Last summer I went to a yard sale that happened to be right across the street from my office at work. While walking up I noticed several boxes of records, however, I knew to not get my hopes up. Often at you'll find that yard sale boxes of records are pretty rough. There'll be the obligatory crumbling copy of Crosby, Stills and Nash's self titled album or a mildewy copy of Hotel California. No specific shade towards these records but I never need to hear either of them again.
So at this particular yard sale the selection was noticeably different. It wasn't like some ultra rare collectors heaven but it also wasn't all the classic yard sale stuff.. Additionally, the prices were very reasonable.
The guy who was manning the sale told me that this collection was his father's. I'm not certain if his father still walks among us but I do know that he has/had delightfully eclectic taste. I felt like I was browsing through the "Used New Arrivals" at Logos in the 90s. If that sentence means nothing to you all you need to know is that Logos was an incredible used bookstore that also dealt in used records and cds.
I started making a stack which included the Sugarcubes, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sweet, INXS, etc... I think he was doing 2 for a dollar so I started grabbing other albums... Boz Scaggs, George Benson... why not? Oh and Pablo Cruise.
I'd heard of Pablo Cruise but was unsure if I'd ever heard one of their songs. I mainly thought of them being the band on Will Ferrell's shirt in 'Step Brothers'.
So over the past year I would randomly grab a record from this yard sale stack and give it a go. A few weeks ago I finally grabbed Pablo Cruise's 'Pablo Cruise'. It turned out to be more or less exactly what I thought it would be... which (in modern parlance) speaks to their brand! It was the kind of stuff that would fit nicely alongside your Eagles records (and perhaps Crosby, Stills and Nash if you're keeping up with the times).
Ok. So I'm listening to this record while washing dishes and thinking "ok... so this is Pablo Cruise... makes sense". I am 30% paying attention 30% washing the dishes and 40% spacing out.
The first song on the second side of the album is called "Not Tonight". Halfway through the song I start to tune in. After the side finishes I went back and listened to it again. Halfway through that listen I thought "I need to google the lyrics to this song"... but the actual lyrics were nowhere to be found.
At this point in late stage capitalism we are used to 'researching' something of this level and finding the answer in what... milliseconds? regular-seconds?
Pablo Cruise certainly aren't The Beatles but if they're relevant enough to be a punchline on Will Ferrell's shirt then we're certainly on Google's radar. But none of the links that were claiming to have the lyrics actually had the lyrics. Like, they would present themselves as much but when you clicked there was nothing.
This means that there are pages out there that have been optimized for this query but if you were actually seeking the lyrics to Pablo Cruise's "Not Tonight" from their 1975 debut album then you were shit out of luck.
Now look. I'm not saying that there is nowhere in the entire internet that has these lyrics. What I am saying is that after spending 10 times the amount of 'research' time required to find these lyrics I still had not. It tripped me out to think that I could likely give ChatWhatever the prompt of "create an alternate universe Pablo Cruise debut album containing a song called 'this night'" and I could get something but I could not find the lyrics from this song that came out 49 years ago. Also feel free to send that prompt to your AI of choice and then feel free to keep that shit to yourself.
So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
Also the song is kind of bonkers and my love of it legit troubles me...
And with that I give you
The official lyrics to Pablo Cruise's 'Not Tonight' from their 1975 debut album "Pablo Cruise"
Have we lost it
What’s become of our rapport
Are you yawning
cause the subject’s such a bore
Do you hate it
have I made it too routine
Just my touch on my hand
has me feeling so obscene
Talk about it all I want to
but when bark gets down to bite
Not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight
Is it something
that you savor like good wine (savor like good wine)
Does the flavor come
from waiting all this time (from waiting all this time)
Well if good things come to those who wait
I’m sure our time is right
But not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight
Now hold on
to the good times that we’ve seen (the good times that we’ve seen)
Cause the good times come
so few and far between (so few and far between)
Why is it you roll over
when I turn out the light
Not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight
No not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight (not tonight)
Not tonight
[repeat]
Should you like to listen to a live version of this song from 1974 at the Record Plant, Sausalito, California please click here. Otherwise, feel free to go about your business.
"Not Tonight" can be found on The 27th Floor.
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