Graham Parker - "You Can't be Too Strong" - 05/04/07

[huskerrock1]

this the shit

[christos7165]

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SONGS EVER.GREEK FUN

[tvoh01]

31 years ago this was released 1980

[cantonadenmark]

I love GP and I just love this song......one of the best songs ever written

[christos7165]

@cantonadenmark TRUE-GREEK FUN

[lagalaxyfan]

Brilliant.

[diphenhydramineHC]

Yeah really. i thought you guys knew it was about abortion.

[PinkTitanium]

there's are two Luna Parks in Beirut, Lebanon lol

[andreaprodan]

"I know it gets dark down by Luna Park" always stuck in my brain...

like some lines by Howard Devoto in MAGAZINE. Some writers hit the right asociations, I guess...

[spinoza613]

Luna Park is in Melbourne, Australia

[andreaprodan]

The world is full of Luna Parks. It is the generic name for amusement parks.

There is one in Brighton, Eastbourne,and hundreds of English sea-side towns. In many dark corners of these parks, on a 'one-night-stand' a human was conceived.

[spinoza613]

there's a line in the song "they'll laugh when I say I left it overseas", so this didn't happen in England.

[andreaprodan]

The plot thickens!

You seem to have a lot of info I lack...

I live in Buenos Aires now, and there is a huge Rock venue called Luna Park here too, where I saw White Stripes a few months back.

Still... let's settle for Australia.

And such a GOOD song it is!

[jraymondpollard]

What a powerful song!

[shhhtya]

GP 4ever!! PS. (i've been asking this before..NO answer!!??) -Can somebody be so kind and EXPLAIN (in other words,of course,so that i'd understand..) -What that line means: " The Doctor Gets Nervous Completing The Service, He's All Rubber Gloves And No Head.." Please help me 2 UNDERSTAND, Please!!!!!

[jraymondpollard]

Probably what a doctor performing an abortion looks like from the perspective of the woman on the table.

[RockC67]

It's about an abortion. Completing the service is performing the abortion. All rubber gloves and no head is what a woman sees from her perspective on the examinating table.

[plattform5163]

Thanks for sharing this great video!

[cantonadenmark]

this song always gives me the chills....GP is a genious...

[happyness1957]

Is Graham going to tour in 09? Wouldn't mind seeing him if he comes to Toronto. Great lyricist, poetic.

[Steamrollergirl71]

This is one of my Fav GP songs. My Mum used to play 'squeezing out sparks' all the time when we were kids. Happy Days.

[twoboys1dad]

this song means so much to me, from goin through the subject as a teenager, to finally realising what the lyrics were about 10 years later.... brilliant song

[klarkbar]

I like the way he performs it here even better than the LP version.

[andrewlewis963]

where was this recorded

[jkoff76]

This is one of the only songs about abortion that doesn't preach or make judgments. Pretty heady stuff, folks.

[shhhtya]

Great song&lyrics! Spent a decade or 2 2long here in finland,so i've forgotten my english.. still don't know what Graham means: "he's all rubber gloves and no head" ?!

[PeteyTee08]

Graham wrote one of the all-time great songs concerning social consciousness with this one. I loved this album but I think this was his masterpiece (song)

[tbags155]

One Great Song!!! NYC loved and supported him early 80's. GREAT FUCKING LYRICS!!!

[Fastboy007]

Very, very under-rated musician song writer. I just wish that more people would have heard of him...

"I aint gonna cry gonna re-choice..."

I love this song!!

[2002092]

I think its 'rejoice'.

[1avantgardener]

YOU decide what's wrong. YOU decide.

[jaye230]

..Not really trying to get anything going, but from someone who has been on both sides of the abortion issue, I don't see how this song could be pro-abortion. Like the Smiths song, It gives a ton of creedence to live in the womb....At any rate, it is a beautiful tune....thanks for the post, and thank you Graham.........

[112233jl]

COULD NEVER REALLY UNDERSTAND WHY GP NEVER GOT THE SUCCESS AND BIG MONEY HE SEEMED TO DESERVE. MAYBE BAD MARKETING, HE WAS CERTAINLY TALENTED ENOUGH. THEN AGAIN, SPRINGSTEEN WAS DOWN TO HIS LAST ALBUM(born to run)TO MAKE IT OR BREAK IT.

[leonardpower2004]

Just have to get Squeezing out Sparks again haven't played for a while words still sound great. one of the best gigs I went to in the 70s was GP and The Rumour supported by Southside Johnny & The Asbury Dukes

[gpf429]

Bought the lp "Squeezing out Sparks" (on vinyl) in the early 80s and recently managed to pick up the cd a short while ago. Talk about an album that stands the test of time! Absolutely Brilliant!!!

[snackleforkofemir]

I went to see a band called "Ace" in 1977 and support was a band called Graham Parker & The Rumour - for a few minutes i honestly thought it was Bob Dylan!

Saw him (them) again with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Dukes supporting, and also saw them supported by a band called "Blue Angel" at a tiny university somewhere outside London.

Great to see Graham Parker on youtube - thanks so much for posting this, one of my favourite GP songs!

[smcgilli]

Triva alert: Ace featured Paul Carrack later breifly a member of Squeeze (and singer on their hit 'Tempted'). Blue Angel featured Cyndi Lauper.

[snackleforkofemir]

The Blue Angel i saw were a 3 piece "power trio" fronted by a black guitar/singer with a white strat and a headband!

Deffo NOT the same Blue Angel with Cyndi Lauper!

[rainhaven]

Discovered him from a "punk" rocker roommate who had a few of his albums, in 84. I became obsessed with this song and temporary beauty.

I still listen to him and have several of his latest albums. Go Graham. By the way listen to the album not this crappy version.

[smcgilli]

I guess "this crappy version" can't be that bad since you added it to your favorites. This latest tour was great. Catch him next time he comes around.

[StUmPLuV24]

i was there! incase you didnt know, its not an anti-abortion song, and its not for abortion either. its just kind of in between

[smcgilli]

From the horse's mouth...

"There's nothing really to add to this song...I get fairly rankled when people ask whether it's pro- or antiabortion. I don't deal with such simplicities. It's about being involved in an event." - GP

[StUmPLuV24]

exactly!!!!

[JohnEpi1973]

so so so great ! bravo , wish they could come to Greece!

[NeitherTenzingNorgay]

One of the greatest - then again maybe only - anti-abortion songs ever written.

[hockeyfreddie]

Yes he is one of the finest singer songwriters. An equal of his contemporaries Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. Saw him 1st in 1980 with Huey Lewis & The News Opening for him.

[andreaprodan]

Loved Parker (still do)... and now, watching/listening from Buenos Aires, Argentina I miss the intensity of this period of his... Thanks Graham if you read this... you are amidst the very best, yes?!

[PTL654321]

Graham Parker with Edmund Valauskas on bass, and Scott...nice!