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Brian Fallon

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Jan 28, 2020
Category: Rock

If I were selling Brian Fallon to you, one song should do it.

These are the lyrics:

Most of this life’s been a drag of a high
And lows like a blow in a paid thrown title fight
Most of my sins were born in a kiss on a night like this
Calling all lonely hearts
Don’t you want a life like we saw on the picture show?
So come on, give me something, come on, keep me up all night
You say, my baby, all this time in between drives me crazy
I want a life on fire, going mad with desire
I don’t wanna survive, I want a wonderful life

My love seems that it goes from a dream
To a crash and a roll, just shaking up everyone
Maybe there’s more than the treasures we secure
That become heavy chains, to sink us in tidal waves
And all I could do is take you from the circus show
So come on give me something, come on keep me up all night
You say, my baby, all this time in between drives me crazy
I want a life on fire, going mad with desire
I don’t wanna survive, I want a wonderful life

And all my nights they always end the same (with the blacktop, blacktop)
Coming from behind
It’s just the age-old game from the living dead buzzing in my head
They keep me up all night
You say, my baby, all this time in between drives me crazy
I want a life on fire, going mad with desire
I don’t wanna survive, I want a wonderful life
(All my sins were born in a kiss on a night like this, calling all lonely hearts)
I want a wonderful life

And this is the song:

Fallon’s most recent CD is “Sleepwalkers.” I have it. I like it. [To buy the CD from Amazon and get a free MP3 download, click here. For the streaming download, click here.]

Brian Fallon? He was 8 years old, living in New Jersey — he grew up listening to Bruce. There are similarities in their writing and their singing: “And if they end it all by the end of tonight/ If the big bomb drops down over this quiet Edison sky/ We’ll blow one last kiss to all the beautiful nights like this/ Under the central Jersey sky.”) That’s praise…and a burden. It’s also a foundation for songs like “Forget Me Not.”

The lyrics of “Forget Me Not” are compelling. Forget them. Play it loud. Fling yourself about. And then listen to the nearly whispered acoustic version. [To download the loud, live version with the band, click here. For the acoustic version, click here.]

The acoustic version:

Which is better? Answer: Whichever one you like. Or, if you’re like me: both.

BONUS VIDEO

Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City”