Marshall Crenshaw

Whenever You're On My Mind

Sep 30, 2022

Good Morning!

Today we’re listening to “Whenever You’re On My Mind” by Marhsall Crenshaw

One-hit wonder can be such an arbitrary and cruel label.

Like the cheap bandaids you get at work, it can be hard to get off once it's on. And no matter what you do, the residue never comes off. Sure some bands—and songs— warrant the title (take a bow, Escape Club), but others only chart once for a whole host of other reasons despite creating a fantastic body of work.

Detroit native Marshall Crenshaw falls into the latter category. His “Someday, Someway” did well on the charts.

His records are routinely well-loved by critics. Even resident sourpuss Robert Christgau takes his usual long way to say he really liked it.

With Steve Lillywhite doctoring Crenshaw's efficient trio until it booms and echoes like cannons in a cathedral, the production doesn't prove Marshall isn't retro, though he isn't. It proves that no matter how genuine your commitment to the present, you can look pretty stupid adjusting to fashion--as usual, production brouhaha is a smokescreen for the betrayal of impossibly ecstatic expectation. Think of Talking Heads 77, New York Dolls, Exile on Main Street, or (for you oldsters) Moby Grape, all in fact a little botched aurally, all classics. Since the problem here isn't mess but overdefinition, a more precise comparison might be Give 'Em Enough Rope, but with a crucial difference: The Clash had better songs than its follow-up, while this follow-up has better songs than the debut. The man has grown up with a bang--though his relationships are suddenly touched with disaster, he vows to try till he dies. And you know what? Lillywhite's drum sound reinforces Crenshaw's surprising new depth--both his sense of doom and his will to overcome it. A+

Everyone from Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet to Ronnie Spector has covered Crenshaw's songs.

He was in a couple of movies during the 80s.

He co-wrote a theme song for one in 2007.

Heck, he was nominated for a Grammy! And yet he still meets the technical definition of having only one hit.

If any track had a shot at getting his name on the board a second time, it was “Whenever You’re on My Mind,” the lead single off his sophomore album, 1983’s Field Day. It’s power pop perfection. And while it fared well enough on college radio, it peaked just outside the Billboard 100 at #103.

A lot of bands are one-hit wonders for a reason. Other artists like Marshall Crenshaw deserve further attention.

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First off, the album begins with one of his all-time greatest songs, “Whenever You’re on My Mind,” a song that had been kicking around since 1979. This is another one of his perfectly-written creations that should have made him a star. The song has everything you could want in a single: a memorable, catchy chorus, simple but effective lyrics, and absolute conciseness. It blew most of the songs that were clogging up the airwaves out of the water.

Read the rest of the review here.

“Whenever You’re On My Mind” by Marshall Crenshaw| Field Day, 1983

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