Shuffle Synchronicities: Volume 1 - #47
"Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers - 02/18/21
"Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers
Stereogum’s Tom Breihan reports in his The Number Ones ~“Originally, ‘Islands In The Stream’ was going to be a solo track for Kenny Rogers, but Rogers didn’t like the way it was turning out. After four days of trying to nail the lead vocal, Rogers told [the songwriter/producer Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees] that he was starting to hate the song. Gibb responded that the song needed Dolly Parton. At that point, Rogers and Parton had only ever sung together on a 1976 episode of Parton’s variety show. But Parton happened to be recording in the same studio that day. Rogers’ manager ran out and grabbed Parton, and she immediately laid down her part of the song.”
It became a classic.
Baby when I met you there was peace unknown
I set out to get you with a fine-tooth comb
I was soft inside
There was something going on
You do something to me that I can't explain
Hold me closer and I feel no pain
Every beat of my heart
We got something going on
Breihan also notes that the lyrics “are total gobbledygook. The Bee Gees always wrote as if English was their fifth language. It’s amazing that they came strutting into country music, a genre that’s generally built around storytelling, and opened a song with words that nobody would ever say out loud. First line: ‘Baby, when I met you, there was peace unknown.’ That’s not an expression. ‘Peace unknown’ is just a ridiculous phrase. Next line: ‘I set out to get you with a fine-toothed comb.’ That is an expression, but nobody has ever used it like that.”
Yet, it is still one of the most popular karaoke duets in history.
Tender love is blind
It requires a dedication
All this love we feel needs no conversation
We ride it together, huhn huh
Making love with each other, huhn hah
I just recently listened to this song with a friend. She had traveled from LA last weekend back to Florida to visit her Aunt in a beach town she spent many summers at.
She shared with me her soundtrack for the trip, which was full of Country music songs from her youth in the 80s.
So we listened together, her in Florida and me in LA, including this Dolly and Kenny song, which was the first song on her playlist.
Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong
Sail away with me
To another world
And we rely on each other, huhn hah
From one lover to another, huhn hah
In LA, we often get drunk together and listen to music late in the night, dancing.
She was drinking in Florida, while I was sober here.
But we literally “swayed” together from afar.
I can't live without you if the love was gone
Everything is nothing if you got no one
And you just walk in the night
Slowly losing sight of the real thing
But that won't happen to us and we got no doubt
Too deep in love and we got no way out
And the message is clear
This could be the year for the real thing
Since the pandemic started, I’ve only drunk alcohol with three people. My soon-to-be-ex-wife, this friend’s mutual friend, and this friend.
I’ve mostly given it up drinking. But there’s something so fun, and dare I say spiritual, about drinking with this friend while listening to music that it’s more than worth the dramatic 1-3 day hangovers I get now with my age and Bipolar mood states.
No more will you cry
Baby I will hurt you never
We start and end as one
In love forever
We can ride it together, huhn hah
Making love with each other, huhn hah
She also played me other country songs I hadn’t heard of from her playlist.
Including these knockouts:
“Rose Colored Lenses” by John Conlee
With lyrics like:
I don't know why I keep on believing you need me
When you've proved so many times that it ain't true
And I can't find one good reason for staying
Maybe by leaving would be the best for you
But these rose colored glasses
That I'm looking through
Show only the beauty
'Cause they hide all the truth
And:
“The Fireman” by George Strait
With lyrics like:
Hey, they call me the fireman, that's my name
Makin' my rounds all over town
Puttin' out old flames
Hey, well, everybody'd like to have what I've got
I can cool 'em down when they're smolderin' hot
I'm the fireman, that's my name
As well as:
“Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On” by Mel McDaniel
With lyrics like:
Down on the corner by the traffic light
Everybody's lookin' as she goes by
They turn their heads and they watch her till she's gone
Lawd have mercy, baby's got her blue jeans on
All of which I highly recommend taking a listen to, especially if you don’t know Country music that well like me.
I think of this person as an old friend at this point. I’ve known her for over 13 years.
And I think of what Kenny said was his favorite moment with Dolly.
In 2013 while they were recording their final duet together called "You Can't Make Old Friends", at one point, he looked up and saw Dolly was no longer at her microphone. Suddenly, she appeared by his side and put her arms around his neck, and said, "Kenny, I think you should know. I could never sing at your funeral."
Kenny died last year in 2020 in Georgia, not too far from where my friend is now, visiting her parents.
Add this last one to your playlist, friend!
“You Can’t Make Old Friends” by Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton
You can't make old friends
Can't make old friends
It was you and me, since way back when
But you can't make old friends
Okay, that’s the forty-seventh Shuffle Synchronicities.