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Club 27
It generally takes me awhile to fall in love with a rocker whereas ballads- when one is done right- or at least right according to Tim- it’s an immediate head over heels love story. With the Beatles- I loved I Will and And I Love Her years earlier than Yer Blues or I Want You (She’s So Heavy). But when I fell for those songs- they became all time favorites.
When I first heard Orange, Club 27 was my second least favorite track. It did nothing for me. Now it’s my second favorite. I love Mona’s vocals. I love Lisa’s lead guitar. Yesterday evening my wife asked me the significance of Club 27. Why not Club 26 or 28? So when I told her that I didn’t think there was any significance, she looked up Club 27 and the all seeing, all knowing Google came back with the answer!I’m writing this up, pretty sure most (or all) of you already know that Club 27 represents the club where Kurt Cobain plays with Jim Morrison, Pete Ham, Jimi, Janis and so many other great rockers, who left us at age 27. I knew that many great rockers had died at age 27- I heard that decades ago- didn’t know Cobain had also died at that age- and didn’t have a clue that Club 27 was referring to the deceased rockers at age 27. I just thought it was about deceased rockers in general.
So thanks, Sharon. Thanks Google. And thanks Twins for having an extra element in your song that I missed until now.
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8 Replies
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Well I’m surprised that you of all people didn’t get that one Tim! Although there were many musicians who didn’t quite make it to 28, including blues singer and musician Robert Johnson, who died at the age of 27 in 1938, Brian Jones started the celebrity musician club 27 after his death in 1969. It was reported as a drowning death by misadventure but we all know (Stones fans), that he was murdered by either Frank Thorogood (a builder working for Jones) or Tom Keylock (the Stones former chauffeur). A strong swimmer doesn’t drown in his own swimming pool, without assistance!
His death was followed just over a year later by Jimi Hendrix’s, whose untimely demise was closely followed a month later by Janis Joplin’s death at age 27. Jim Morrison’s death followed less than a year later, in July 1971. MLT have done cover versions of three of these four club 27 members and I’m looking forward to them one day doing a Jimi Hendrix cover. ‘All Along the Watchtower’ would be nice. His version may be a cover itself but it’s the best Dylan cover out there and even Dylan himself started playing the same version at his live concerts once he had heard it. I can just see Lisa coming to grips with that magic guitar work. Would obviously need to be a studio take, or two, or ten!
Of course there have been many other singer/musicians who have passed away at the age of 27, including Alan Wilson (Canned Heat), Pete Ham, Pete de Freitas (drummer with Echo and the Bunnymen), Kurt Cobain, Mia Zapata (tragically murdered in Seattle), Kristen Pfaff and Amy Winehouse, however, the four mentioned above all happened to depart this world over a two year period.
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Howard,
Thanks for the excellent commentary. And you’re right. I should have known that. But shoulda, coulda, woulda- I didn’t!
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Tim, I get what you are saying about finding some MLT songs instantly likeable while others take a while to grow on you and may even become favourites. A nice ballad is usually easy to like while harsher rockers may take time unless they have some mesmerising riff or some hook that immediately gets you in.
‘Won’t You Listen Now’ was a ballad I instantly liked. Maybe it was because I first saw it via the video version with Mona’s courting attempts being thwarted by papa Rudi. While I also liked ‘June’ and ‘All About Falling In Love’, they both grew on me with further listening. As for the belter, ‘I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker’, Lisa’s standout performance was a revelation for me and I became an instant fan of both the song and Lisa!
As for the Beatles, during the sixties and early seventies I was more a Rolling Stone’ fan than a Beatles’ fan and consequently preferred the Beatles’ more rocking numbers initially.
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I luv Club 27 and got the reference from the get go……..yep…so many left us at that age……the lyrics are brilliant …can you imagine the video concept Team MLT would conjure up…..?! 🙂
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It’s been done before:Â Â Rock and Roll Heaven by the Righteous Brothers.
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Not quite Daniel.
Written by Alan O’Day and Johnny Stevenson, The song was first recorded by the band ‘Climax’ in 1973. As well as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, the song also included many singers who didn’t qualify for ‘Club 27’ membership, such as Bobby Darin, 37. Jim Croce, 30 and Otis Redding, 26.
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I meant that the concept is the same.
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Okay, call me pedantic, but I think the concept is different. One song is a tribute to singers/musicians who died aged 27 (and belong to what some people refer to as a club), and the other song is a tribute to singers/musicians who died youngish. Actually, ‘Rock and Roll Heaven’ can be a tribute to any singer/musician who is deceased!
The concept of a ‘Club 27’ song may have been done before, but If it has, I haven’t heard it.
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