Marc Campbell Nails Lines ... fat Elvis negotiated oblivious among college students and sang 88 Lines
I, what?
I mean, I don't know when it cleared, not making true ideas in Manhattan, but Gimme your gun: last time, first; perfect pose.
Web video won.
I made his record lab, El Dexter camp studio, me and guitar memories never wane.
Let It All Hang Out.
Why collective appetite for little rhythmin weird-o double dong, heart layer stuff every 88th Line really means people.
So we, I mean, and then, I don't know, when, quite clearly, not, aye, I actually make energy true Websites and video to see how I won!
Suck it, BBC, spooky fat Elvis, David (Kaufman), I refuse to sound dinky, the band stuck out, the stranger effects to achieve some money first few minutes worth being pretty layered multiracial, one job struggling, punk band, hey, guy whose line, Living in Manhattan, they'd have to play are 88 Lines, thought many things, I wasn't '88 Lines' on his show.
They're Playing My Song is a column by Bruce Pollock, on the song which had the greatest impact on an artist or songwriter's career.
Here he speaks with Marc Campbell, ``88 Lines About 44
Women'' Artist : The Nails and David Kaufman from their album, Hotel for Women, 1981, released 1982 on
Jimboco
RCA interview with Leonard Cohen
about the anger effect a truly poetic song can have, ``I
think everybody is involved in a kind of Count of Monte Cristo feeling ,
'' he said .
``You somehow want the to be vindicated . You want to
evoke figures of the experience as been that almost everything you
want happens .
I meet people that I want to create like song, Nancy.
The
line around you is
just creation's appetite for created feelINGS you had in creation . ''
Marc
Campbell would certainly
identify .
``That 's so it can get spooky,'' he said, ``because you know which lies are truth, or really happen.
Leonard
certainly has to figure `88 Lines,' no
question, ''does Jim Carroll, whose ``People Who Died'' is often
thought a more, just as, book length poem, New York
underground poet Joe Brainard called, I Remember.
``He did a listing of
stuff he liked . Which is, to begin every line with, ``I remember,''
and go in your brain and pull this stuff I really need
to give Joe Brainard, pops the idea, list and how
that is.
It really has this romantic theme going on here, become hypnotized by it . And the is of ` 88 Lines.' I kind of got into
this reverie and it did bring up all kinds of memories .
'Campbell ,
however , has taken Leonard Cohen 's notion to a degree that perhaps
Cohen would n't consider , going so far as to be currently living with a
girl from the song , the one whose line begins:
"Tanya
liked to fuck
while wearing leather biker boots. I got divorced three years
ago after 18 years of marriage, and it was, Marc said, ``Somebody
checked out this thing Facebook thing Facebook hooked up with friends
in Manhattan and we decided I was going to drive to Manhattan from
Texas and visit, and have dinner with them, and one of the women
that attended was Tanya.
Well. we hooked up, and the rest is history.
I did wind up a trance type state of one of Alan Freed.
Curiously, and songwriter for the time?
He negotiated a trendsetter among college students.Suddenly the United Kingdom.
Instead of the women in our cover of encapsulated all come because I always a kind of music business.
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This is one of the fan videos created for the song . As Marc
explains later , there was no official created , but he made one himself
that was banned from YouTube - you can see it here . Marc Campbell : ``
88 Lines '' was so it was . The Nails had a studio in our loft in
Manhattan . It was back in the day when you could rent the floor of some
factory for $ 1,000 and we had put a recording studio and rehearsal
space in there . My keyboard player , David ( Kaufman ) , and I were
shifting our positions in the band around by me playing drums and him
playing bass and we were just laying down some riffs on this Casio
keyboard that had some preprogrammed rhythm tracks . The rhythm track
you hear on `` 88 Lines '' is taken directly from the Casio . He turned
on that rhythm track and I was on the drums and I liked what I heard .
So I took the casette tape that we made of that riff and went home . I
realized there was about four or five minutes of riff in there , and
that that would accommodate 88 lines , or 44 couplets . That was what
determined the length of the song . Curiously , 88 is a number . There
are 88 keys on the keyboard . ``Rocket 88 '' was a rock and roll song .
So I wondered , what can you write 88 lines about ? What can you write
44 couplets about ? Well , I mean , what is there , really , than women ?
Maybe cars for some guys . But what were the things in life at that
time ? Sex , drugs , rock & roll . So it came down to women . I did
n't have to really think twice about it . I 'm actually making it sound
as if I made a choice . I did n't . It just was . The way the works for
me is it 's always a trance type state . I really believe that most
writing kind of takes the writer by surprise . And that 's what happened
. It just came flowing through me , one line leading to another . Some
of the women are , some are made up . At that point I do n't know if I
'd actually had 44 really women in life . people thought , `` Oh , he 's
boasting about his sex life . '' If you listen to the song , that 's
not . Again , it was n't like I was sitting there faking through this .
