Comments on: Song lyric: "No deposit, no return"

Question: Song lyric: "No deposit, no return"

ikkyu2 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:00:42 -0800

Remembered song lyric: "No deposit, no return." What song?

So back in the 70s I was hanging out in a hip swinging bachelor pad - sunken living room, shag carpet, Steely Dan on the hi-fi - and I dimly recall hearing a song on the radio that had the refrain, "No deposit, no return." It was a male voice, and the style of music would have fit right in on a radio station that played the Bee Gees, Abba, E.L.O., or Earth, Wind, and Fire. I remember liking the song because I recognized the phrase from my Coke bottle - I was 7 years old, maybe younger, at the time - and because it was sort of a wistful song.

Surprisingly, Google hasn't helped me figure out what it was. It definitely wasn't Skyclad, Black Flag, or Sheena Easton, and I don't think it was PWEI or the Justin Heyward track that Google popped up.

Anyone know what song/artist this was?

By: bunglin jones

bunglin jones — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:10:51 -0800

Could it be "Country Girl" by the Moody Blues?

By: sherlockt

sherlockt — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:11:13 -0800

Are you sure it wasn't Skyclad?

By: sherlockt

sherlockt — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:12:08 -0800

Oops. . .sorry I didn't see the first three hits on google were Skyclad, Black Flag and Sheena Easton. . .I guess you looked at all those lyrics then, huh?

By: amyms

amyms — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:17:00 -0800

Here's a list of songs that contain the lyric "No deposit, no return"... If you heard it in the 70s, my bet is on Joe Walsh or Eddie Money.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:20:28 -0800

None of the above. It occurred multiple times in the song, it was the refrain; and it was a very final and wistful sounding refrain, not all poppy like the Justin Hayward/Moody Blues track. Either that or it was the Justin Hayward track and my brain has irretrievably mangled the memory of it.

By: chara

chara — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:26:40 -0800

Did it have a reggae or r&b/gospel feel to it? i can vaguely remember the song you're talking about...

By: lalochezia

lalochezia — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:26:10 -0800

Pop Will Eat Itself?

By: lalochezia

lalochezia — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:26:35 -0800

Oops. 70's not 90's. Forget my sugg.

By: dg

dg — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:34:36 -0800

Maybe a long shot, but it wouldn't be" There Won't Be No Country Music" by CW Mccall? It does include the words No deposit, no sad songs, and no returns" in the lyrics, but maybe you misremembered the line? And the frequency of the line?

By: dhartung

dhartung — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:28:47 -0800

Doesn't sound like it's Tuli Kupferberg's a capella "No Deposit, No Return" from the 1960s, but you can listen here and see.

There's also a Sandy Bull track, but I don't know if has lyrics at all (I can only preview some instrumentals). It also dates from the sixties and could conceivably have been on that radio station.

By: mikepop

mikepop — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:06:57 -0800

No definite answers, but there is a song by that name by Roy Ayers / Wayne Henderson.

Where were you located at the time? A Maine band had a single by that name, in the 1960s but it seems unlikely that's it unless you were in the Bangor area.

By: iknowizbirfmark

iknowizbirfmark — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:45:28 -0800

This is killing me. I think that it might be a lyric from a Steve Miller Band song, but I can't get more than the lyric section to play through in my head.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:36:26 -0800

I was in Southern California. The song had some radio airplay - I didn't hear it just once, but enough times to get to know it. I'm thinking mid-to-late 70's.

By: DandyRandy

DandyRandy — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:38:08 -0800

I was working in Top 40 radio in CA in the late '70s and I can't remember anything like this. Maybe some kind of novelty song, or again a misheard lyric?

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:20:51 -0800

I'll be tickled if it's C.W. McCall, though it doesn't really sound likely. Here's There Won't Be No Country Music. (1 week expiration)

By: qvtqht

qvtqht — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:37:14 -0800

Does this sound familiar?

http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/band/STEVE-WAYLON/No-Deposit-No-Return/