One Hit Wonder
Between the Lyrics: A line-by-line explication
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CHORUS |
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We were in one ear and right out the other |
…just like a superficial song or meaningless message |
If you were lucky I might've writ you another |
If Penny Lane had stayed in touch, shed’ve been fortunate enough for me to write her second song in addition to this one…. (if she truly was lucky, as a penny) |
It doesn't even matter that you slipped me (that I still got) your number |
The hope of staying in touch was lost, as she didn’t call me back. Incidentally, I didn’t own a cell phone at the time…. She might’ve tried to text me but I wouldn’t have received a text message on my landline phone |
Penny Lane, you're just another One Hit Wonder |
Penny Lane is “Every Woman” – a “Jane Doe” with a personality. She’s a gal I hooked up with after meeting on a cold 1am at Transition Bar in the Mt Lookout Neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio in 2014. She’s the fling who didn’t call me back the next day, or the next day, or the next day. Her true name went in one of my ears and right out the other. Penny Lane is one of many hits released by the Beatles in the 60’s. She’s a sarcastic statement about this prolific band who were nothing close to being a One Hit Wonder themselves – and a tongue in cheek jab that the timeless Beatles have already had their time and a that new wave of hits from UTB will now occupy our collective social conscious instead. Penny Lane is a reference to Kate Hudson’s character in the movie “Almost Famous.” She’s a lovely and charming personality who typifies the groupie personality starving for musicians’ attention and avails herself for musicians’ pleasure Penny Lane fulfills the “Penny” motif persistent throughout Uncle Tim’s Bench tunes. There might be something lucky about a penny, whether she’s heads up or tails up. |
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VERSE 1 |
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Step outside and smoke about it |
The gal in question would not stop saying this phrase – I’d never heard it before but now I refer to it incessantly |
Listen as you talk about it |
Imagining reminiscing over the time I met Penny Lane |
Looking back we joke about it |
Envisioning laughing about our brief encounter… as if we were to bump into each other again |
Bebop as I rock about it |
A reference to life and lifestyle of a musician And a silly allusion to Bebop and Rocksteady, who were buddy villains of the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles |
Come inside and drink about it |
After she "smoked about it” in the cold winter air, I thought it’d be nice to warm up and chat inside the bar |
I close my eyes and dream about it |
Imagining that we’d see each other again, and envisioning what it’d be like to revisit our initial encounter |
Honey, do you ever think about it |
Wondering out loud if she ever thinks of me and our tryst… |
When you hear me scream about it |
… when she hears this very song on the jukebox over and over and over again |
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VERSE 2 |
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Rolling as I rock about it |
She was drinking an amber beer…. Perhaps a Rolling Rock lager; also an allusion to my love for live music performance; also a hint that she was rolling a joint while I bobbed my head to the beat of the music outside the bar on Linwood Avenue |
Though we seldom talk about it |
We’ve never spoken of our fling with each other…. Hell, we’ve never spoken since our fling |
You hit it and I joke about it |
She takes a hit of her marijuana and I kid about our circumstance — she having been stood up by a blind date that night, and I having been a desperado without a date whatsoever |
Now we're talking as you toke about it |
We bond as she breaks the rules |
Slip outside to sip about it |
We step back outside to contemplate life and tough luck |
I close my eyes and dream about it |
I look back on the time we met, imagining what could’ve been if we kept in touch |
Honey, do you ever think about it |
Wondering out loud if she ever thinks of me and our tryst… |
When you hear me scream about it |
… when she hears this very song on the jukebox |
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BRIDGE |
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Still holding hostage your stone-studded bracelet |
Penny Lane left a leather bracelet with sharp cubic zirconium studs in my bed after she left the next day |
A belated Christmas gift from your once-best friend |
It was a present from her roommate and best friend |
Salutations from an unhappy day after New Year |
The date was supposed to be a double date that night: Penny Lane, her best friend, plus two suitors. Penny’s suitor bailed on the double date…and Penny’s Best Friend subsequently bailed on Penny |
Only 12 more months before this shit all ends |
Doubly ditched by a date and a friend in the same night – an awful way to set the tone for a new year. |