"On Our Own" by Bobby Brown

“Yeah, I think this is gonna be another one of those funky ones... heart, soul... D-D-DANCE!”

      Hey friends! In response to the Ghostbusters reboot film in theaters now (which I haven’t seen yet – I’m waiting to form my own opinion…), the Dial has opened its musical ghost trap and captured a classic hit from the summer of 1989, which also served as the theme to the second film in the franchise. Crank up the volume for Bobby Brown and “On Our Own”!

“If I was you, and you were me, you’d wanna be winnin’…

If you want something bad, yo, you gotta wanna give your all.”

A monster hit following the June 1989 theatrical release of Ghostbusters II, “On Our Own” reached #1 on the US R&B charts, #2 on the Hot 100, and also scored high in the UK, where it spirited its way to #4.

Taken from the movie soundtrack, and also featured on Bobby’s “Dance!... Ya Know It” remix LP, Brown’s song was nearly as big a hit as Ray Parker Jr’s original theme as far as chart positions go. Despite its success, the ghostbusting jam has largely been abandoned by radio stations since Vigo the Carpathian was locked back in his painting at the end of the second film. Granted the lyrics in the verses are rather thin, but the chorus is a great earworm, and it does contain a pretty sweet rap section, which sums up the general plot of the film. To a Ghostbusters idolizing fan like myself, that rap was the greatest thing on radio that summer.

For your reading (and listening) enjoyment, I’ve listed the entire spiel here…

Too hot to handle, too cold to hold

They’re called the Ghostbusters and they’re in control

Had ‘em throwin’ a party for a bunch of children

While all the while, the slime was under the building

So they packed up their group, got a grip, came equipped

Grabbed the proton packs on their backs, and they split

Found out about Vigo, the master of evil

Try to battle my boys? That’s not legal!

Although I never liked the second part of that first line, “Too cold to hold”. It’s clear they were just playing off of the earlier portion of the lyric, “Too hot to handle” with the logical opposite, but it always seemed to me like the line should have been “Too HARD to hold”. This would better speak to the fact that you can’t keep those loveable Ghostbusters down, a sentiment that the rest of the lyrics back up.

Borrowing an idea from the video for the 1984 Ray Parker Jr theme, the clip for On Our Own features celebrity cameos including Rick Moranis (which makes sense, as for gawd’s sake the man IS “Louis Tully”), Jane Curtin, Christopher Reeve, Malcolm Forbes, Sally Kirkland, Lori Singer, Iman, Joey and Marky of The Ramones, Doug E Fresh, and amusingly enough, presumptive Presidential candidate Donald Trump. (I’m not interested in any political commentary here, I’m just stating a fact)

However, I keep thinking I see other celebs here. There are people in certain scenes that look familiar to me – but maybe my mind is just trying to recognize people who are really just extras in the video. Or maybe I’m just mesmerized by movie clips being projected onto skyscrapers and bus stop walls. Ah, the late 80s.

“Now I found out that nothin’ is given… Don’t know where the cards may fall…

All I know is that we’ve gotta get it… we’ve gotta make it on our own.”

One of my local top 40 stations, WAVA, used to play a cool remix of this song which added several Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray lines taken from the first film, including the iconic “He slimed me”. I only ever heard that mix on that station, so I’m not sure if WAVA created it in-house, or if it was a nationwide release that only they played.

So after you set your proton packs to charge overnight, and you empty your ghost traps in the containment unit, take a moment to flashback to the summer of 1989 and give a spin to Bobby’s ghostbusting jam. But make sure to keep a watchful eye on that class four free-roaming vapor in the south quadrant. I think that could grow into a bigger problem.

“Well I guess we’re gonna have to take control… all on our own…

If it’s up to us, we’ve got to take it home… all on our own…”

"I Go To Pieces" by Southern Pacific

      Hello friends! Tonight, the Dial turns it’s receivers toward the “The Heartland”, and finds a tune that would be filed under “country” in your local record store… remember those? But our spotlighted track is not a typical country barnburner, nor a twangy heart wrenching ballad. Tonight we bring you an a capella rendition of a mid ‘60s top 10 hit, a remake that shares as much in common with barbershop quartet than traditional country. Let’s all give a listen to Southern Pacific and “I Go To Pieces”.

“When I see her coming down the street… I get so shaky and I feel so weak…”

A cover of Peter & Gordon's 1965 US #9 pop hit, and written by early rock pioneer Del Shannon, Southern Pacific’s “I Go…” peaked on the US country singles chart at #31 in 1990, with no top 40 crossover at all. Given the pop landscape of 1990 (NKOTB, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, hair metal), it’s not at all surprising that the song wasn’t pushed to Top 40 stations.

What’s sad though, is many major market country stations didn’t bother to play it either. The two main concerns from program directors was that the song was a capella, and thus contained no “country” instrumentation (which, of course, was the whole point of the style – duh!) , and that it was a 1960s pop cover. To that, I say, SO WHAT? A great song is a great song, as the smaller stations adventurous enough to play it learned when their request lines lit up from listeners wanting to hear more spins of SP’s remake. But without the mass market acceptance from the major market stations, the single charted much lower than it deserved.

“I tell my eyes look the other way… but they don’t seem to hear a word I say…”

Growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, my parents frequently listened to WXTR-FM, an oldies station, which at that time meant ‘50s and ‘60s rock, pop and soul. So whenever a new remake hit the Top 40 like Billy Idol’s “Mony Mony”, or Simply Red’s “If You Don’t Know Me by Now”, I was already well familiar with the originals, and was among the first of my classmates to recognize them as remakes of Tommy James and the Shondells, and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

Peter & Gordon’s original “I Go…” was an oldie that I enjoyed singing along with on WXTR, but I expect that I never would have encountered Southern Pacific’s remake had it not been for a radio contest…

“I remember what she said when she said…

‘Goodbye baby. We’ll meet again soon, maybe. But until we do… all my best to you’

I’m so lonely, I think about her only.”

Our local country station, WMZQ, took out a full page ad in The Washington Post, listing their entire playlist (song title, artist, and the time each song would air) for a certain day. I’ve long since forgotten the actual point to the contest, but I used that playlist that day to “hunt” for remakes, tuning in when I thought I would be hearing an interesting cover tune, with a blank cassette tape at the ready. In addition to “I Go…”, that list helped me discover Ronnie Milsap’s “Since I Don’t Have You”, his version of the 1958 classic by The Skyliners (to be covered again a few years later by Guns N Roses).

So check it out, and let me know your thoughts on it. Would Southern Pacific’s 60s cover have been a country top 10 if the major markets had been behind it? I tend to think so. And stay tuned to the Dial, where the more you listen… the MORE you remember!

“I go to pieces and I wanna cry… I go to pieces and I almost die, everytime... My baby… passes by.”