Comments on: ROD STEWART – “Baby Jane”

By: Paulito

Paulito — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:34:07 +0000

@#35 Bowie being lumped in with Rod and Elton must be one of the most inane categorisations I’ve seen here. Firstly, Bowie didn’t experience a “career resurgence” in 1983 – having not lost any of his popularity in the preceding years, he didn’t need one. Your comment also suggests that he was one of the artists that punk was supposed to wipe out. Far from it – he was a major influence on that movement and even more so on the new wave that followed. Moreover, he made some of the most celebrated and cutting-edge music of his career during the 1977-80 period. Indeed, it was only with “Let’s Dance” (while still a superior pop song and album) that he first showed signs of jumping the shark.

By: Brooksie

Brooksie — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:16:38 +0000

I like it. It’s a fine enough pop song, if a little weak for a 3-week # 1. Along with Bowie and Elton the career resurgences were complete. Punk never happened.

By: DV

DV — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:01:52 +0000

I remember loving this song’s swagger. I still like it in a “would rather not actually listen to it” kind of way.

By: peter goodlaws

peter goodlaws — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:52:25 +0000

I entirely agree that this is a struggle for Rod and he seems to lose interest by the time he exits, which is just as well because so had I.

By: TomLane

TomLane — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:55:35 +0000

The chorus of “when I give my heart next time…” is good but Rod is fighting the rest of the song. I think Stewart would laugh if you brought up this song in a discussion of his 80′s hits (e.g. “Love Touch”). But in the liner notes to his Storyteller box set Rod says, “This is a strange one, insomuch that the melody was already written…and all I had to was make the words fit. We knew we had a good one.” That box came out 20 years ago, so I’d be interested in what he thinks now. In the U.S. this got to #14.

By: intothefireuk

intothefireuk — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:50:43 +0000

It does bring back memories of the summer of 1983 which was one of my better ones so I can’t completely dismiss it. Leaving that to one side the single does nothing for me at all. Rod’s hoary old vocal sounds like he’s on auto pilot and the contemptuous synth & sax backing is just nasty. Yet it’s annoyingly catchy – but then so is Swine Flu.

As seems to be the majority view here Elton’s ‘I’m Still Standing’ is a far superior piece of pop – not that there’s any real reason for comparing them.

By: pink champale

pink champale — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:15:25 +0000

…i’ve just got a little chill of fear at the thought of robbie williams (who, actually, i suspect i’ve got more time for than most people here) let loose with the same lyric….

By: pink champale

pink champale — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:13:14 +0000

#17 not played as a Golden Oldie that much #19 …no afterlife…
if you want to hear it at least a couple of times a day, get listening to capital gold…

i’ll also vouch for the excellence of “i’m still standing”, not least for turning the potentially revolting ‘admire me for being a survivior’ lyric into something genuinely celebratory. the video is pretty amazing too – i don’t think i’d ever seen anything so bright and colourful and sharp.

By: a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît

a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:57:04 +0000

russell mulcahy! director of highlander and etc

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:03:40 +0000

And a contender for most classically-1980s over the top video. Same guy who did Duran Duran’s vids wasn’t it? Russ Mc-something.

By: a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît

a tanned rested and unlogged lørd sükråt wötsît — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:17:25 +0000

“I’m Still Standing” is tremendous

By: rosie

rosie — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:10:05 +0000

It’s all right. Kind of catchy, wriggles in the head. That’s about all really: not much to say against it, not much to say for it.

“Baby Jane” suggests Bette Davis being creepily horrible to Joan Crawford. If that suggestion was intended, it sailed way wide of the mark.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:06:32 +0000

#22, well it’s the difference between one you may hate (i.e. 1 point, the Lena Martells, the Winifreds) but are ostensibly ‘strong’, and ones that have no great presence (this one, and one that’s way in the future by a boyband leader that had just split), that I’d call ‘weak’…

By: Glue Factory

Glue Factory — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:48:56 +0000

Re#19 – it’s had at least some kind of afterlife in one of 2 Many DJs As-Heard-On-Radio-Soulwax mixes, surrounded-by the electro of Miss Kittin’s Rippin Kittin.

I, too, can’t be as down on it as most people here. Both it and I’m Still Standing by Elton John seemed to be veteran artists, not exactly copying New Pop’s moves, but at least re-aquainting themselves with an unashamed, poppy approach to their music. At least a 6 from me.

By: SteveM

SteveM — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:05:03 +0000

I’d give it 4/10 so really there are many many weaker #1s imo.

By: JimD

JimD — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:50:36 +0000

Um, I think the someone who “still loves it” is me. I’m a bit shocked by the negative response here, this has always been my favourite Rod Stewart song.

