"Passion Is No Ordinary Word" is a song by British rock musician
Graham Parker
Graham Thomas Parker (born 18 November 1950) is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.
Life and career Early career (1960s–1976)
Parker was born in Hackney, East L ...
, recorded with his backing band
the Rumour
The Rumour was an English rock band in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known as the backup band for Graham Parker, whose early records (from 1976 to 1980) were credited to Graham Parker & The Rumour. However, The Rumour also ...
. The song was released on his 1979 album, ''
Squeezing Out Sparks
''Squeezing Out Sparks'' is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Graham Parker and his band the Rumour. The album was released in March 1979. Although the Rumour were not credited on the cover, their name was included on the album ...
''. Written about faking one's emotion, the song features a stripped-down arrangement.
Though not released as a single, the song has since become one of Parker's most famous songs. The song has seen critical acclaim and Parker has named it as one of his favorites from the album.
Background
Parker attributed the song's power to the song's ascending guitar line, stating, "Those ascending chords provided the push. It's great when you come up with those chords. That guitar riff is so lonely, so yearning."
Parker noted the song's stripped-back style as symbolic of the album's musical direction as a whole, stating, "In the past, I occasionally found the music running away with itself, and I was fighting in the middle of it. This time I wanted it to be absolutely direct – the whole thing like a heartbeat. All the riffs, like in 'Passion,' I wrote them with the songs. We didn't elaborate on them much".
Lyrically, the song was described by writer Geoff Cabin as "rail
ngagainst artificiality and false emotions".
When asked about the song's implications about faked emotion, Parker responded, "People are dull, aren't they? People aren't living to their max, or to anywhere near it. They're just drones or clones. Especially in England - they're just walking zombies. They believe what the TV tells them. They're just put in a direction and led there".
Parker later said that the song was "absolutely" one of his favorites from the album. He explained, "That's a biggie. That's a strong one for me. Those lyrics, again, are kind of beyond what I'm capable of. They're up there."
Parker later joked that, because of the loss of sharpness that comes with aging, he "will never again grasp those effervescent wraiths of pure cosmic intangibility that forged the almost impossibly profound 'Passion Is No Ordinary Word.
Release and reception
"Passion Is No Ordinary Word" was first released on Parker's fourth studio album, ''
Squeezing Out Sparks
''Squeezing Out Sparks'' is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Graham Parker and his band the Rumour. The album was released in March 1979. Although the Rumour were not credited on the cover, their name was included on the album ...
'', in March 1979. The song also served as the title track to the Parker 1993 compilation album ''Passion is No Ordinary Word: The Graham Parker Anthology'';
Parker performed the song on ''
The Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'' that same year to promote the compilation, recalling, "I find
erforming on TVvery stressful. ... The only time when I've been any good and represented myself in a way I did not consider ruinous to my career was in my last Letterman performance. I was doing 'Passion Is No Ordinary Word', promoting the
Rhino
A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...
boxed set, and for some strange reason I just nailed that monkey."
Geoff Cabin described the song as "one of Parker's signature anthems".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
of
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 ...
describes the song as one of the two "centerpieces" of ''Squeezing Out Sparks'', alongside "
You Can't Be Too Strong
"You Can't Be Too Strong" is a song by British rock musician Graham Parker, recorded with his backing band the Rumour. The song was released on his 1979 album, ''Squeezing Out Sparks''. Written about abortion, the song originated as a country-sty ...
". Erlewine writes that the two songs "indicate that
arker'straditionalist musical tendencies are symptomatic of a larger
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
trend. But no one ever said conservatives made poor rock & rollers, and Parker's ruminations over a lost past give him the anger that fuels ''Squeezing Out Sparks'', one of the great rock records of the post-punk era."
Critic
Geoffrey Himes
Geoffrey Himes is an American music critic who has written weekly for ''the Washington Post'' since 1977. He also wrote for '' No Depression'' as a contributing editor in its first print era in the late 1990s to the early 2000s and has written for ...
called the song "the essence of Parker's whole career".
''
The Orlando Sentinel
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company.
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, ''Tribune Pu ...
'' describes the song as "enormously tuneful".
Covers
"Passion Is No Ordinary Word" was covered by New York rock band
the Figgs
The Figgs are a rock ‘n’ roll band formed in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1987. Originally known as The Sonic Undertones, their output includes thirteen studio albums and multiple EPs and singles. They’ve served as the backing band for rock ...
for the Parker tribute album ''Piss And Vinegar: The Songs Of Graham Parker''. The Figgs, made up of lifelong Parker fans, served as Parker's backing band in the late 1990s and early 2000s after meeting in a dressing room when both were on tour separately. Guitarist Mike Gent recalled, "My dad bought those records, ''
Howlin' Wind
''Howlin' Wind'' is the debut album by English singer-songwriter Graham Parker and his band the Rumour, released in 1976. The Rumour are mainly former pub rock scene musicians, including guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and keyboardist Bob Andrews o ...
'' and ''
Heat Treatment
Heat treating (or heat treatment) is a group of industrial, thermal and metalworking processes used to alter the physical, and sometimes chemical, properties of a material. The most common application is metallurgical. Heat treatments are also ...
'', when they came out, so I've been listening to this music almost my whole life."
References
{{Graham Parker & The Rumour
1979 songs
Graham Parker songs
Song recordings produced by Jack Nitzsche