief and arrogantly brushing aside any detractor or musical pretenders deemed to be not up to the mark, The Hitmen were impossible to ignore.
Shifting line-ups and a music business that didn’t know what to do with their derivative but always entertaining stock-in-trade meant The Hitmen never quite broke through to the big time. They were a band that packed ‘em in live but their albums (“The Hitmen”, “It Is What It Is” and “Moronic Inferno” in the studio, “Tora Tora DTK” live) never did the proportionate numbers in sales. Nevertheless, scores of beer and testosterone-fuelled Aussie youths grew up with the hard rock soundtrack that The Hitmen provided ringing in their ears, and discovered some fine music in the deal.
A near fatal car accident in 1983 all but buried Johnny Kannis and the band in the process, but for more than a decade, off-and-on, The Hitmen carried a torch for hi-energy fun. Kannis’ injuries hampered his on-stage activities to the extent that he mostly moved into band management. A farewell tour and the occasional re-emergence (with the appendage “DTK” to the band name, to avoid an overseas copyright clash) kept things simmering into the mid-’90s, when Kannis’ move interstate took the wind out of the sails. Rumblings of a reunion tour have been constant. THE BARMAN thought it was high-time to investigate and document the band’s history in this rare interview with The Hitman himself.
Here Today & Gone Tomorrow
The Hitmen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My heart was yours and yours was mine
Forever what, we did say
And now you walk away
Chasing golden memories
Laughing brings my heart to ease
I dream you to my door
Always here today
And gone tomorrow
Our love had come and gone
With you
Why do days of tide bring nights of sorrow?
In dreams my love goes on, still do
You still do
Always here today
And gone tomorrow
Our love had come and gone
With you
Though it's wrong I still dwell
In you arms I know so well
Love's a bird that flies
Not a cage of lies
Seems you're lost forever
Our time was standing still
The promise changed to never
A return - we never will
Always here today
And gone tomorrow
Our love had come and gone
With you
Why do days of tide bring nights of sorrow?
In dreams my love goes on, still do
You still do
Always here today
And gone tomorrow
The Hitmen's song Here Today & Gone Tomorrow is a melancholic expression of the pain that comes with the end of a relationship. The opening lines - "Saw you for the first time, My heart was yours and yours was mine" - suggest that the relationship began with a strong sense of mutual affection and commitment. The couple in question promises to be together "forever," but as the song progresses, it becomes clear that this promise was not to be kept.
The lyrics convey a deep sense of loss, regret, and longing for what once was. The singer reflects on the memories of their time with their partner, and how they find solace in laughter and dreams. They yearn for the person who has left them and dream of bringing them back "once more". The song's title and refrain - "Always here today and gone tomorrow, Our love had come and gone with you" - amplifies the sense of transience and impermanence in relationships.
Overall, the song is a moving reflection on the fragility of love and how it can slip away so easily, leaving us with nothing but painful memories and unfinished dreams.
Line by Line Meaning
Saw you for the first time
The moment I laid my eyes on you for the first time
My heart was yours and yours was mine
We were in love and completely devoted to each other
Forever what, we did say
We made promises to always be together and love each other endlessly
And now you walk away
But now you have left and abandoned our love
Chasing golden memories
I try to hold on to our happy memories
Laughing brings my heart to ease
Laughing helps me cope with the pain of losing you
I dream you to my door
I imagine you coming back to me
To bring you back once more
So that our love can be rekindled
Always here today
Our love was present and strong in the past
And gone tomorrow
But it disappeared and ended quickly
Our love had come and gone
Our love had started and ended quickly
With you
Because of you leaving
Why do days of tide bring nights of sorrow?
Why does the ebb and flow of life bring so much pain and heartache?
In dreams my love goes on, still do
Though reality has changed, my love for you still persists in my dreams
You still do
My love for you still exists
Though it's wrong I still dwell
Even though it may not be healthy, I can't stop thinking about you
In you arms I know so well
I am most comfortable and safe when I am with you
Love's a bird that flies
Love is free and unpredictable
Not a cage of lies
It is not meant to be trapped or restricted by deceitful behavior
Seems you're lost forever
It appears that you are gone forever
Our time was standing still
It feels like time has stopped and our love was frozen in time
The promise changed to never
The commitments you made to me have now turned into empty words
A return - we never will
We will never be able to reconcile or come back to each other
Writer(s): Lara Gentile, Thorsten Kipka, Manfred Hoelter, Ronny Bibow, Michael Bein
Contributed by Gabriella V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.