Real Gone Kid – Deacon Blue

Now we're in the 80's, the musical decade that should have defined my youth, my teenage years, but instead I was discovering the 50's and 60's music of my parents. There were exceptions, I did listen to the Top 40 and watched Top Of The Tops every week. Like most kids then, I recorded songs off the radio, certain songs from those tapes broke through and have stayed in my head ever since.

This being one such song, it's so full of energy it's just infectious. The intro is just a build up to an explosion of sound, the chanting and shouting starts us off. The piano riff keeps going like a train in the background, the song jumps about to keep us interested. It's clever, it starts, it stops, the guitars kick in and take us somewhere else, always pounding along. The male and female vocals dance around one another. The words are so expressive, I'm guessing it's a bit like me listening to those old 45s. Then as I grew up and discovered more about the world, the things that once mattered more than everything else just become part of a bigger mix. 

Is the kid 'real gone' as in they've left and now we're gutted. Or is it more expressing the fact that this kid is really out there, 'really gone'. I guess it's up to the listener to decide. I'm guessing they broke their heart and now their gone, there's a lot of crying going on. Maybe the 80s weren't so bad after all.

Apparently the band is named after a Steely Dan song title.

Favourite lyric : And I'll play you old 45s / That now mean nothing to me