I Love The Smell Of Punk In The Morning- “Teenage Kicks”- The Undertones.
“Teenage Kicks” was the debut single by the The Undertones- a Northern Irish Punk band from Derry. The song was written by John O’Neill the main songwriter for the band. “Teenage Kicks” was written in June 1977 but wasn’t recorded until a year later. It was released after they signed with Sire Records in October 1978. As a single it peaked at #31 on the UK Singles Chart.
The great BBC 1 DJ John Peel said many times over the years that “Teenage Kicks” was his all-time favorite song. When he first heard the song Peel burst into tears. When Peel first played it on the radio he played it twice in a row- something he had never done before. Peel requested that the opening line of the song be engraved on his tombstone. When he died in 2004 the song was played at his funeral acoustically by Snow Patrol.
Everytime she walks down the street
Another girl in the neighbourhood
Wish she was mine, she looks so good
Get teenage kicks right through the night
Have her over ’cause I’m all alone
I need excitement, oh, I need it bad
And it’s the best I’ve ever had
Get teenage kicks right through the night, all right
Everytime she walks down the street
Another girl in the neighbourhood
Wish she was mine, she looks so good
Get teenage kicks right through the night, all right
Have her over ’cause I’m all alone
I need excitement, oh, I need it bad
And it’s the best I’ve ever had
Get teenage kicks right through the night, all right
Get teenage kicks right through the night, all right
One of my favourites too. I still have the (very scratched) single!
i am sure it is very scratched but was played often!
You never know what is going to “do it” for a listener. It’s a decent song to me but it’s not all that, you know what I mean. I like that mini-riff towards the end. I wonder what song I’d like a line from on my tombstone…
Kris Kristofferson has said he wants on his tombstone- a line from Leonard Cohen’s BIrd On A Wire– Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
Interesting he didn’t pick a line from one of his many songs. That is a good one though.