I found one tonight that made me stop and read (a big bonus for this A.D.D.-saddled brain). It's a blog about an obscure 80's rock dude by the name of Henry Lee Summer, who had a hit with the song "Wish I Had a Girl" and then faded away.
I actually OWN two Henry Lee Summer cd's, so to even see a post about the guy kinda shocked me -- and I'm going to shamelessly paste the whole post here, and hope the author doesn't get PISSED...
Cutouts Gone Wild!: Henry Lee Summer, “I’ve Got Everything”
Henry Lee Summer - I’ve Got Everything (1989)
purchase this album (Amazon)
In light of the news of Henry Lee Summer’s recent arrest-slash-Tasering, we’re having a Very Special Emergency Extra Edition of Cutouts Gone Wild! today — but fear not, Henry Lee fans, we come to praise the bemulleted heartland rocker, not to bury him.
(Well. I come to praise him, anyway. I can’t make any promises for the ignoramuses in the comment threads. Especially that Billy K — there’s something wrong with him.)
Anyway, yeah, Henry Lee Summer. What, you don’t remember him? You don’t remember his raspy shout proclaiming that he wished he had a girl who walked like that, ooh yeah, he wished he had that girl? It was a hit, fuckers, and you can check for yourselves if you don’t believe me. I remember. It was 1988, and Henry Lee was in the Top 40. Casey Kasem told me so.
“Wish I Had a Girl” was Henry Lee’s big ‘hit’, and since the album from whence it came (Henry Lee Summer) is still in print, I ain’t linking to it here. But what we will discuss is his second release for Columbia, 1989’s I’ve Got Everything. It spun two songs into the lower reaches of the Top 40, “Hey Baby” (download) and “Don’t Leave” (download), both of which were pretty goddamn cool, and certainly did nothing to diminish his status as a poor man’s John Mellencamp.
Hold on. That isn’t an insult. Henry Lee Summer — and I don’t have even the faintest trace of a smirk on my face as I write this — was a badass mofo in his day. Let me break it down for you: Not only did he make some of the best (if slightly glossy) roots rock of the major-label late ’80s, but he was known to play every instrument on his recordings if the mood struck him. Also — and I speak from experience, having seen him as a wee Jefito when he opened for Chicago in ‘88 — he was a great live act, one of the last old-school rock & roll barnstormers.
(I’m aware that Henry Lee is alive and still playing out. However, I say “was a great live act” due to certain recently deleted threads at Henry Lee’s official site concerning his…condition at recent concerts.)
I’ve Got Everything didn’t sell a whole lot of copies, but it isn’t a bad record. I submit “Close Enough for Me” (download), “Got No Money” (download), and the title track (download) for your further consideration, and remember — it was 1989. There was only so much one humble Indianan could do when swimming against the flow of major-label suckitude.
On that note, let me take this moment to announce that the next two Thursdays will also include an extra Henry Lee edition tacked onto your regularly scheduled Cutouts Gone Wild! — next week, we’ll tackle 1991’s Way Past Midnight, in which Columbia tried to change Henry Lee from a poor man’s Mellencamp into a poor man’s Bolton, and then 1993’s Slamdunk. He’s released albums since then, but they’re pretty hard to come by, and there’s only so much that even I am willing to do in the name of nostalgia.
Cheers to you, Mr. Henry Lee Summer. Who among us has not fallen asleep at the wheel after “taking two Ambien”? Who among us has not crashed into multiple cars and fled into a trailer park? Who among us has not been tasered in front of an angry throng? Let him cast the first stone. As for me, I’m rockin’ out.
Posted by jefito, http://www.jefitoblog.com/blog