Course, I now feel like I’ve got to defend it, and I’m not sure I can say much more than “it’s just a good tune”. But I really do think it’s a well constructed melody, in the old fashioned “lots of stepwise movement, a few leaps followed by steps back within that leap, etc etc” sense of melody. This sort of stuff: http://www.donaldsonworkshop.com/coriakin/melody.html

I’ll accept the production has dated badly, and the performance is duff (although I generally think that of Rod’s performances anyway). But it’s still getting an 8 from me, just for the tune.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:56:21 +0000

#2 Watch. A week of ‘Flashdance… What A Feeling’ by Irene Cara. There are good reasons why more people remember that one.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:52:15 +0000

Ahem, I did like this when I was ten, if not much now. I think that it was the distinctive videographic aesthetic of the promo which attracted me most, plus the narrative appeal of the story (such as it is) of Jane, dramatically accentuated by the saxaphone motif, plus the heritage appeal of Stewart’s elder statesman status (this was starting to become a serious selling point to me and, a year later, I was getting albums by The Who and The Stones)

Indeed, I almost got a copy of this as a free top ten single with a pair of Clarks’ shoes, but by the time I persuaded my mother to take advantage of this deal, the promotion had finished.

26 years on, the most interesting thing that I can find about this is its near total lack of any afterlife. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this on the radio, or in a public place, since 1983.

‘I’m Still Standing’, however, would have been a great number one. It’s rockin’!

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:37:54 +0000

Oh, something that just occurred to me:

“I wish I knew then what I know now, Before!”

.. is a straight lift from The Faces “Ooh La La” which he didn’t sing.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:30:37 +0000

It’s possibly one of the weakest number ones ever.

Rod fans don’t particulalry rate it

It’s not played as a Golden Oldie that much

Most, if not all, number ones have some people that ‘still love it’

That’s the danger of artificially inflating a track by means of hype and creative marketing.

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:11:18 +0000

Same as Andy except I was 20, had my first serious girlfriend (I was in love!) just about to start art college, and the pubs were by the river in Hammersmith, Putney and Richmond.

This record didn’t enter into any of that though.

By: Jonathan Bogart

Jonathan Bogart — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:24:36 +0000

I’d never heard this before (at least not consciously), but I have to say I didn’t hate it. And I’m a huge fan of the Faces and Rod’s first four albums who has mostly dismissed everything he’s done since.

I mean, it’s an almost defiantly minor song, with nothing but that swinging-back-and-forth chorus to make it memorable, but I guess I just have so much affection for Rod as a vocal presence that I just smile and nod. He looks like he’s having fun, anyway. (Unlike his clearly nervous bandmates in the video.)

By: AndyPandy

AndyPandy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:00:26 +0000

If 1982/83 were the best years of my life the period from about March-September of 1983 were for me as good as it gets and a decent hot summer too.So good that I even have a soft spot for ‘Baby Jane’ and ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues’ as even over 25 years later the sound of them evokes a feeling of sitting outside my local early on a hot Friday or Saturday night as everyone arrives on another evening full of the promise of being 18 when everything seemed bloody amazing and to be getting even better with every passing week…
Those tracks plus ‘Club Tropicana’, the track I can’t mention by ** and the Sunshine Band, ‘La Dolce Vitae’,Lets Dance’, ‘True’, ‘Beat It’ and ‘Billie Jean’, ‘La Dolce Vita’, ‘IOU’, Funkmasters ‘It’s Over’,Gary Byrd’s ‘The Crown’ plus all the soul and funk peculiar to the jukebox in the soulboys’ pub I used to frequent in the outer north west London suburbs instantly take me back to a time when it never seemed to rain.

Having said even the passing of the years hasn’t invested ‘Ever Breath You Take’ with any nostalgic magic. I still hate the dirge…

1988/90 were good too but unfortunately by then the mess I was making of things always took the gloss of those years for me…

By: Conrad

Conrad — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:17:59 +0000

To add to Witchita’s observation at 11, I had a look at the Top Ten albums for the week this got to Number 1.

1 Police – Synchronicity
2 Michael Jackson – Thriller
3 Bowie – Let’s Dance
4 ELO – Secret Messages
5 Rod Stewart – Body Wishes
6 Mike Oldfield – Crises
7 George Benson – In Your Eyes
8 Kool & the Gang – Twice as Kool
9 Spandau Ballet – True
10 Elton John – Too Low For Zero

It’s almost as if 79-82 didn’t happen.

By: lonepilgrim

lonepilgrim — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:53:46 +0000

I can imagine the song being more palatable if performed in a less strident manner – although I’m not sure it would merit much more attention.
The video sees Rod rocking the Miami Vice look of pastel ‘slacks’ and jacket sleeves rolled to the elbow a year before the series aired – was he a style guru for Crockett and Tubbs?