Damn Write: Discovering Stan Ridgway and his music.

For the unusual and strange in us!

One of the things I’ve been listening too recently is the music put out by Stan Ridgeway. I had known about Stan for quite a bit but it wasn’t until recently I have been listening to more of his music and really getting into it.

The big song he put out was back in the ’80s from the band he fronted at the time “Walls of Voodoo” and their little hit “Mexican Radio”, An odd little song about just that. Actually working for a Mexican radio station. Whether he actually did or not I don’t know but it is a quirky and interesting song that has caught on with me.

 

 

Another sing he did was “Camouflage” and dark story of a Marine during Vietnam getting caught by enemies and being saved by a big Marine known as Camouflage and making it back to camp only to find out that Camouflage had passed away the night before and that the Marine that had saved him was his ghost. I don’t have a service record or anything like that myself but it still hits me with deep effect. In an interview with Stan about the song, it was meant to be a “mythical” type of story he told. And I say he tells it quite well.

 

 

A recording of his I recently found was from 1982 or so and it is Walls of Voodoo doing a rendition of “Ring of Fire”. I had never heard that song done like that before. A definite departure from Johnny Cash that is for sure!

 

 

I’ve listened to a few more songs I didn’t know about lately. “Don’t Box Me In” for the “Rumble Fish” movie soundtrack from way back. It is Stan with Stewart Copeland. Seeing those two names together was a big surprise and the song is cool too. I didn’t know Stewart had done anything outside of the Police. I know better now!

 

 

Another song Of his I discovered was one from 1986 and “Drive, She Said” about a cab driver picking up this woman who pulls a gun on him and tells him to just drive. Heck of a story he tells with that and just a step outside the normal that I really get into.

 

 

As I got more into his music I dug around online and found an interview with him in the 2000s about his style of songwriting and the stories he told. I had always heard he was a strange “Twitchy” guy but I didn’t see that with these interviews. Just listening to his music gives you a clue that this music was a little different and something unique and not part of the norm when writing music. Gotta say, I love his music and hope to hear more of it.

Read Cityscape Tokyo to find out how the two teens and their guardians have to survive and watch out for each other when the company’s dark past comes back to haunt the kids and their guardian once again and make for an incredible adventure in Cityscape Tokyo! Now available on the Bull Moose website!

http://www.bullmoose.com/p/24827899/soul-tsukino-cityscape-tokyo

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