Good Morning!
Today we’re listening to “When You Find Out” by The Nerves
One of my favorite bits of musical bar trivia is that Blondie’s 1978 hit “Hanging On The Telephone” is a cover. I love it for two reasons. First, it never fails to surprise most people, and second, it gives me an excuse to talk about The Nerves.
The band is more than just one song, of course, and came into being after Peter Case, Jack Lee, and Paul Collins all found their way to San Francisco in the early 70s. Case was busking when Lee approached him and offered him more money to join him instead. Paul Collins soon joined them on drums rounding out the trio.
They started playing mainly covers before building enough of their own material to put something out. The result was a DIY 4-song self-titled EP crammed full of hooks and electricity. It barely lasts 7 minutes, but that’s all it took to rewrite power pop history.
“When You Find Out” was written by Case. Collins wrote “Working Too Hard.” Jack Lee penned “Give Me Some Time” and the now infamous “Hanging On The Telephone.” The Nerves had ~3000 copies pressed and worried that it was an impossible amount of copies to move. Today the record is often listed as impossible to find.
They moved to LA shortly thereafter, but in a city already packed with bands struggled to gain any attraction…so they created their own, renting a basement and calling it the “Hollywood Punk Palace.”
From there, they hit the road in a ‘69 LTD Ford wagon, opening for the likes of The Ramones and Mink DeVille. One hundred dates and 28,000 miles later, they came home, played two shows, and… promptly fell off the map.
There was some chatter about putting together another 45, but nothing ever came of it. One Way Ticket, released in ‘08, is a compilation of the original EP, demos, and other unreleased material.
Case & Collins went on to (relatively) larger acclaim as part of The Plimsouls and the Beat. Lee put out a solo record and also wrote songs for other artists, including Paul Young’s hit “Come Back And Stay,” which appeared on his 1983 No Parlez record.
The song immediately after it? Young’s cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.”
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Meanwhile, the four songs within showcased each member's uncanny ability to write and sing short, fast, catchy tunes. There was the British Invasion feel of Case's "When You Find Out," and the classic pop of Collins' "Working Too Hard." And there were two tracks written by Lee: "Give Me Some Time" and "Hanging on the Telephone" — the latter a wallop of a two-minute ditty concerning a frazzled would-be lover, the girl of his dreams and Pac Bell, which had been part of his repertoire for awhile. (Case mentions an earlier recording of the song featuring Lee backed by some hired hands, possibly musicians from the Condor Club!)
Three thousand copies of the EP were pressed, and although it's now listed in record collector guides as being "hopelessly rare," at the time, it was a seemingly enormous amount. "I remember when the truck pulled up," says Case, "and we unloaded them into our basement on Folsom Street. We were like, 'What the hell are we gonna do with all these?' It was really hard to get rid of them."
Click here to read the rest of the retrospective.
Listen:
“When You Find Out” by The Nerves | One Way Ticket, 2008
Click the record to listen on the platform of your choice.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this track!
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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The Nerves! I am a Peter Case acolyte!
Love The Nerves! And, of course, the Blondie connection makes it even better. Did you know there was another Jack Lee song on Parallel Lines?-"Will Anything Happen"-Take a listen and it'll become obvious.