Falling And Laughing - Orange Juice

Falling And Laughing - Orange Juice
3:51
You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, 1982
Written by Edwyn Collins

The only thing I know about this Scottish post-punk band is that Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian considers them one of the greats.  With a droning, jangle-pop sound reminiscent of the Smiths and R.E.M., this song, their debut single, combines hesitant, vulnerable vocals with bright guitars and keyboard lines.  The lyrics tell of a love denied the narrator: "You say that there's a thousand like you / Well, maybe that's true / I fell for you and nobody else / So I'm standing here so lonesome."

Mountain Music - Alabama

Mountain Music - Alabama
3:39

Mountain Music, 1982
Written by Randy Owen

A song of hillbilly nostalgia, referencing the lead singer's Tom Sawyer-like childhood.  "Climb a long tall hickory / Bend it over, skinnin' cats / Playin' baseball with chert rocks / Usin' sawmill slabs for bats."  In the middle section, the song pauses for some good old fashioned bluegrass picking.  With a catchy chorus, harmony and traded vocal lines, and the perfect blend of country and Southern rock, this is a ballad that gets airplay to this day even on classic rock stations, deservedly.

Underneath the Streetlight - Joni Mitchell

Underneath the Streetlight - Joni Mitchell
2:18

Wild Things Run Fast, 1982

Written by Joni Mitchell

Joni goes pop!  Drawn to the sleek sound of early-’80s new wave, she trades acoustic introspection for bright drums, stacked harmonies, and urban sparkle.  Joni's vocal here is bright and cheery, the whole having a restless immediacy and energy conspicuously missing in much of her beloved folk oeuvre.  The song depicts an urban romance, maybe just a glimpse through a window or under a bar sign.  Amid the professions of adoration, the bustling and buzzing cityscape is painted in vivid images. "Yes I do I love you! / I swear on the buildings above I do / I swear on a billion yellow / And T.V. blue windows / Gayboys with their pants so tight / Out in the neon light."

The Bulrushes - The Bongos

The Bulrushes - The Bongos
2:36
Drums Along the Hudson, 1982
Written by Richard Barone

This is a jumpy, quirky slice of power pop.  I never had an '80s music fixation, so I only came to this song via Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoff's much later cover.  The lyrics are fairly oblique; the title makes one think of baby Moses bobbing on the Nile, and indeed, the words alternate disjointed Biblical references with mundane modern remarks: "Unleavened bread comes down from heaven" and "Oh, Sally, let's look for baby Moses."  I read that the band was originally lumped in with avant-garde and post-punk acts like Television and Lou Reed, and eschewed bland melody for experimentation, but you wouldn't know it from this single song, which, while it has a scrappy garage immediacy, is all straightforward guitar pop.  There's crisp, trebly strumming, a clipped, propulsive beat, and a melody that refuses to get weird even when the lyrics do.  Maybe that's part of the charm.

Dancing With Tears in My Eyes - X

Dancing With Tears in My Eyes - X

2:15

Under the Big Black Sun, 1982

Written by Al Dubin, and Joe Burke, 1930

This song is from the musical Dancing Sweeties.  It's a song about pining for the one you can't have, or maybe that got away.  "Dancing with somebody new / When it's you that my heart's calling to."  I haven't heard any of the standard pop versions of the song, but X play it pretty straight, not in any way screaming punk, with an almost tropical marimba figure to keep it light.

Sugar And Stress - The English Beat

Sugar And Stress - The English Beat

2:55

Special Beat Service, 1982

Written by Roger Charlery, Andy Cox, Everett Morton, David Steele, Dave Wakeling, and Wesley Magoogan

A jittery jolt of ska-pop mixed with a bit of post-punk paranoia. Built on a skanking rhythm guitar and a brisk, driving beat, the song churns with tension.  The melody is brisk and sweet, but the mood is teeth-gritting anxiety.  "This world is upside down / The rights and wrongs don't get much wronger / Mistakes found in the past turn into rules protecting power."  Dave Wakeling’s vocals are quick and clipped, shooting out lines like a man trying to stay cheerful while clearly coming unglued. Sax stabs and dub lines keep the energy unpredictable, and there's a nervous edge to everything, like the whole song's on the verge of a panic attack.

Beatnik Beach - The Go-Go's

Beatnik Beach - The Go-Go's

2:53

Vacation, 1982

Written by Charlotte Caffey and Belinda Carlisle

After a machine-gun drum fill, the Go's launch into a surf-rock beach party.  Heavy on the 1950s and early 1960s imagery, the song celebrates simple good times like in those Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello movies.  It's a bit tongue in cheek but still all in good fun.  "Groove on that groovy beat / It'll be boss keen neat, yeah."  There's some deliberate genre-blending as the song calls out paisleys and black berets, the beatnik part of the equation, although a bit out of place on a beach.  Most obscure reference, utterly unknown today: "The Lloyd Thaxton Show."

The General Lee - Johnny Cash

The General Lee - Johnny Cash

2:52

The Dukes Of Hazzard Soundtrack, 1982

Written by Thom Bresh and Johnny Cash

Recorded for the TV show, this song is written from the point of view of the car from "The Dukes of Hazzard!"  It joins a small but undoubtedly proud group of songs narrated by vehicles.  "I'm the General Lee / A piston pumpin' steel belted cavalry / I'll never let you down when you're riding with me / Buckle up and I'll show you what I mean."  Well, you tap your toe, because Cash could make the phone book sound compelling, but the Dixie-themed jingoism doesn't really play well these days.

Underneath the Bottle - Lou Reed

Underneath the Bottle - Lou Reed

2:33

The Blue Mask, 1982

Written by Lou Reed

A first-person account of days filled with alcoholism, blacking out, and the DTs.  Reed rattles off images of having the shakes, bruises of unknown provenance, and suicidal thoughts, all the while sounding positively chipper ("Ooh ooh whee, son of a B / You get so down, you can't get any lower."  I love that "son of a B!"  There's no chorus, no flashy guitar solos, just a straightforward account of desperation, with guitar.

Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac

Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac

4:24

single, 1982

Written by Stevie Nicks

An upbeat song of nostalgia, buoyed by some charming, chiming guitar lines.  It evokes Nicks' past in a rosy rearview, living with Lindsey Buckingham, where they slept on a mattress on the floor because they couldn't afford a bed.  "So I'm back to the velvet underground / Back to the floor that I love."  The "velvet underground" here apparently refers to a clothes store in the famous Haight-Ashbury district where some famous singers shopped for their leather and lace and so on.  They were rich and famous when this song came out, but the grass is always greener.