Up to the Sky
Everybody's Out of Town - B.J. Thomas (Blast from the Past Tuesday)
I’m lucky to have a family that has a whole cabinet just for CDs. I’m convinced that by the time I listen to everything in there, I’ll probably have aged quite a few years. While part of this is because of the sheer amount of tunes contained in there, I also tend to go back to the same CDs again and again. Out of everything in there, nothing is subject to this more than our terrific three disc Burt Bacharach collection. Seventy-five songs are brought together in The Look of Love, and I can say with complete confidence that I’ve know every single one like the back of my hand. I’ve spent copious amounts of time with hits like “The Blob”, “Hasbrook Heights”, “Paper Maché”, “One Less Bell to Answer”… the list could go on and on. My family would be the first to tell you my original obsession was Gene Pitney’s “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance”… so much so that I cannot play that song anymore without being asked to turn it off. (For the record, I think it had something to do with the subtle rhythm switch-up in the middle of the verse, but I prefer to leave the reason my love for that song was so deep mysterious, even to myself.) I loved every track on those CDs… except for one.
Something about “Everybody’s Out of Town” used to unsettle me. Maybe it was the skip-hop beat it followed, the prominent tuba, the banjo. Whatever it was, I always tended to skip the song. I can’t exactly pinpoint when my opinions changed, but I’ll say that this was my top track of Spotify Wrapped 2022, and I’ve loved it ever since. Everything that I thought was weird about it back then is something that makes it the perfect deep cut now. It’s a tune that really represents the lyrics — while there’s plenty of layers around, it’s simple enough in order to really let Thomas’ vocals stand for themself. It builds towards the middle, enough where it seems like he’s calling out to no one, just solidifying the loneliness the song portrays. The thing I like best about Thomas’ vocals in this one is the way you can hear the smile in his voice. The lyrics are absurd, the instrumental is absurd … everything about the tune is ridiculous and he takes it lightly enough where it’s really fun to listen to again and again (and I say that from experience!).
I love Burt Bacharach’s songs. I love B.J. Thomas — so much so that my very first post here on Ear Bites was completely dedicated to him and him alone. I love “Everybody’s Out of Town” because it’s a fun tune that takes me out of wherever I am and into this strangely isolated place for a little over two minutes. I would be remiss not to mention what may be my favorite part of the tune — after everything is said, right before the end, you hear “better send some people down/everyone on earth/is out of town”. This flips everything upside down, because suddenly it seems like he’s so desperate to talk to someone, anyone, that he looks up to the sky and pleads to the stars to send someone his way. Even after all that, the song ends the exact same way it begins — the trombone in a pattern that sounds a little like laughter. That’s the type of contrast that’s fascinating enough to bring me back time and time again.
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