Album: Baroque Hoedown
Year: 1982
. . .
One of the key Paisley Underground bands, The Three O’Clock weren’t originally called The Three O’Clock. They were originally called The Salvation Army, and Their first album, 1982’s The Salvation Army, came out on Frontier Records and almost immediately ran afoul of the real Salvation Army.
And while it had some good songs — “She Turns to Flowers” is such a great title it almost doesn’t even matter that the song is pretty good, as well — the sound was a bit too lo-fi for me, a problem that was instantly rectified by the follow-up, 1982’s Baroque Hoedown, which was produced by Earle Mankey, an early member of Sparks who went to producing mostly underground bands.
And the difference was almost instant: “With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend” came roaring out of the gate with Gregg Guiterrez’s guitar riffing and roaring over Danny Benair’s double-time drums, which built to the first verse, as drummer Benair switched back to a regular beat and keyboardist Mickey Mariano’s twirling keyboards underscored bassist Michael Quercio’s tenor over the first verse.
Sitting complacent, are you there
Where I’ve seen you
With a cantaloupe girlfriendTo the friends that you’ve had seem
To last years since I’ve seen you
With a cantaloupe girl you go everywhere
What’s cool how both Gutierrez and Mariano chime on “cantaloupe girl” and “cantaloupe girl you go everywhere,” with that second one building building building to a repeat of the opening, and a second verse, after which, there’s a proper rave-up guitar break, with Gutierrez eschewing a normal solo and playing yaggerdang chords every which way while Benair pounds the ever-living fuck out of his drums — it’s easily the most powerful thing that the Three O’Clock ever recorded, and that includes their Pink Floyd and Easybeats covers.
There’s no real chorus in “With A Cantaloupe Girlfriend” — the title of which has always been assumed to be psychedelic wordplay on “can’t elope” — but there is a hell of an ending, with a round-robin vocal arrangement:
(Aaaahhhhhhhhh) With a cantaloupe girl
With a (aaaahhhhhhhhh)
With a cantaloupe girl
With a (aaaahhhhhhhhh)
With a cantaloupe girl you go everywhere(Aaaahhhhhhhhh) With a cantaloupe girl
With a (aaaahhhhhhhhh)
With a cantaloupe girl
With a (aaaahhhhhhhhh)
With a cantaloupe girl you go everywhere
And, for reasons, after the last build, then then twist into a waltz-time ending, because why the hell not. I think that might have been referencing something, but I can’t remember what that might be. Or maybe it’s totally original, and I’ve just assumed it was lifted from something else.
“With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend” was a massive massive early KFSR hit, though I don’t think it was even the best song on the record. But we’ll get to that one next.
“With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend”
“With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend” Live at Club Lingerie, 1990
“With A Cantaloupe Girlfriend” Live on Conan O”Brien, 2013
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