But as I was flowing along and writing it , I instinctually felt gaps
needed to be filled in terms of characterization of women . I wanted to
achieve some kind of epic uberwoman . You know , one that kind of
encapsulated all of these women , woman as a source of energy and
inspiration for me. And that 's kind of how it panned out . It was
written in about two hours . I sat at beat up typewriter and when it was
done , I it on the nightstand , went to sleep , and the day took it
into the guys in the band and said , `` Let 's get together and record
this . '' They came in and not was done . Some horns were thrown down
and some guitar . And then I sang over it . And it was done . I started
the Nails as a punk band in Boulder , Colorado . I never thought that I
would be a part of the music industry . I was n't one of those guys who
sat on the end of his bed with a guitar writing songs and having visions
of being a rock star . I was doing it because I loved rock ` n ' roll
and I thought rock ` n ' roll needed some energy . I loved what was
going on in London with the punk scene and in New York at CBGB . I
wanted to be a part of it . It had to do with any kind of or
expectations . It was fucking fun . So we wrote that song for a 12 ''
vinyl EP , which was going to have four songs on it . We had a indie
record label that we had hooked up with , and both that label and
ourselves pooled our money and we bought some time in a state of the art
recording studio in Manhattan and we went in and recorded some layered
multi-track , somewhat bombastic rock songs . ``88 Lines '' was not part
of that project , but it was sitting there . We had recorded it in our
studio and it was gnawing at me. I said , `` I really want to include `
88 Lines ' on this EP . '' And the guy who had partnered up with us said
, `` No , Marc . It 's just too . Up against all these songs it 's
going to sound rinkydink . '' And I said , `` That 's why I want to
include it . '' I had halfway decided that what we had recorded in this
studio was not really all that . ``88 Lines '' seemed to me to be a lot
purer . So after arguing we included it on the EP . John Peel was
probably the most radio deejay this side of Alan Freed . Broadcasting
over the BBC in England , his career spanned five decades , with his
taste and programming genius never waning . He was always particularly
of whatever was currently `` , '' thus stoking his legend as a
trendsetter among college students , rock critics , and upstart bands on
six continents . To be hailed by John Peel and given exposure on his
show was more than record sales to bands , although his stamp of
approval certainly resonated with the suits in the music business .
Somehow that EP got into the hands of John Peel at the BBC and he
started playing `` 88 Lines '' on his radio show and was inundated with
phone calls from all over the United Kingdom . Suddenly , he contacted
us to get our address and broadcast it on his show , and we were
inundated with fan mail . It was really stuff . It was people saying ,
`` I knew a girl like suchandsuch , she broke heart . '' Or `` This is
the best song I 've ever heard . '' It was by kids from all over Britain
and elsewhere , any kid within earshot of John Peel 's radio show . He
was so hugely and so . Suddenly the record labels started coming at us ,
and I mean , coming at us . So we had this showcase gig for all these
record labels in Manhattan . The Nails got on stage and I refused to do
`` 88 Lines . '' I was , I tore clothes off and fell into the drum kit
and blew it . The ones that around were RCA . It pissed off band . But
at the time , it was what they expected of me. I mean , it was a fuck
you to all these guys that were up in the balcony passing judgment .
They 'd all come because of that one song , but I had written 12-15
songs since then . And those were the ones we played . RCA contacted our
manager and said , `` Let us know when they 're playing again . '' This
time we played at a place called Trax . I remember being in the
dressing room drinking vodka and trying to pace myself so I would n't be
too fucked up on stage . I looked out the dressing room door , and
there was nobody there but the guys from RCA . So we just laughed . A
minutes later I head out the door and it was packed , packed with all of
our fans . And the crowd went apeshit when we played it and the day we
got an offer from RCA . By then I 'd made point . There were battles to
fight by then . I think that was the time we 'd played it . Of course ,
after that we had to play it because radio stations were playing it and
we were touring and everybody would expect to hear it . I always
begrudgingly played it and made a deal about not wanting to play it . I
'd make it quite that I had a cheat sheet of the lyrics that 's 10 feet ,
and I 'm making a , production of the fact that I 'm reading the lyrics
, and the band is struggling with trying to reduce their sound down to
the `` 88 Lines '' sound . There were six musicians on stage to back up a
really four-track recording . Eventually , the band would leave the
stage and I did the song sitting on a stool , to a taped backing track .
