Desert Island Playlist Track 1: Bigmouth Strikes Again
We all have songs we love, but what songs could we not live without? This series is about that for me. If I was on a deserted island, this is what I would have on my iPod connected to my solar powered charger with some coconut speakers.
I’ve been thinking of my time at college radio lately. I miss doing a radio show (perhaps a podcast is in my future…) and miss some of the people involved at the luxurious offices of WFDM. By luxurious, I mean the oldest equipment and an even older couch. But it was ours. Open format. Say or do anything. I’ve broadcasted everything from WTO protests to snowball fights. Nine Inch Nails to Jackson 5. Most of my friends have been guests or have been pranked. We had no focus and no goals but we had a microphone and sometimes even a listener.
There are many songs I played that are absolutely songs I can’t live without, such as Quiet Riot’s “Cum On Feel The Noise,” which was my opener for nearly every show. However, as I started to think deeper on the subject, one other song came to mind. “Bigmouth Strikes Again” by The Smiths. This was a song that I’d hear on a Jersey radio station once in a while and usually during a “Mandatory Morrisey” block on 106.3. It was played frequently on another show and was often the only song I liked. Morrisey and The Smiths are definitely an acquired taste for me. That’s why this song, along with “How Soon is Sow,” are the only songs I really can even tolerate from him.
I’m sure many people remember things I’ve said as I was joking or drunk (or both) and thought that my big mouth should have just been sewn shut, but that’s the irony of having a radio show. We’ve all said things we wish we could’ve taken back, and sometimes that stuff sticks for days, weeks or never goes away. So listen to this song and be careful of your mouth. You can’t take it back. You’re not Joan of Arc, Mr Trump.
Frank Manzo is a social worker, DJ, husband and father of two. His music knowledge is expansive and often useless.
