Performer: Peter Frampton
Songwriter: Peter Frampton
Original Release: Somethin’s Happening
Year: 1974
Definitive Version: Frampton Comes Alive, 1976
I’ve hinted that finding The Who in the fall of 1979 was a game-changer musically. There’s no question about it. So much music and many groups that I listened to a lot beforehand fell by the wayside. Frampton, however, wasn’t one of them. It was like he was grandfathered in before the great rock/arena rock rift. In other words, Frampton was still OK.
Anyway, I found this song late. I mean I knew it, but I wasn’t into it till after I crossed the rubicon, so the memories I associate with it—unlike pretty much the rest of the album—pertain to high school, not junior high. And what I think of most when I hear this one is doing homework.
Beginning a practice that I’ve maintained to this day, I would try and do my homework anywhere but at home, so study hall was crucial. Of course, sometimes that was insufficient time, so I’d have to bring stuff home. I didn’t spread out at the dining-room table or even the desk that I had in my room. The desk was bought when I was 9, so it didn’t really fit me at 16 or 17. Instead, I’d set up shop on my bed. Why? So I could put my headphones on and listen to music, of course—the optimal conditions for learning. (I might have been booted out of my lazy rut in junior high, but I still wasn’t taking my studies as seriously as I could have. I didn’t do that till college.)
Although The Who, Yes, Led Zeppelin and Hendrix dominated the ol’ record player during this time, Frampton still found his way onto the turntable every once in a while. I can’t say the same for BTO, The Doobies, ELO or most definitely The Eagles. Hmmm, maybe I was channeling Lebowski long before the Coen Brothers conjured him up.
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