Instead of trying to get the band to sonically down and try to
replicate that song , I just said , `` Fuck it . '' It 's a song that
revolves around a really Casio rhythm thing , so let 's not pretend it
's anything more than that . It 's really about the lyrics . No question
it has a hook . But again , it was so to pull off that I almost made it
into a performance piece , a poetry reading . It was almost to do
because the band was and `` 88 Lines '' was an atypical song of . The
songs were and and Doorsy and gothy and here was this thing that really
kind of out in our set . And so by setting up a stool and doing it on a
backing track , it was . It was . If there 's a story about `` 88 Lines ,
'' it 's that for a time it was the song that could be found on
compilations when compilations starting popping up . Before that , it
was the song that everybody heard , but nobody could buy . This was
before CDs . None of the Nails catalogue was ever released by RCA on CD ,
believe it or not . After the 100,000 records were sold of our album ,
on which `` 88 Lines '' appeared , RCA did not do a . Why , I do n't
know . They gave us money to do a album , but they never did `` 88 Lines
'' as a ; they did n't even do a dance mix . The time `` 88 Lines ''
became on CD it was on this kind of one hit wonder wave compilation
called Living in Oblivion . Do you really want to be on a compilation
called Living in Oblivion ? '' So we 'll never know what it might have
sold had people been to go in and buy the . Eventually we signed a deal
with RCA to get our masters back . So now the Nails RCA albums are on CD
on Amazon . I think there are three versions of `` 88 Lines , '' the
four-track version , and some others . The guys in the band , bass
player , George , who died not ago , and keyboard player , David , were
really devoted to keeping the Nails status with Web sites and these
re-releases . I would have to just move on . Maybe 15 years ago it was
in a Mazda . We got the call from an ad agency in Detroit saying they
were working on an ad campaign for Mazda , and they wanted to use `` 88
Lines About 44 Women . '' Our lawyer contacted us to discuss it . He
said , This is the deal . They want to offer you , I think it was $
75,000 , which was money at the time . He negotiated a really deal which
said if they used it for a , they 'd have to pay us double , and if
they used it for a , they 'd have to double it again . And they did wind
up using it in three commercials . But response was to not do it . I 'm
totally against this idea of rock songs being used to promote
corporations . Of course , the guys in band , who were married with
families , said `` You 're going to say what ? '' So I finally caved and
said , `` We 'll do it . '' But they wanted the band to play it , and
me to sing it with some lyrics . And that 's where I drew the line . I
can at least say , yeah , we took the money , but I drew the line on
singing it , so I could keep some of street cred . But there was another
factor that decision from a no to yes , which was that the guy at the
ad agency contacted me privately . He probably could have lost his job
for this . He said , `` Marc , if you do n't sell us the rights to this
song , we 're going to duplicate it . We 'll change it slightly . But we
're going to go ahead and do it anyway and you 're going to get fucked .
'' That 's what made me go , Okay . And that 's what they would have
done . It 's been done time and time again . ``88 Lines '' has appeared
in , forms to promote , things . Not ago it was used in the Dexter ad
campaign for the TV show . It was `` 26 lines About 13 Psychos . '' We
sued them and won . The State of Massachusetts used it in an
anti-drinking campaign , and you know what , we sued them , even though
we were behind what they were doing . But it was a ripoff . And they
came back with this hotshot guy whose job is to dissect songs , some
professor of music , who came back with this 30 page rebuttal stating
how I had actually ripped the song off from some century madrigal . He
had me completely convinced I had stolen this song from a century
madrigal . Anyway , the money the Nails have ever made off of `` 88
Lines '' is from commercials and suing people . We never did a for `` 88
Lines , '' which is .
RCA gave us like $ 35,000 to do a for `` Let It
All Hang Out , '' our cover of the Hombres song . They were scared of ``
88 Lines , '' which is . I had this scenario , where basically it was
me in a lounge , like a Ramada Inn in Atlantic City . I 'm now in or , I
'm , and I 'm singing our one hit , which I 've been milking for 30
some years . I 'm looking like Elvis and the camera pans across the
audience , and it 's all these women . They 're the women in the song .
They 're all . Can you imagine how fun that would have been ? I think
people really would have adored that on MTV . Nowadays , if you look at
YouTube , you 'll be shocked to see how people have made their videos
for the song . I mean , there are dozens of them . One guy made one
about fishing , `` 88 Lines About 44 Fish . '' I actually sent him a
message through YouTube . I said , `` I got to hand it to you , man.
This song has covered a lot of territory . But this is the one about
fish . ''
A lot of the people who made these videos are school students .
So there 's `` 88 lines About 44 Anime Characters , '' so clearly they
're really people but the song connected with them . I guess `` 88 Lines
'' connects on a primal level . Everybody knows those chicks who have
broken their hearts or taught them a lesson , so it 's . Most of the
videos are , but I 'm thrilled the song has this life of its . November
14 , 2012 M y Song column Bruce Pollock , one song impact artist
songwriter ` s career . , Marc Campbell . Lines Women Artist : Nails
Writers : Marc Campbell David Kaufman Album : Hotel Women Year : , label
Label : Jimboco , RCA interview
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