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The Blasters — Border Radio
Album: Hard Line
Avg rating:
5.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 468









Released: 1985
Length: 2:40
Plays (last 30 days): 1
One more midnight, her man is still gone
The nights move too slow
She tries to remember the heat of his touch
While listening to the Border Radio

She calls toll-free and requests an old song
Something they used to know
She prays to herself that wherever he is
He's listening to the Border Radio

This song comes from nineteen sixty-two
Dedicated to a man who's gone
Fifty thousand watts out of Mexico
This is the Border Radio
This is the Border Radio

She thinks of her son, asleep in his room
And how her man won't see him grow
She thinks of her life and she hopes for a change
While listening to the Border Radio

This song comes from nineteen sixty-two
Dedicated to a man who's gone
Fifty thousand watts out of Mexico
This is the Border Radio
This is the Border Radio

They play her tune but she can't concentrate
She wonders why he had to go
One more night and her man is still gone
She's listening to the Border Radio

This song comes from nineteen sixty-two
Dedicated to a man who's gone
Fifty thousand watts out of Mexico
This is the Border Radio
This is the Border Radio
Comments (51)add comment
Beginning of the song gave me some TVC 15 vibes for some reason.  I don't think the piano parts are similar but something in the arrangement triggered the connection to me anyway. 
 nicknt wrote:
weak song
 

Shitty ears.
Damn. I was away from the broadcast during a great string of tunes.
weak song
Don't give up your day job yet Kermit!
I would have loved to been young/old enough in southern Texas /California et.al. to have heard the original Boarder Radio.
 buddy wrote:
Wow, 10 years between plays!  Just last week I saw Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the Guilty Ones at theater in Denver. Dave's got it going as good as ever.  Caught The Blasters in Dallas maybe 4 years ago, then Dave & Phil and the Guilty Ones a couple years later. Amazing live act.

Maybe this crowd would take to "Marie Marie" at little easier, Bill. Authentic, bare-boned, biting R&R without over production isn't for the feint of heart.
 

I submitted "I Love You So" for consideration but it apparently wasn't good enough for RP. 
Lyrics not available? Really?
 Rockit9 wrote:
Add a 'd' & they become... 
 
The Blasdters?
The solo and slower version of this song by Dave Alvin is sooooo much better!
{#Devil_pimp}zesty ! pure americana
 musikalia wrote:
Gah! Gotta agree with the others that this is awful! I'm surprised it made it past the LRC.
 
sounds like a rote imitation of The Band
T his takes me back to the early sixties, living in Arkansas, and hearing Wolfman Jack on XERF!
As teenage shithead I thought the Blasters were a crappy Motown-Rock ripoff band.
Now a middle-age shithead, I like them.
Wow, 10 years between plays!  Just last week I saw Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the Guilty Ones at a theater in Denver. Dave's got it going as good as ever.  Caught The Blasters in Dallas maybe 4 years ago, then Dave & Phil and the Guilty Ones a couple years later. Amazing live act.

