Never Had No One Ever; The Smiths

THE SMITHS were an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey (vocals) and Johnny Marr (guitar), the band also included Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). Critics have called them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s.

The band's third album, The Queen Is Dead, released in 1986, contains one whistling song: "Never Had No One Ever". This songs was explained by Morrisey and Marr and I found their explains in the weblog Smiths on Guitar:

"On The Queen Is Dead, 'Never Had No One Ever', there's a line that goes 'When you walk without ease/on these/the very streets where you were raised/I had a really bad dream/it lasted 20 years, seven months and 27 days/Never had no one ever'. It was the frustration that I felt at the age of 20 when I still didn't feel easy walking around the streets on which I'd been born, where all my family had lived - they're originally from Ireland but had been here since the Fifties. It was a constant confusion to me why I never really felt 'This is my patch. This is my home. I know these people. I can do what I like, because this is mine.' It never was. I could never walk easily."

- Morrissey

"I can never divorce that song from the emotion that inspired it, which is totally personal. It goes back to what I was saying before about where the sadness comes from. It's me, being in my bedroom, living on a housing estate, on a dark night, surrounded by all that concrete and trying to find some beauty through Raw Power and James Williamson. There's a certain kind of gothic beauty in 'I Need Somebody'. I wasn't looking to cop a riff; I was looking to cop a feeling. The atmosphere of 'Never Had No One Ever', and pretty much the whole LP, for everything that can be said about the pressure I was under at the time as Johnny in The Smiths in '85, really that music could have come out of my bedroom when I was 16."

"We had no manager, so me and Morrissey were trying to run the whole band, plus we were still on an independent label, but out of all that adversity we still managed to make this great album. A song like 'Never Had No One Ever' could only have come out of that mindset - fucked-up."

- Johnny Marr

When you walk without ease
On these streets where you were raised
I had a really bad dream
It lasted 20 years, 7 months, and 27 days
(I'm alone and I never)
Never had no one ever

Now I'm outside your house
I'm alone
And I'm outside your house
I'd hate to intrude
I'm alone, I'm alone
I'm alone, I'm alone
I'm alone, I'm alone
And I never, never, had no one ever
I never had no one ever
I never had no
No one ever
Had no one ever
Never, never...

Like Flames; Berlin

Berlin is an American New Wave/Synthpop band. The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by John Crawford (bass guitar), Terri Nunn (vocals), David Diamond (keyboards) who were later joined by Ric Olsen (guitar), Matt Reid (keyboards) and Rob Brill (drums).

I knew this band because of one of its famous songs: "Sex (I'm A)", which I first heard played by the trip hop music group called "Lovage".

The whistling song "Like Flames" was released in the 1986 album "Count Three & Pray". It is the only song in this album written only by Rob Brill. I'm still trying to find who whistles...

Something you've heard
somewhere you've seen
too real to ignore
you've chosen not to believe
from the black of their pain
to the white of their fear
in the dust they die
while eden lies near

the freedom bought,
changed hands, was sold
this heat of love has turned ice-cold

we just can't escape it
like flames reaching out from the sun
we can't defeat it
like flames reaching out from the sun

from the garden of love,
been banished too long
and the balance will shift
between the week and the strong
once they would beg and they would plead
but now they demand
divided by those that need
and those that command

the freedom bought,
changed hands, was sold
the heat of love has turned ice-cold and
we never learn but we know too well
heaven's died and gone to hell

now you watch but you shoud have run
like flames that leap from the base of the sun
and you dream you're free but you'll awake
too much too late, too much too late

Walk Like an Egyptian; The Bangles

“Walk Like an Egyptian” is the first song from The Bangles to reach #1 on the charts around the world. It did it in U.S. Billboard Hot 100, Australian, Dutch and German Singles Chart, reaching 2nd and 3rd places in many other countries. According to Wikipedia, it was the first song of an all-women band that peaked the Billboard’s top.

Songfacts stated that the “songwriter Liam Sternberg wrote this. He got the idea when he was on a ferry boat, and saw people struggling to keep their balance. The way they held out their arms and jerked around made it look like they were doing Egyptian movements, and if the boat moved suddenly, they would all topple over.”

But The Bangles’ girls didn’t like to play this song. One of the reasons was that “Walk Like an Egyptian” was a cover, not theirs. Another reason is that it supposed to be just a fun song and not a top hit. We can see this in an interview for PopEntertainment.com:

“‘I was coming from the point of view of a songwriter,’ admits singer/guitarist Vicki Peterson. ‘I wanted to be given respect and recognition as [one]. I thought the band itself had a point of view and a voice and something to say that was being underestimated by our label. I kept looking to bands like R.E.M., who never went outside the band, really, to write. Maybe I’ve since learned that was not actually true. But, the perception was, it was the band’s voice. I wanted that for the Bangles.’

“Particularly weird was the number one smash ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’. The band had heard the demo sung by singer Marti Jones and thought it would be fun to record. But, suddenly, they were best known for the song that was a bit of a novelty. Their fourth single, ‘Walking Down Your Street’ was the Hoffs composition and became a minor success. Then as a soundtrack single for the movie Less Than Zero, the group recorded Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Hazy Shade of Winter’, which just missed hitting the top spot.”

Well, below I put the original videoclip in which Debbi Peterson pretends to be whistling when there is a synthesizer doing it.

All the old paintings on the tombs
They do the sand dance dont you know
If they move too quick (oh whey oh)
Theyre falling down like a domino

All the bazaar men by the Nile
They got the money on a bet
Gold crocodiles (oh whey oh)
They snap their teeth on your cigarette

Foreign types with the hookah pipes say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an egyptian

The blonde waitresses take their trays
They spin around and they cross the floor
Theyve got the moves (oh whey oh)
You drop your drink then they bring you more

All the school kids so sick of books
They like the punk and the metal band
When the buzzer rings (oh whey oh)
They're walking like an egyptian

All the kids in the marketplace say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an egyptian

(whistling)

Slide your feet up the street bend your back
Shift your arm then you pull it back
Life is hard you know (oh whey oh)
So strike a pose on a cadillac

If you want to find all the cops
Theyre hanging out in the donut shop
They sing and dance (oh whey oh)
Spin the clubs cruise down the block

All the japanese with their yen
The party boys call the kremlin
And the chinese know (oh whey oh)
They walk the line like egyptian

All the cops in the donut shop say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an egyptian
Walk like an egyptian