Educating Peter # 55

This will be the fourth week in a row that Michael has suggested a song released in 1980. I think Michael likes the music of 1980.

Anyway, this week’s song is “I’ll Take Her Out Tonight”, and it’s by the Tremblers, a band fronted by Peter Noone (he of Herman’s Hermits).

Tremblers – “I’ll Be Taking Her Out Tonight“ (1980)

0:00-0:06 – Standard power pop eighth-note “chk-chk-chk-chk” guitar playing to start the song.

When a skinny-tie song starts with chk-chk-chk-chk, it doesn’t usually remind me of anything in particular (it’s a ubiquitous power pop technique, especially in skinny-tie power pop), but this time it’s reminded me of a specific song. It’s reminded me of this:

Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Charles Gray – “The Time Warp“ (1975)

0:06-0:09 – Wow. When Mr. Noone started singing “I’ll be taking her out tonight…”, I thought it was a girl singing that.

0:09-0:20 – Peter Noone is not a girl.

The more I’m listening to it, the more Peter’s voice in this song sounds like Cheap Trick‘s Robin Zander singing very, very high.

0:20-0:45 – Up until now I’d only ever heard Peter Noone’s singing in Herman’s Hermits, so his vocals in this song are a bit of a shock. He’s fully embraced skinny-tie power pop.

I’m not minding Peter “I’m not a Hermit anymore!” Noone’s vocal delivery. It suits the music on offer here – although I could have done without Peter suddenly dipping his voice an octave lower than the preceding notes in “…and she won’t give you the TIME of day” (0:25-0:28).

And that’s a very skinny-tie vocal delivery of “SHE AIN’T GIV-IN’ nothin’ away” (0:28-0:31). You can hear the frustration in the voice that you hear in other skinny-tie songs that deal with the subject of frustrated love. (And by “other” I mean “almost all”. Singers in skinny-tie songs sure do have a lot of trouble with their prospective partners.)

0:45-0:57 – I’m not entirely sure that Peter is singing the correct notes in that ascending line (“But I could not stop myself…”, 0:46-0:47).

But Peter’s doing a very good job at sounding like a skinny-tie power-pop singer.

By the way, from 0:51-0:56 Peter sings a very odd line:

“And I would not let those guys try to talk me out of her.”

Just what does “…talk me out of her” mean? Does it mean he’s in her (I don’t want to picture that), and “those guys” are talking to him – while he’s in her (I don’t want to picture that either)?

This sounds like something I’d prefer not to analyse in any way. Next part of the song please.

0:57-0:59 – Shudder. Peter Noone whispering loudly is not something I’d like to hear too often. (I’d actually like to hear it not at all.)

1:04-1:05 – Ugh. He did it again.

1:09-1:25 – Boy oh boy that’s some high singing.

As far as skinny-tie choruses go, I think this is absolutely ordinary.

1:25-2:02 – Now it’s the second verse. More of the same.

2:02-2:03 – Please stop doing that.

2:08-2:09 – No, really. It’s horrible.

2:15-2:42 – Another chorus, then repeated with some extra-insistent drumming.

A guitar in the right channel at the end of the repeat is doing a two-note thing (2:40-2:42), and it reminds me of those old sirens that went “wee woo wee woo wee woo wee woo…”.

2:15-2:42 – This is the end part of the song, and it’s basically a repeat of the introduction. But what on Earth is that sound at 2:51-2:52? And is that a gunshot to end the song (2:53-2:55)? This is weird.

Or, more accurately, that was weird – because I’ve finished listening to the song.

And I don’t intend listening to it again.