defend the indefensible: MUSKRAT LOVE

i agree!

Wasn't it an America song first? I've never heard their version. That sounds really creepy.

Captain and Tenille, on the other hand though...

I know you won't believe this, but I was the bass player in Special Delivery...

OK, now the only reason I'm doing this is due to my utter astonishment at seeing this come up here. I must be insane showing this to a bunch of writers : )

http://www.bradlaner.com/pix/special_delivery_1979.mov

a few explanations : End of the school year 1979 the music dept. at Sepulveda Jr. High put a band together of students to go audition for the above mentioned show. I was 12 years old and the only kid in school who played and owned an electric bass. i was in 7th grade, the rest of the kids were in 9th. I still think it was my hair that got us the gig . ha ha.
of course this is insanely embarrassing and I think the song is
total shite. ( chewing on cheese indeed ! ). However the Arp Odessey solo is like fucking Bartok or something. ho ho, poor kid.
I was already a major Devo fanatic at this time and that same summer had a formative experience taking the RTD bus by myself the the Santa Monica Civic to see the Duty Now for the Future Tour . that was waaay better than this crap, though I'm stoked in retrospect to have played with Daryl Dragon, for it is he that played nearly everything on the Beach Boys "'til I die".

enjoy.

makes ya think....

but let me tell you, after becoming an accomplished keyboardist and playing the song, i can tell you that it a very beautiful song. perhaps their arrangment and maybe the title contributed to why everyone thinks the song sucks, but the melody is in fact very beautiful. i promise if you heard me play the song, you would not only percieve it differently, you would like it too!

Is it the America version of this song that traditionally invokes so much ire? Because that is so mellow a jam it's near being a gentle soporific. I don't see how it could inspire so much hate.

Like remember the Dave Barry column about the worst songs ever, where it was just people saying stuff like "'I'm Too Sexy' makes me wish my ears turned into bags of frozen petite peas so I'd never have to hear it again"? They had a little gift book extended version of the column and the bitterest, angriest, all-capsiest rants were reserved for the chapter on "Muskrat Love." I read this book at age 11 and it actually made me truly afraid of hearing "Muskrat Love." One of those childhood fears, like my fear of Dick Van Dyke, that I totally forget about until come context causes them to surface. ANyway, America's "Muskrat Love": not worth being afraid for 15 years.