Idolator
Rachel Sweet's "Cuckoo Clock," which she recorded when she was a fresh-outta-Akron 16-year-old, has a cameo by Lene Lovich and lyrics that are either sorta creepy or completely nonsensical, depending on your frame of mind; it's also got a crazy ability to affix itself to a listener's brain, despite (or maybe because of?) its simple, almost-monotone chorus. We've replayed this 1978 track about 10 times today, and we're probably going to double that tally by the time today's over.
Rachel Sweet - Cuckoo Clock [MP3, link expired]
BONUS TRACK: Rachel Sweet - Be Stiff [MP3, link expired]
Rachel's Cuckoo Clock [hannahtoes.tripod.com]
Comments
I always found "Cuckoo Clock" a bit grating. It's all about the 11th-grade-style sarcasm of "Who Does Lisa Like?" (But most certainly not about her duet of "Everlasting Love" with Rex Smith.)
Clearly I must not have read the liner notes, but I really had no idea that all of those early Mr. T Experience tracks were covers. Yeesh.
Rachel Sweet's first album on Stiff Records remains an out-of-print classic to this day. She has that classic "Classic Patsy Cline on acid" sound that gets pretty irresistible.
I agree with Mr/Ms Norman, Rachel Sweet's debut was/is fantastic, thanks as much to the genius of songwriter/producer Liam Sternberg as to the stunning pipes of young Sweet. "Who Does Lisa Like?" "Wildwood Saloon" - power pop gems. The album was actually a songwriting demo for Sternberg; in a mind-boggling lapse of taste, the folks at Stiff hated Sternberg's work as much as they loved Sweet's. Stiff separated the singer from the auteur and she never recorded anything to match the debut. She did however go on to success on Broadway and as a sit-com writer. I saw her back in the day - she could rock. But Sternberg was (is?) a great songwriter.
I take back the above. I've had "Cuckoo Clock" on repeat all weekend.
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