"Gimme Some Slack" is a song by the American rock band

the Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...

from the album ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

.'' The song was written by bandleader Ric Ocasek.

Lyrics and music

The lyrics to "Gimme Some Slack" have a more concrete basis than many songs written by Ocasek. They are influenced by Ocasek's memories of the apartment building on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

of Manhattan in which he lived in the early 1970s. Ocasek stated that "I remember people hanging clothes out on the roof and having all kinds of dirt in the hallway. So I'd think 'gimme some slack, gimme some rope, ''please''.'" Jonathan Takiff of the ''Philadelphia Daily News'' points out that "Gimme Some Slack" and " Touch and Go" are examples of a "subtle, philosophical of first person survival" that represents an alternative side of the Cars from the "lost and frantic new age romantic" side exposed in songs like "

Candy-O ''Candy-O'' is the second studio album by American rock band the Cars, released on June 13, 1979 by Elektra Records. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the album spawned two singles, " Let's Go" (number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100) and "It's All ...

" and "

Just What I Needed "Just What I Needed" is a song by American Rock music, rock band The Cars from their The Cars (album), self-titled debut album (1978). The song, which first achieved radio success as a demo, took inspiration from the Ohio Express and the Velvet ...

." Stuart Mungalies of ''The News'' states that "Gimme Some Slack" sounds like a combination of the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

and

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

. Jim Bohen of the ''Daily Record'' describes the music as starting with "revved up

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

" but then having a

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

on which it is difficult to find the groove. Cars keyboardist

Greg Hawkes Gregory A. Hawkes (born October 22, 1952) is an American musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band The Cars. Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland, United States, attended Atholton High School where he played in a band called Teeth ...

plays both organ and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

on "Gimme Some Slack."

Release and reception

"Gimme Some Slack" was first released on ''Panorama'', and in 1981, the song was released as the third single from said album. However, the song failed to chart in any countries, making it one of the band's least successful singles. The song has since appeared on the compilation album '' Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology''. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' said that "the band hits a rhythm gallop over a steady dance beat" and that the song has "contagious keyboards." In his review of ''Panorama'',

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Greg Prato stated "'Gimme Some Slack' proved to be a fierce rocker." Prato also said, in his review of '' Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology'', that it was "previously released album tracks

n the album N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

that were "highlights." In the ''Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology'' liner notes, Brett Milano said, "Rockers like 'Getting Through' and 'Gimme Some Slack' had a heavier sound than before 'Panorama''" ''Boston Globe'' critic Steve Morse called "Gimme Some Slack" a "true masterpiece." Morse praises how the song "paints a seedily phantasmic portrait of a tenement building" with the lines "the seven floors of walkup/the odor musted cracks/the peeping keyhole introverts/with the monkeys on their backs/the rooftops strung with frauleins/the pastel pinned up sails/the eighteen color roses/against your face so pale." Morse suggests that the stream of consciousness style of the song was influenced by

E.E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and

Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935 – c. September 16, 1984) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. A prolific writer, he wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four bo ...

B-side

The B-side of the song, "Don't Go to Pieces", features

Benjamin Orr Benjamin Orzechowski (September 8, 1947 – October 3, 2000), known professionally as Benjamin Orr, was an American musician best known as the bassist, co-lead vocalist, and co-founder of the rock band The Cars. He sang lead vocals on sever ...

on lead vocals. "Don't Go to Pieces" was first released as the B-side to " Don't Tell Me No", the single released before "Gimme Some Slack".

References

External links

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAyjRc9qffM * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXC_-GO9wIQ
Lyric's to "Don't Go To Pieces."
{{authority control 1981 singles Songs written by Ric Ocasek The Cars songs 1980 songs Song recordings produced by Roy Thomas Baker Elektra Records singles