ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #011

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#011 – Buzzcocks – ‚Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ (United Artists Records, ’78)

Hello friends,

congratulations, you have nearly made it all the way through with bands starting with a ‘B’ … unless there is a great combo whose first letters are ‘Bw…’, ‘Bx…’ or ‘Bz…’. Or unless I come to the conclusion that The Byrds are better than sliced bread …. you wait and see until the next episode comes in!

Strange though, but I find it rather hard to find something interesting to write about a band which is as well known as The Buzzcocks are. I mean, basically everything has already been said about them, hasn’t it? At least there isn’t pretty much that I could add, I found.

So let’s concentrate on the song, shall we? When googling around a bit, I learnt that Pete Shelley was bisexual, and he had written the tune in late 1977 about a guy called Francis, apparently someone he lived together with for 7 years.

Obviously, not being bisexual myself, I always had women from my past in mind when listening to the song. Quite a lot of them, in fact. When I was younger, you see, I used to fall in love rather easily, and consequently I was easily disappointed when things didn’t turn out the way I had imagined them to turn out. I won’t try to tell you that I always dreamt about marriage whilst having something that ended up in being just a one-night stand. Or a two night stand, if such a term exists. But either way, I usually had high hopes and wanted more. A relationship, to be precise. But there were women who – I think the correct collocation is – ‘just wanted my body’ apparently. Not that I ever had much of a body, mind you, which might or might not show you how desperate these girls might have been.

So back then I often listened to today’s tune and thought to myself, when being in despair again: ‘Oh, he’s sooooo right, our Pete, I should not have fallen in love with (insert typical German female forename here)”. But the funny thing is: today, after decades of distance, I would do it all again, I think: there are no real regrets by and large … perhaps it is just because back then the fun ruled out the sorrow and the feeling of being rather unrequited afterwards. Who knows …

mp3: Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)

So, in conclusion: no, I’ve never fallen in love with someone I shouldn’t’ve … at least not yet!

But did you?

Take good care,

Dirk

JC adds…….

I’ve written about this song on a number of occasions over the years.   I slotted it in at #23 in the 45 45s @ 45 rundown back in 2008, and wondered out loud if there really were 22 singles better than it. Its most recent appearance was in October 2020.  Here’s some of my thoughts from then as an addendum to Dirk’s musings.

“One of Pete Shelley’s greatest attributes as a songwriter was the ability to write about situations that could be taken by every listener as being completely applicable to their own lives. There can’t be any of us out there who could give the answer of ‘No’ to the question. It particularly appealed to my teenage sensations, when the girl(s) of my dreams were way out of my league, preferring the company of those a couple years older or those who weren’t total bookworms. It didn’t help that my tastes in music weren’t universal…..

But as the years have passed and relationships have come and gone, it’s very clear the song can apply at any time in your life and needn’t be about unrequited adolescent relationships that lead to severe bouts of self-pity. “

So, while Dirk might say No…..I have to say my answer is Yes.