For My Sunday Song #406, we tackled Concrete Blonde’s “Dance Along the Edge”. Harrison’s pick takes us back to 1986 and the band’s debut album called ‘Concrete Blonde’. The song was the third single from the album and released in 1987. It was written by singer and bassist Johnette Napolitano. The album went to #96 on the Billboard Charts and brought the band in to the spotlight. I remember when they came out, but honestly, there were not what I was in to back in 1986 as I was in to much harder and heavier bands and not the alternative stuff of the time.
The song is a pretty powerful statement about relationships how we dance along the edge of issues within the relationship and never communicating with each about them in fear of hurting the other person or the relationship crumbling. The fear builds up and makes it all that much worse. You’ve seen relationships fall apart before and don’t want it to happen to you. You are happy and in love with the person, but the lack of communicating is ruining everything.
Johnette has crafted a really cool track. She lays down a great bass line that is the driving force for the song. There is a darkness and moodiness to the song as the bass drips with sadness. The guitar work is minimal from James Mankey, but the riff is really cool and accentuates the song perfectly. The drum beat from Harry Rushakoff adds more texture and flavor to the song. But the shining point is Johnette’s vocals. They are sensual yet a tinge of grit that blends so well together. She sings with so much feeling and so little effort that she makes it sound easy. She puts the right amount of sadness in to the words you feel the couples emotions and understand what they are going through. A really nice track.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 