Passion Is No Ordinary Word
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Passion Is No Ordinary Word" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Graham Parker | |
| from the album Squeezing Out Sparks | |
| Released | March 1979 |
| Recorded | Lansdowne Studios, London |
| Genre | |
| Label | Vertigo (UK & Europe) Arista (USA & Canada) |
| Songwriter(s) | Graham Parker |
| Producer(s) | Jack Nitzsche |
"Passion Is No Ordinary Word" 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 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.
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."[1] 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".[2]
Lyrically, the song was described by writer Geoff Cabin as "rail[ing] against artificiality and false emotions".[3] 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".[4]
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."[5] 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'".[6]