80s Music Video Sunday #5

I am a sleep-away camp survivor graduate. I loved going away to camp. I can still remember my first day, feeling rather uncertain, not really knowing anyone and standing off to the side while joyous reunions took place all around me. Well, the summer passed by in a blur of sports, Zionism, song, and high-jinks, and in subsequent years, I had more than my fair share of joyous reunions on the first day of the session.

One of the best things about camp was the people. Being that it was the national summer camp for our youth organization, we had campers from across the US, as well as an astounding number of Puerto Ricans, Israelis, and the occasional European. During these magical summers, I made some amazing friends, developed my love for Israel, and learned a great deal about life. Most of all, I learned a great deal about music. It was there that I first heard the Grateful Dead, and it was there that I learned the words to most popular Israeli songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. The summer of 1986 (when I wasn't actually a camper, but a member of the service staff) is particularly memorable, as that was the summer when I learned about Squeeze. I'd never heard them before, but shit was I hooked. We must have listened to Singles, 45s and Under about a million times, over and over again. I couldn't believe they'd been around for years without my ever having heard them, and now I was making up for lost time. I left camp that summer with my tape-to-tape recording of Singles..., and never looked back. It came with me to Israel that fall, and somehow managed to survive my college years in Boston. I even managed to get to one of their concerts, and it was, without a doubt, one of the best concerts I've ever attended.

So, in case you haven't guessed it yet, today's entry for 80s Music Video Sunday is going to be by Squeeze, one of my all-time favorite bands. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out which song to pick, and believe me, it hasn't been easy! Some (such as anything off the Cool for Cats album) were eliminated simply because they were actually released in the late 70s, rendering them automatically ineligible. And while I love Pulling Mussels (from the Shell), the only video clip I found wasn't very high quality, so I've reluctantly knocked that one out of the running as well. A number of the other songs I considered were not to be found anywhere on YouTube, It all came down to two. It was a tough decision, and tempted as I was to go with Black Coffee in Bed, in the end I went another way.



Tempted
(Difford/Tilbrook)

I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste
A flannel for my face
Pyjamas, a hairbrush
New shoes and a case
I said to my reflection
Let's get out of this place

Past the church and the steeple
The laundry on the hill
Billboards and the buildings
Memories of it still
Keep calling and calling
But forget it all
I know I will

Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered
What's been going on
Now that you have gone
There's no other
Tempted by the fruit of another
Tempted but the truth is discovered

I'm at the car park, the airport
The baggage carousel
The people keep on crowding
I'm wishing I was well
I said it's no occasion
It's no story I could tell

At my bedside empty pocket
A foot without a sock
Your body gets much closer
I fumble for the clock
Alarmed by the seduction
I wish that it would stop

I bought a novel, some perfume
A fortune all for you
But it's not my conscience
That hates to be untrue
I asked of my reflection
Tell me what is there to do