Maybe this crowd would take to "Marie Marie" at little easier, Bill. Authentic, bare-boned, biting R&R without over production isn't for the feint of heart.
Add a 'd' & they become... 
Gah! Gotta agree with the others that this is awful! I'm surprised it made it past the LRC.
This sounds like some crappy garage band. Make it stop.
slartibart_O wrote:
From the George Jones pained expression school of singing - Dave Alvin! why no Webb on RP?
Phil Alvin.
After a string of nice songs, now this. Eclectic is good, but not at any cost...
kazuma wrote:
It was the same pattern each time: it seemed okay for the first 2-3 songs, nothing special, but bearable. Then we'd all realize that they were going to keep playing the SAME 2-3 songs over and over and over, and it got REAL tedious.
Ahhh--but listening to only ONE of their songs isn't so bad. Kind of fun, actually.
-relayer- wrote:
It's like Webb Wilder with 1/2 the talent.
From the George Jones pained expression school of singing - Dave Alvin! why no Webb on RP?
-relayer- wrote:
It's like Webb Wilder with 1/2 the talent.
dango wrote:
Unbearable clunk-rock.
mig7 wrote:
Waste of notes
twiggy wrote:
Ugh.
I'm sorry to say that I have to agree. I had the excruciating misfortune to see these guys 3-4 times, opening for other bands, back in the mid-80s when they were reputedly "hot", and they were godawful every time. It was the same pattern each time: it seemed okay for the first 2-3 songs, nothing special, but bearable. Then we'd all realize that they were going to keep playing the SAME 2-3 songs over and over and over, and it got REAL tedious. My friends and I actually got into the habit of shouting "NO MORE!" in unison at the end of every song in the futile hope that we could get them to stop. Obviously there are folks who saw them and felt otherwise, but I never saw the appeal and still don't.
It's like Webb Wilder with 1/2 the talent.
Unbearable clunk-rock.
I remember seeing the Blasters when I was a young pup around '84. They rocked. Look at how spread out the scores are...
Having been in the L.A. club scene in the late seventies/early eighties I can testify that the Blasters are the real thing ... picture them in a dark, hot, dirty, gritty night club ... chankin' this stuff out at full volume ... sweat pouring down ... the stench of stale beer and cigarette smoke in the air ...
What the...?
Ugh! No likey! Perhaps if the song had some history for me it might work, but nooooo...
Waste of notes
Roverfish wrote:
Rockabilly Zevon? Good stuff!
I too was thinking that this could have easily been a Zevon song...
ssssssssssssssssssssssssSWEET!
fucking awesome musicians!!!!!! great song.
radio theme is cooking this eve
Rockabilly Zevon? Good stuff!
Another classic by The Blasters & Dave Alvin!
ScopArch wrote:
Your wish just came true, in reverse order!
It happened again!
trixie wrote:
I was thinking the exact same thing! I wish I was listening to that song instead.
Your wish just came true, in reverse order!
susafina wrote:
This leaves me itching to hear Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” for some reason.
I was thinking the exact same thing! I wish I was listening to that song instead.
This leaves me itching to hear Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” for some reason.
When the Violent Femmes were talking about American music, this is what they meant - can't belive you didn't follow this with On a Mexican Radio (what does he say?)
Johng wrote:
What a great band from the 80's. These guys put on great live shows, serious energy. They reunited for a live album called Troublebound a couple years ago, great stuff.
Agreed. Great live. Saw them at small club in Chicago, and it was one of the more raucous, yet intimate crowds I have ever been part of.
dairyman wrote:
Thanks for playing what should have been, back in '81-82 a hit record if radio only was open to playing great records and not the same old pablum they played. This is such a great song, written by Dave Alvin. Only one FM rock station ever dared to play it back then, the great, late KVRE in Santa Rosa. They played this one up until they changed formats in 1989. I put this song on tapes my fitness center plays during circuit classes and people really respond to it. Keep on playing it. Oh, by the way there was a movie out way back when in the late eighties called Border Radio, with John Doe of X in it. Anyone see it?
No, but it made me very happy to see the Blasters and John Doe/X mentioned in the same paragraph. Thank you for the love.
Two Blasters songs in two days! I must have done something right, once! Even caught a video on VH-1 Classic the other night! Now if only they'd play near me, I'd have it ALL!
Ugh.
NOW we're talking! One of the greatest of the rockabilly era.
Thanks for playing what should have been, back in '81-82 a hit record if radio only was open to playing great records and not the same old pablum they played. This is such a great song, written by Dave Alvin. Only one FM rock station ever dared to play it back then, the great, late KVRE in Santa Rosa. They played this one up until they changed formats in 1989. I put this song on tapes my fitness center plays during circuit classes and people really respond to it. Keep on playing it. Oh, by the way there was a movie out way back when in the late eighties called Border Radio, with John Doe of X in it. Anyone see it?
Yeah, the Blaster's were great... I remember seeing them absolutely rock the house out at the Vouge in Indianapolis at the height of rock-a-billy in the early 80's. And as big of fan of the Stray Cats as I was(having seen them at the same venue.. even getting to meet Brian Setzer etc..) I still had to laugh at the "fued" they sort of had in the media.. because as much as they tried to say The Blaster's were old men etc... the Blaster's were the REAL deal... The Stray Cat's just got lucky riding the wave of hip'ness back from England...
What a great band from the 80's. These guys put on great live shows, serious energy. They reunited for a live album called Troublebound a couple years ago, great stuff.
Chopsticks with lyrics. Cool ... not.
Thanks, uploader! I couldn't stand it if I uploaded Blasters and they got a "sorry" so I never tried it. Usually I don't care if my uploads get accepted, but it would have made me seriously question RP if this got nixed. 10 10 10 10 10