Song or commercial from 1980/81

November 9, 2017 9:20 PM

Looking to id song or commercial hubby heard on the radio in 1980/81 in San Francisco. Singer had a bob dylanish voice and the line hubby remembers was "don't let him (em/them?) go to Pimlico". Googling turns up nothing.
posted by TestamentToGrace to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Slightly different lines, but any chance he confused two London neighbourhoods and it was Elvis Costello's I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea?
posted by Pink Frost at 11:01 PM on November 9, 2017

Alternatively, lyrics.com gives us the Kinks, Life on the Road, with the line "ramble and roam around Soho / and Pimlico" which almost sounds like your lyrics. (I'm reaching here).
posted by Pink Frost at 11:10 PM on November 9, 2017

This really rings a bell for me, though unfortunately I can't pin it down right now. My recollection has it starting with "please" before the same phrase your husband remembers, and of the tones ascending until "pim" and then dropping again on "lico". I'll keep thinking about it and post if I (think I) remember more.
posted by katemonster at 12:49 AM on November 10, 2017

Katemonster he say that is exactly right....but what is it from???
posted by TestamentToGrace at 5:25 AM on November 10, 2017

Right, right, I know this but can’t remember the details, either. I’ll be thinking about this all day.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:03 AM on November 10, 2017

It's got to be a song, and something with some staying power, as I was an infant in 1980 and wouldn't know a commercial jingle or a flash in the pan song from then. Of course, my musical tastes run to the Beatles, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Randy Newman, and the Eagles, so it doesn't have to be *super* common, but I feel like I've heard it reasonably often so it's not the most obscure. Still can't pin down anything beyond this one phrase but I'm sure it'll be running through my head all day.
posted by katemonster at 7:38 AM on November 10, 2017

I'm wondering if it's a modern cover of an old folk song, The Dark Girl Dressed In Blue. It's the sort of thing a local / less-well-known singer-songwriter might cover, if that's the kind of music his parents might have been listening to. I don't think Dylan ever did a cover but it's the kind of thing someone imitating Dylan might have covered.

One verse goes "She thanked me and said, I must away, farewell till we meet again,
For I've to go to Pimlico to catch the Brighton train." But there's a lot of variation in phrasing, as one gets in folk songs.

People often play it more up-tempo or jaunty, but it would also work as a ballad, if performed that way. Not many good versions I can find on YouTube, unfortunately.
posted by halation at 8:52 AM on November 10, 2017