"Stranger In My House" by Ronnie Milsap

Hey Dialophiles! You ever get the feeling that you’re being watched? Maybe you feel as if somebody is in the room with you, even though you don’t see anyone? Ronnie Milsap sure did, though instead of chalking it up to unsubstantiated paranoia or a ghostly encounter, he attributed it to marital infidelity. Tonight, the Dial tunes into Ronnie’s song about that very topic… 1983’s “Stranger In My House”!

“There’s a silence here between us… I’ve never heard before… And I can’t find the love in her eyes anymore…”

The first single pushed to radio from his 1983 LP Keyed Up, Milsap sings of the recognition that his love affair is falling apart, and his suspicion that another man has come between him and his lady. This was to be Ronnie’s final pop crossover hit, landing at a respectable #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984.

While I never really got into the country music scene of the ‘90s or beyond, the early ‘80s “Urban Cowboy Movement”, inspired by the 1980 John Travolta / Debra Winger film of the same name, still sounds great to me, even to this day. Milsap was one of the main proponents of Urban Cowboy, a slick blend of country, rock, and pop, with major crossover hits like “I Wouldn’t Have Missed It For The World”, “Smoky Mountain Rain”, and the Chuck Jackson cover “Any Day Now”.

“Is it somebody we both know… or somebody she just met? Is she loving him in her mind while she’s lying here in my bed?”

While all of those previously mentioned songs hit #1 on the country singles chart, “Stranger”, oddly enough, broke Milsap’s streak of ten chart toppers, by stalling at US country #5. The story goes that a Denver Colorado country station refused to play the cut because they believed it sounded too much like Led Zeppelin (REALLY, Denver, REALLY ?!?!?), which kept the song from realizing it’s US #1 country potential.

Thinking it over, it seems unlikely to me that ONE station, even one in a large market like Denver, could have THAT much influence on a song’s success, especially if we assume that ALL OTHER country stations in the country WERE playing Ronnie’s tune. The only way I could see this happening is if the rest of the songs in the country top 5 at that point were incredibly close to each other in terms of airplay and sales numbers. That way, the lost recognition from the Denver station could conceivably cause a chart drop of four notches. It’s a damn shame though, Ronnie deserved a higher position on both the country and pop charts with this classic track.

He didn’t let that stop him though, as he rebounded back to #1 with the follow up single “Don’t You Know How Much I Love You”, and continued to enjoy success in the country format well into the early ‘90s.

“Suspicions lead to questions, and questions to alibis… is it just my imagination, or has her love turned into lies?”

Ronnie revisited “Stranger” in 2007 on the CMT television series “Crossroads”, re-imagined as a duet with then hot Chicano rock group Los Lonely Boys, who hit big with 2004’s “Heaven”. Milsap handled the signature piano work throughout, in addition to the first verse and chorus, and Los Lonely Boys handled the second verse and the rest of the instrumentation.

So give Ronnie’s final top 40 entry a spin. A song that as far as the Dial is concerned, doesn’t sound at all out of place mixed among the hits of Duran Duran, Hall & Oates, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper. Just make sure to check your home for intruders… physical… or musical!

“There’s a stranger in my house… somebody here that I can’t see. Stranger in my house… Somebody here trying to take her away from me.”

"Walking Down Your Street" by The Bangles

How’s it goin’ Dialophiles? For all of you whom happen to be of the female persuasion, pop open your Caboodles case, snag your jelly bracelets, slip into your hottest L.A. Gears, and tease that hair with plenty of Aqua Net! We’re dialing it back to early ’87 tonight with the help of California’s The Bangles and their classic up-tempo rocker “Walking Down Your Street”.

“Ooooo…. Oh, I’ve had sleepless nights. Toss and turn, wake up burning for what you inspire…”

Pulled from their second full-length album, 1986’s “Different Light”, “Walking Down” just missed the top 10, settling for a #11 position in the States and #16 in the U.K. The girls really hit their stride with this LP as far as hit singles go, with the Prince-authored “Manic Monday” hitting #2, the Jules Shear cover “If She Knew What She Wants” reaching #29, and the iconic “Walk Like An Egyptian” topping the charts, a success that immediately preceded the release of “Walking Down”. (A.K.A. their OTHER “walking” song!)

While the lyrics of “Walking Down” describe the affection a lovesick gal has for her intended beau, the music video tells an unrelated story. It seems the girls (as fictional band “the Lovebeats”) were voted by their fans to open for Little Richard, though the rock and roll pioneer ends up annoyed when the girls’ set takes longer than he would like! Richard has a sizable role in the video, and Randy “Cousin Eddie” Quaid cameos as a guy in a pickup truck who tries to “pick up” the girls… unsuccessfully. (“Randy” gets “Randy”… worth a chuckle for sure!)

“Ooooo… Oh, how I wish you would be mine… my pulse is weak, blushing brighter than a valentine…”

I know it’s a visual effect that positively screams 1980s, but I seriously dig the “glowing neon” backlit effect caused by the colored lights of the concert venue illuminating the fringes of each of the girls’ hairdos. Each Bangle (or Lovebeat if you prefer) has her own signature color, which seems to radiate from within, much like an aura.

