The Great eighties countdown week 8

Here we are at the two-month point of this countdown and we'll be crossing the halfway point this time.  Hope you've enjoyed the ride so far, and if you hit a song that you don't know, and are too busy to look it up yourself, let me know on comments and I'll try to find an acceptable posting.  And without further ado (or doo-doo), let us proceed.

160- Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy, #7, 1985.  My favorite line, despite it's corruption of the timeline:  "It was winter 1963/and we thought that the world would freeze/ with John F. Kennedy/ and the Beatles..."

159- Middle Of The Road, the Pretenders, #19, #2 Mainstream Rock, 1984. I love the cat "rowww" right into the harmonica.

158- Key Largo, Bertie Higgins, #8, 1981.  About anything with a mandolin will get to me at one point or another.

157- Halfway House, Rosanne Cash, Unreleased, 1985.  I asked so many people for Rhythm And Romance for Christmas, I got two of 'em!  This album cut was the most primal, almost would have been a better fit on King's Record Shop.

156- Beds Are Burning, Midnight Oil,  #17, #6 MSR, 1987.  Native Americans should have a theme song as strong as this one for giving back to the Pintupi in Australians.

155- Panama, Van Halen, #13, #2 MSR, 1984.  "we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight... can barely see the road for the heat coming off..."

154- My Kinda Lover, Billy Squier, #45, #31 MSR.  Yeah, I know you know I'm a Squier fan.

153- If You Leave, Orchestral Manoevers In The Dark, #4, 1986.  Not near as big here as in England, this was from the Pretty In Pink soundtrack.

152- Duchess, Genesis, Not Charting, #46 UK, 1980.  I could have just put the entire Duke album on this.  It was that good.

151- You May Be Right, Billy Joel, #7, 1980.  I remember one time the glass crashing that leads off this song coming on as I drove into school.  Took a deep breath, prepared to sing along.  Choked on it when the Chipmunks started singing.  ARRRGH!

150- Handle With Care, Travelling Willburys, #45, #2 MSR, 1988.  Dylan.  Petty.  Harrison.  Lynne.  And Orbison.  How could these guys NOT be on the list?  And they'll be back a couple more times.

149- Whip It, Devo, #14, 1980.  Even though the legend exceeded the production, this was still a cool tune for the flowerpot heads.

148- Stepping Out, Joe Jackson, #6, 1982.  The ultimate first-date song.

147- Come Dancing, the Kinks, #6, 1983.  Don't we all have a place from our youth like "the parley"?  When they tore it down, "Part of my childhood died..."

146- Rio, Duran Duran, #14, 1983.  Hungry Like The Wolf didn't quite sell me on DD.  Rio did, though.

145- Limelight, Rush, #55, #4 MSR, 1981.  Go back and see my comments on Tom Sawyer and repeat.

144- Castles In The Air, Don McLean, #36, 1981.  "And I will not be part of her cocktail generation/partners waltz, devoid of all romance/ the music plays, and everyone must dance/ I'm bowing out, I need a second chance..."

143- Is There Something I Should Know, Duran Duran, #4, 1983.  My favorite of Duran Duran.

142- All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight, Hank Williams, Jr., #10, 1984.  Do you wanna driiiink, hey do you wanna partyyyy???

141- Cuyahoga, REM, Unreleased, 1986.  An album cut from Life's Rich Pageant, nostalgically looking back at a time before 1969, when it was so polluted it caught fire.


And there we are for another week.  Don't be shy about commenting, and we'll catch you next week!