"Man On Your Mind" by the Little River Band

        Welcome, friends! Thanks for tuning your "interwebs" and your attention, to my modest little corner of the information super highway... Kyle's Radio Dial! Tonight, we take a look back at one of the more rockin' songs from the Australian kings of soft rock, the Little River Band. Let us present their tale of infidelity awareness entitled “Man On Your Mind”!

“I can feel it floating away... inch by inch... day by day.

Love boat... set itself free... cast away, slipping out to sea.”

When compared to the bulk of the Little River Band's (LRB) melodic ballad hit singles (“Lady”, “Cool Change”, “Reminiscing”, etc.), “Man...” is a harder selection from these Australian boys, and it fits quite nicely within the radio landscape of early 80s pop/rock.

Despite the upbeat vibe, the lyrics tell a troubled story about the memory of another man coming in between the singer and his lady. The male protagonist sees all the red flags, including the woman's stress as she tries to conceal the truth. A comment is even made that...

“you can't change your life, by changing your name”

This makes me think that the woman tried to escape her past by marrying the man singing the song, but that very past (the titular "man on her mind") is holding her back emotionally.

However, by the final bridge, there appears to be hope for the relationship, as the singer says...

“He's already fallen... So it's no use to fight... And if he starts callin'...
Let him know you're with me, for the rest of the night.”

This seems to indicate that the woman has finally realized that holding on to the past is damaging her present romance, and it is necessary to move forward with her current guy. Or maybe it's simply that the male character giving her a mild ultimatum... a “you're MY GIRL” kind of assertation, at which point, his macho mannerisms may push the woman further away. So I guess the interpretation can go either way on this. I prefer the more positive outcome.

“Man...” was the third and final single from LRB's 1981 LP Time Exposure, which also yielded the top 10 hits “The Night Owls” (US #6) and “Take It Easy on Me“ (US #10). “Man...”'s peak position in early '82 fell behind these other two hits, but not by much at US #14.

An interesting fact about “Man...” and the entire Time Exposure LP, is that it was produced by none other than “the Fifth Beatle” himself, Sir George Martin! Following the 1970 conclusion of the Beatles, Martin continued to work with McCartney on his Wings and solo material, and also produced works for acts like Jeff Beck, America, Ultravox, Cheap Trick, Kenny Rogers, and Elton John, among many others, including LRB.

“I used to dream it could last forever... But pipe dreams never come true...
I'd be foolin' myself if I never thought something like this... couldn't happen to you”

“Man...” is also one of the few top 40 songs whose lyrics added to my personal lexicon, as it introduced me to the terms “Chinese junk” (an ancient Chinese sailing ship) and “pipe dream” (an impossible goal). Only a few other songs did the same, such as “false bravado”, mentioned in Player's 1978 hit “Baby Come Back”, and “loving by proxy”, from Cutting Crew's 1988 smash “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight”. See, pop music does grow your vocabulary!

In contrast to the relative seriousness of the song's lyrics, the music video for “Man...” is quite campy, as the LRB guys prance around a stage in a goofy and deliberately awkward dance routine. They do appear to be having a good time fooling around for the camera, though.

So sit back and check out LRB's top 20 entry, one of the countless former radio hits that never pop up on radio anymore. And be sure to check back in with the Dial later in the month for the next overlooked track worthy of a second glance.

“I said, Baby... You've got a man on your mind... You've got a weight on your shoulders...
How you ever gonna find the words to say, Goodbye ?”