Also, in an earlier scene, a poster for Boston’s 1976 debut LP makes an appearance on a dressing room door. I wondered if the two bands were in direct competition with each other back then, so I contacted my pal Greg, a fellow musicologist, and he told me that at the time “Walking Down” was climbing the Hot 100, Boston’s “Can’tcha Say (You Believe Me)” was doing the same. In fact, for the weeks ending April 18^th, and again on April 25^th of ’87, Boston’s single held strong to #20, and The Bangles were at their #11 peak. Both songs started to fall after that, culminating in the one and only time the tracks shared adjacent positioning… May 30^th, 1987, when The Bangles were at #94, and Boston was at #95. The two bands were on different labels at the time (MCA vs. Columbia), so perhaps there is some sort of deeper Bangles/Boston connection… more research is clearly necessary.

Though the girls’ prior single “Egyptian” was a fantastic party track, I found it overstayed its welcome rather quickly, and I wondered then why the bubbly feel good pop of “Walking Down” didn’t stick around nearly as long on the airwaves. In hindsight, it’s probably because Egyptian had a better (and campier) gimmick, and as such, was a tough act for any song to follow, no matter how strong. However, “Walking Down” possesses a more timeless feel and theme, harkening back to such playfully flirtatious songs like Melanie’s “Brand New Key”, and The Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You”. The opening “Da da da daaaaaaa” vocal intro sets off that whole late 60s/early 70s bubblegum tone quite nicely.

So what are you waiting for? Jog that memory, and walk down your street with The Bangles as your musical guides, courtesy of Kyle’s Radio Dial.

“Walking down your street… with a love that I can’t hide… I’ve got one thing on my mind, yeah, I’ll even sacrifice my pride…”

"Killing Me Softly" by Al B. Sure

What’s goin’ down, Dialophiles? Glad you all could make it to our humble little blog, this fine evening!

Tonight, the Dial beams you a smooth, soulful groove … a forgotten cover tune, recorded by one of the preeminent soul crooners of the latter half of the ‘80s. Turn the lights down low for Al B. Sure and his take on “Killing Me Softly”.

“I heard she sang a good song… I heard she had a style… and so I came to see her to listen for a while…”

Extracted from the 1988 debut LP “In Effect Mode”, which contained the monster US# 7 and R&B #1 hit “Nite and Day”, and the follow up single “Off On Your Own (Girl)”, (R&B #1, US #45), “Killing…” was released as the third single from the album. The remake peaked respectably on the R&B charts at #14, but barely dented the Hot 100, stalling at a lowly #80. I always felt this track deserved at least a top 30 position, but perhaps the lyrics were too mature, and the groove too sophisticated and mellow, to gain major success among the teeny-bopper record and tape buying masses at the time of its release.

“And there she was, this young girl, a stranger to my eyes…”

Originally written and recorded by folk artist Lori Lieberman in 1971 as “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)”, and co-written by composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimble, (Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name”, Barry Manilow’s “Ready to Take a Chance Again”), the lyrics tell of a concert attendee who experiences humiliation when the performer she is watching seems to be singing about intimate details of her own life.

“I felt all flushed with fever… embarrassed by the crowd… I felt she found my letters and read each one out loud.”

Best known through Roberta Flack’s bluesy soul rendition, which topped the US charts in 1973, and quickly established the track as a pop standard, Al switches the gender pronouns (“his song” to “her song”), and truncates the title to the simpler “Killing Me Softly”. Sure’s take is soulful and jazzy, and wouldn’t sound out of place on a “quiet storm” radio station of today.

Even though Al’s cover didn’t light up the charts, we didn’t have to wait too long for the song to resurface. Eight years later, Haitian/American hip-hop trio The Fugees released an incredible take that hit #1 in most international markets, but stopped short in the U.S., settling for #2 in 1996.

“She sang as if she knew me, yeah… In all my dark despair… and then she looked right through me, as if I wasn’t there…”

Al’s second LP, 1990’s “Private Times… and the Whole 9!”, saw him tackling another classic ‘70s track, the Eagles’ “Hotel California”. I recall an interview with Sure in either Spin or Billboard, in which he was complimented on his cover choices. He replied that he always looked for cover songs that would challenge him as a singer and producer, and both “Killing” and “Hotel” fit the bill quite nicely.

Like Kenny Loggins’ “Nobody’s Fool” (a Radio Dial entry from mid-March)… “Killing…” was a track that I enjoyed repeatedly on the bus on the way to and from school, courtesy of my beloved Sony Walkman. I particularly appreciated the slow ascension in intensity throughout the track, which brings to mind a smoky jazz filled club. Also of note is the second chorus repetition near the end when Sure sings only with sparse drum accompaniment, and Al expertly switches to full A capella mode by the third chorus. Very smooth, very classy.

We recommend listening to this one with the lights down low. You’re welcome.

“Strumming my pain with her fingers… she was singing my life with her words… killing me softly with her song… killing me softly with her song… telling my whole life with her words… killing me softly with her song.”