"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…”