Breakfast in America
Supertramp had had hits before, but this was a meteoric success. The album spawned four hit singles, and as I listened to it last night on Amazon Music, I realized those were the only four songs I had heard before. I also realized they were smart about songs they released, because they are the best four songs, and the others aren't nearly as good.
Supertramp went through many phases through their existence, from psychedelic to blues, but Breakfast in America is a mixture of radio-friendly pop like Cheap Trick and REO Speedwagon, and experimental art rock. The radio stuff wins out. They had two writers and singers: Roger Hodgson, who had a high-pitched yowl that I don't enjoy listening to, and Robert Davies, whose voice is more palatable. He wrote "Goodbye Stranger," which is a pleasant song about a bastard who leaves his women high and dry, kind of an English "Free Bird":
"Goodbye stranger it's been nice
Hope you find your paradise
Tried to see your point of view
Hope your dreams will all come true
Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane
Will we ever meet again
Feel no sorrow, feel no shame
Come tomorrow, feel no pain"
This song also makes me think of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice," which is much sharper in tone.
Another big hit was "Logical Song," by Hodgson, which is one of those songs that makes sense when you're young but not so much when you're older:
"But then they sent me away
To teach me how to be sensible,
Logical, oh responsible, practical.
And then they showed me a world
Where I could be so dependable,
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical."
This knock on education prefigures the song that would come out that fall, Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2." Those Brits really had bad schools. I see his point, that being a care-free little kid and then shoved into the world of responsibility sucks, but it's part of getting older. Logic is an important part of thinking, it's the core of science and mathematics, which make our world go round. The key is to learn to be logical without losing your sense of wonder, which many people do. Education, like advice, can be listened to and rejected, if need be.
The title track is the most fun. It is exquisitely produced, with whimsical keyboard riffs and a trombone that wanders around through the melody. I have no idea what it means, as Hodgson sings both about a girlfriend that doesn't put out and his trip to America.
"Could we have kippers for breakfast
Mummy dear, Mummy dear
They got to have 'em in Texas
Cos everyone's a millionaire"
Some thought it was a satirical poke at the U.S., perhaps because of the cover, that features a diner waitress as the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline made of cereal boxes, but there's nothing about the song that suggests anything of the sort.
The last of the singles was "Take the Long Way Home," another song by Hodgson. This one is a jibe at someone, though I'm not sure what "take the long way home" suggests, but it seems to be a euphemism for someone, a person who performs on the stage, either fucking up or repenting.
"And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable, unforgettable, how they adore you,
But then your wife seems to think you're losing your sanity, oh, calamity, is there no way out?"
Except for "Gone Hollywood," the opening track that is an interesting take on a boy who wants to be a movie star, the rest of the album is unforgettable. Hodgson dares to write a song called "Oh Darling" that is far inferior to Paul McCartney's. The closing track, "Child of Vision," is one of those long songs full of noodling that allows the mind to wander. I'm guessing that a lot of people lifted and dropped the tone-arm selectively while listening to this record.
Supertramp were by no means a one-hit wonder; they had many albums before and many albums after, but this is the one that caught the wave. It was indelible part of many teenagers in that era, but they faded out of view almost as quickly as they entered it.
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