In my head today - Benjamin Orr

I've finally moved off of my all-BJM playlist for a while (mostly so I don't totally overdose before the show next week). So I went to an old mix and up came The Cars. Well, mostly it's Benjamin Orr that's in my head. This tells you how old I am: in high school my best friend and I sent him a fan letter. It's the only fan letter I've ever written. Here's just a sample of why I sent him the letter. I give you Candy-O:



Still trying to figure out an extra lyric in this version. Should "you" see this video and know what the hell he says, please for the love of god tell me. Is it "it appears you know" or "may I pierce you now?" Very different meanings. Veeerrrrryyyy different.

But back to Benjamin Orr. I think he's my favorite lead singer ever. Ever. Why? His voice. There's this sensual huskiness about his voice. Like they say, he could sing the phone book and I'd have loved it. And visually.... well, he was my type for a long time. He was very much pop-rock of the period (meaning it looks dated and dorky now). He definitely had a swagger, but he never looked dangerous. Yes, bad boys are always sexy, but at that time I needed a whole lot less danger in my life. A whole lot less. The Cars were weird and surreal and ironic. But they weren't dangerous.

I came back around to The Cars a couple of years ago - but only the songs that Benjamin Orr sang. Just not interested in the rest anymore. Apparently I abandoned The Cars sometime before this song came out:



It's got that late-80's boppy sort of tone that annoys me, and yet I LOVE this song. It's this lyric, this part of the song that I truly love. There's a (probably very high) beautific look he gets when he sings it, like a man truly in love. I hope he was. It certainly makes me feel kind of sparkly about my own love.

everything you say
leaves me full of shine
everything you say
crosses up my mind

And then.... there's this. Warning: it might be slightly shocking. It is from 2000 I think, just a few months before Benjamin Orr died of Pancreatic Cancer. I'm not sure why I include it - I guess it is the morbid  part of me. That part of me that is frightened by and drawn to the same things.



Seems like I should end on a more positive note - another video. I spent a long time trying to choose. In the end, I chose two. The first is "Think It Over" from their album Shake It Up.  What's going on all around Benjamin Orr (clearly a Star Wars fan :-p) is just crazy bad. The background vocals  - yikes - but he's in rare form.



The second one is a song called "Cruiser," also from Shake It Up. I just like it, that's all. It's a good driving song... which sorta makes sense.