DISQUS

Popdose: Basement Songs: “Life to Life” by Pete Townshend

  • Jack Feerick · 1 year ago
    I don't know what Eastern European website you cut 'n' pasted those lyrics from, but man, they're so crazily inaccurate as to be surrealist poetry. "Being called of the bus"? "Your strongest ten"? "Can you stand the shaft"? Great stuff.
  • Malchus · 1 year ago
    Ugh. This is not my week.
  • Jack Feerick · 1 year ago
    You're not the first to be burned by Lyricsfreak, my friend.
  • Jack Feerick · 1 year ago
    Also: Pete was bit of a themewhore around this time, wasn't he? There was a bike-messenger movie - I think it was called Quicksilver Lightning, or maybe just Quicksilver - Roger Daltrey sang the theme, but I'm pretty sure Pete wrote it; it certainly sounded of a piece with his White City-era work.
  • Jack Feerick · 1 year ago
    FAKE EDIT: Wow, was I wrong. Sorry, Pete. Sorry, Giorgio.
  • Zack · 1 year ago
    The movie (featuring Kevin Bacon) was just called Quicksilver. The song was "Quicksilver Lightning" and was apparently written by Giorgio Moroder and Dean Pitchford. I remember debating with my parents why the movie was called Quicksilver; the eleven-year old me insisted it was because he rode a silver bike quickly, and my parents said it was a euphemism for striking it rich on the stock market. Turns out we both overlooked the fact that Bacon's character worked for Kurtzweill's Quicksilver Express Co., Ltd.
  • Rebecca · 1 year ago
    And don't forget the score to Quicksilver was done by Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks. Talk about a bizarre combo of talents. And for such a random movie.
  • bvladika · 1 year ago
    Ah, the infamous Canada trip. How I looked forward to that event and how infrequently I look back, but it remains a great memory. We prepped for that trip by watching Bob and Doug Mckenzie's "Great White North" until late in the night. The phrases "take off you hoser" and "I gotta pee so bad I can taste it" are indelibly etched in my mind and associated with the trip. You were always and still remain ahead of me musically as the uncovering of my favorite Townsend release, White City, came much later while a freshman in college. This, ironically, occurred in sync with my own version of the friendship meltdown due to a girl and a misunderstanding, which was repaired via the intake of more than healthy amounts of vodka. The elixir. Thanks for helping those memories rise once again, eh.
  • Elaine · 1 year ago
    What *is* the deal with White City? I immediately felt attracted to it, and I was a teenage girl. It wasn't until much later than I even gave thought to lyrics, and I still don't know exactly what the story was supposed to have been.
  • Sally · 1 year ago
    My canadian host was realllllllly gross and his (yes, his) family were equally as gross and weird. Thank God for high school field trips.
  • Ray · 1 year ago
    Wasn't an easy find, but I snared a CD copy of the soundtrack off eBay about 4 or 5 years ago. One common thread is that most of the songs have the phrase "play for keeps" or "playing for keeps" somewhere in the lyrics.
  • napstimpy · 1 year ago
    Any chance of re-linking the mp3? I saw the movie on HBO a few nights ago and would love to hear the song again.