Happy Halloween weekend, Dialophiles!
As the
spooky season winds down, make sure to check out the Dial’s latest signal, a
top ten smash from ’82 that has spirited away from current radio playlists. A song that interestingly enough, sports a fairly elaborate horror
themed music video, nearly two years before the iconic “Thriller”. Give it up for Mr. Ray Parker Jr., and “The Other Woman”!
“I’m
just… the average guy. I fooled around a little on the side… Never thought it
would amount to much…”
Following a lucrative career as a studio
musician in the ‘70s, where his musical chops can be heard on recordings by
Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, The Spinners, and Barry White’s Love Unlimited
Orchestra (among many others), Parker formed the R&B/disco group Raydio
with Arnell Carmichael, Vincent Bonham, and Jerry Knight, later of the 1983 hit
“Breakin… There’s No Stopping Us”.
Raydio released four LPs from 1978 through
1981 on a yearly basis, all of which were certified gold. Three singles (“Jack and Jill”, “You Can’t Change That”, and “A
Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)” peaked in the pop top 10, and even
more placed well on the R&B charts. However, all good things must come to
an end, and Raydio disbanded in late 1981, opening the door for Ray to begin
his solo career.
“Now
I know the rules of the game… you hit it once, then break away clean… I should
have never gone back, I know…”
His first solo jam released to radio (not Raydio…) “The Other Woman” served as the
title track from Ray’s same named LP, and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
in late spring of ‘82. Parker’s next big hit was 83’s “I Still Can’t Get Over Loving You”, a silky smooth mid-tempo #12
hit, then came his signature song, the three-week chart topping “Ghostbusters”. You may have heard of it.
I think there was some sort of movie by the same name as well…
Anyway, TOW deals with a rather risqué topic,
the thrill of seeing a lover on the side, and the risk of getting caught being
unfaithful. Throughout the song, Parker admits he’s wrong, but he revels in the
deception, explaining that he hates to cheat, but it feels better when he
sneaks!
“Ohhhh…
this affair is unique. All my life I never met such a freak. She keeps me going
strong for so long… when I get home, it’s all gone. Makes me want to grab my
guitar… and play with it all night long”
TOW is worth noting for its original campy
horror video which features a rising corpse, a gothic castle with
Frankenstein’s Monster as a doorman, a weird potato-headed humanoid that loves
to boogie down staircases, and some sort of undead saxophone player! Also, the
actual “other woman” depicted here is a vampiress, who successfully plants a
bite on Parker’s neck, right after he wraps up the first verse! Count Parker
Jr?
I also enjoy how Parker’s first girlfriend
pursues him to the castle to rescue her man, but bolts once she realizes what a
freaky scene he’s gotten himself into! The admittedly low budget video predates
MJ’s legendary “Thriller” by a over year,
which makes me wonder if TOW had any influence, even slight, on Michael’s
masterpiece.
Supposedly, this video was rarely seen because
MTV had an issue with showing an interracial romance, even one of the
tongue-in-cheek horror homage variety. The more commonly seen video (and less
imaginative) clip shows Ray singing with a starfield projected behind him.
Now, in tying together my two main passions,
‘80s music and ‘80s arcades (yes, there is a connection here…), I recall
spending a Saturday afternoon with my Uncle Artie in a local video arcade, in
which I was mainly playing the hot new game of the time, Ms. Pac-Man. This
arcade had a sound system cranking out the hot hits of the day, and at one
point, TOW started blasting over the speakers.
In my arcade loving innocence, I started
imagining that Ms. Pac herself WAS
the other woman being sung about… as if Ray was spending less time with his
girlfriend in order to play the arcade game! Hey, Buckner & Garcia’s “Pac-Man Fever”, a song all about one
man’s addiction to the original dot gobbling game hit its chart peak (US #9) a
month or so before, so it made perfect sense to my eight-year-old mind, that
TOW could have had a similar interpretation!
Yeah, it’s a little embarrassing (but amusing)
to relate that story now, but whenever I hear TOW nowadays, even though I well
know what the song is REALLY about, I still get brief “flashbacks” to that day
in that arcade, playing Ms. Pac to my heart’s content. And that’s always worth
a smile, and perhaps a bouncing pretzel or two.
“I’m in Love… with the other woman… my life was fine… ‘til she blew my mind…
Somebody HELP ME!”
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