Sunday, August 25, 2019

Sunday Music: Salt In My Tears




Today's pick s from uber-talented but under-successful solo artist Martin Briley, with what was, sadly, his one big hit. Every decent songwriter probably has at least on Billboard Top 100 hit in him (this one hit #36), but we would have (and did) wished for more from this guy.

He's still writing for other artists, but he faded fast when he couldn't repeat the debut effort. There are better audio versions of this cut floating around on youTube, but I grabbed this music video version from this 1983 hit, which matched the song (and the album cover) perfectly, giving more legs to the tune, and which remains a go-to anthem for everyone ever screwed over by the Flying Fickle Finger Of fate, Cupid Edition.

For anyone who finds and keeps the love of their life on the first try, I have nothing but admiration. But remember kids, for at least 50% of us, divorce will be expensive for one reason:
because it's worth it.

 

Preach the gospel, brother Sam.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

...and then there's the Sam Kinison take on marriage which was more my experience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSiM9bGiPRs

Nemo

OutbackMike said...

Saw Sam Kinison live in concert in Fresno back in the day. Not sure if I've ever laughed like that before or since. Absolutely off-the-rails hilarious.......and if he were alive today, he'd get skewered. A comedian can't joke like that anymore. Sad.

Night driver said...

45 years ago on Friday, Mrs. Driver consented to spend the rest of her life with me. Our "Friends" predicted a long and fruitful marr---- OH HELL NO!! they predicted we would be LUCKY to go 6 months without either divorce or one or the other of us was dead.

Yeah, they were wrong!!

We='ve been through lean times (food stamps and old Gen Assistance type lean times), fat times, emotionally destroying times (deaths of parents etc destroying times).

Difficult times (both of us working 40 hrs per AND doing the Paramedic course at the same time. School waited until we graduated and THEN told us we were the first married couple to enter, "enjoy" and complete the course married). Mr. McNutt was happily amazed, as we had worked with him on 2 racetracks on his med teams.

we've gone through the "in sickness and in health" thing as well. She spent 6 months unable to pick up more than a pencil and sheet of paper after her 3-4-5 Cervical lami, which was after her total knee and she has handled me breakin me foot off (it's called a trimalleolar fx) and handled rotator cuffs and a back fracture (balloon kyphoplasties ROCK!!!)
she rinsed my gatorade bottles when there had to be a REAL reason to crutch and hump my way yo the john, and pee wasn't enough. And she walked me through my stroke.
We have traveled, loved, fought (nearly to blows), made up, and at least a couple times the fights tasted contrived, just so we could make up.
LOVE is nice but not magic. LOVE takes WORK. But... It is SO WORTH IT!!!

I now return y'all to yer regular doom fest.

Anonymous said...

Stumped me with that one. I can honestly say that I have never heard that before. No bad, not good either. Mediocre like everything mainstream in the 80’s.

LSWCHP said...

I've been divorced twice. Incredibly difficult and painful but worth it both times. I'm way better off than if I'd stayed with those stupid selfish women.

Aesop said...

@Anon 8:32

If you thought Martin Briley was "mainstream", you weren't paying attention.

Thisisme said...

I thought Sam was really hitting his stride at the end after cleaning up and marrying again. RIP. HELL NO! AAHHH! AaHHH! Divorce was surely worth it. No regrets. Thanks, Aesop for the tune-travel, back-look.

Anonymous said...

Aesop, I didn’t do a background check on the guy. It just sounds like every other commercial MTV tune from the 80’s to me. Stuff commercial radio would play. Like I said it’s not bad just mediocre. To each his own though. Looking at the different musicians whose videos you have linked to, not a single one was a person or group that I listened to. Although I had heard of them before. Martin Bailey was an musician who I somehow had never heard before. But still sounds very ‘80’s commercial to me.

Anonymous said...

Stupid auto correct won’t let me print his name. I did just check wiki and they said heavy MTV rotation in 83, bingo! Mediocre.

Aesop said...

Inigo Montoya called.
He said you keep using that word, but it does not mean what you think it means.

"Heavy MTV rotation" is code for "one of the 0.1% of all songs recorded in any given year for which there was actually a watchable music video".
That's not mediocre, that's groundbreaking.
Of course, that's from the misty past when MTV actually played music videos.

Here's the list of the mediocrity of 1983:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1983
Anybody who cracked into the video rotation going up against The Police, Michael Jackson, Prince, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, David Bowie, etc., at the height of their powers was far from mediocre.

Good, bad, mediocre, the worst songs on that list, or any of the 52 weekly 1983 lists still stand head and shoulders above just about anything in the last 30 years.

That prepackaged, auto-tuned, pre-digested crap is the mediocrity.

The Freeholder said...

My sorta Sam Kinison story...

My daughter was born shortly after Sam died. She had this penchant for screaming, and it soundly for all the world like a baby imitating Kinison. One day we had some friends over and the kid goes off again. They noticed the aural resemblance. So, Dad's going to be a smartass. I lean over her (she's in a baby swing) and say "Sam? Sam, are you in there?"

And I get that scream. Big laughs all around. But with that kid, some days I wonder....

Anonymous said...

Okay I got it don’t argue with Aesop about what’s to be done about drugs and druggies and don’t criticize his mediocre obtuse generic commercial music. Isn’t it just about time for another Ebola report?

Aesop said...

No, wiseass, you don't "got it". The moral of the story is not to argue from total ignorance, doubly so when you're wrong.

You don't like the song and I do? That's vanilla vs. chocolate. Purely a matter of individual taste. had you so much as half a wit, you'd have been able to make that point without being the flaming ass-boil you are.

But you never heard it, so you don't like it, and then double down by trying to damn the music of an entire decade, the music of which you're apparently completely ignorant? Best wishes with that attempt.

Then predictably land in a smoking hole, shit your diapers, and start flinging poo at the host because your opinions are entirely juvenile sophomoronic bellyaching?
That'll definitely make your point.

Write your own blog, and sign the same name to all your diaper-spackle screeds, instead of hiding behind the anonymity which you so richly deserve.
If you think just because you have a keyboard, internet access, and diapers full of yesterdays stewed prunes, you're equipped to play at this level, you've been woefully misinformed.

Isn't there a bridge over there in Fucktardia under which you should be scuttling?