One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded: “September Gurls” by The Bangles!!!

For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)

I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.

Well, now I’m getting around to it!

My radio show, “Theme Attic,”  is on Wednesdays 12PM-4PM ET.

The show can be heard on WHFR 89.3 FM in the Dearborn-Detroit area of Michigan, or it can be streamed with this link: https://www.whfr.fm/streamer/!

The Greatest Songs will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.

I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.

Here’s a link to have a look at “The Greatest Songs Ever Recorded”: https://philmaq.com/the-greatest-songs-ever-recorded/! Occasionally, an “awesome song” crosses over to become a “Greatest Song!”

Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!

But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.

I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.

This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey!

If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!

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I try to play today’s selection as many times as I can during my show during this month!

“September Gurls” by The Bangles [Hall of Fame] from their “Different Light”  album, is a cover of a song originally recorded by Big Star and written by Alex Chilton.

Adding lush harmonies from Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, and Debbi Peterson on top of the Big Star melody, “Gurls” recounts a failed relationship that I guess must have taken place in September.

I say, I guess, because I usually sing the words but never think about the meaning.

More specifically, the only lyric I really think about is the middle eight.

It sounds even better the way The Bangles set it up!

Bassist Michael Steele, separates herself from the rest of the band in this section by taking over the lead vocal.

The words become magical with her in charge!:

“When I get to bed/
Late at night/
That’s the time he/
Makes things right/
Ooh when he makes/
Love to me…”

And then she goes on to my favorite line that is never written down but completes the verse with an ascending

“Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!”

I personally, would have made the last “ooo” a “wee,” so it would have rhymed with “me,” (“ooo-wee!”)  but that’s just me!

After that section, a frenetic solo follows that reminds me of an instrument that sounds like an ondioline, a precursor of the synthesizer.

I only know of the instrument because I own a copy of “Super Session” by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and Stephen Stills that featured it on a couple of songs. I have absolutely no idea if that’s what it is, but that’s what it sounds like to me.

The pacing of the song is unhurried, and I can float along in it!

I was able to catch The Bangles in concert one time in their glory days, and it was a rockin’ night filled with a succession of their hits, that far exceeded my expectations–and the bar was set very high!

They should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in addition to my Hall of Fame!

I love this song!

One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “September Gurls” by The Bangles!!!

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