RIP Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne

[Matlock]

Had some good moments spinning up your guys' favorite tracks. Nice to have a connection to people who understand. I had not heard of "Hey Julie" being about a dog potentially. That is phenomenal if true or even if not.

 

[JimSoprano]

One of my favorite bands, such good songs. RIP Adam.

 

[Zelig]

So many great songs... RIP

I've heard this one so many times, in my car:

 

[NitroLiq]

 

[kcprogguitar]

Thanks for

 

[SmallStones]

I'm guessing it could be about a college QB.. but the last verse talking about his bride to be makes it seem more like a QB who is in the NFL and the lights are finally turning on....

the NFL also used it as a promo at one point.




I found this quote from Adam.


What have the artists said about the song?
According to Adam Schlesinger:

I had the title and the concept first. The title is a cliché used by football announcers when a quarterback is well protected. I thought it would be fun to take it literally, and see if I could write a song in which time actually seems to slow down during one tiny moment in a football game. It was admittedly sort of a hokey idea on paper, but I remembered a wistful Paul Simon baseball song called “Night Game,” which is not really about sports at all, and I strove for a bit of that feeling. I worked on the lyrics to my idea first, and then tried to set it to music that implied slow motion. When the N.F.L. later licensed this song for a spot featuring classic slow-motion footage of quarterbacks, I could not have been happier, because I felt like that idea must have come across.

thanks for sharing this. I always sort of had the feeling that Adam was challenging himself to take a sports cliche and make it the hook in a song about transcendence. I guess I wasn't far off.

 

[muzishun]

That is awful

 

[WordMan]

From The New Yorker, high praise: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/p...bf7a533ec6aba25d6f18&esrc=&utm_term=TNY_Daily

“But Schlesinger was not a star. You couldn’t really even call him famous. In part, this was a factor of history. He was a co-founder of two pop-rock groups, Ivy and Fountains of Wayne, which earned major label deals and boutique stardom, then faded as the cultural center of gravity shifted from rock to hip-hop. Schlesinger’s career had an old-fashioned flavor. He was a craftsman in the Brill Building and Tin Pan Alley mold: a record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and, supremely, a songwriter, who thrived behind the scenes. He was never the lead singer of any band. Onstage, he cut a diffident figure, playing the bass and stepping to the microphone every now and then to sing harmony vocals.

Schlesinger’s death will undoubtedly bring him greater renown than he knew in life. With the terrible instant clarity that tragedy confers, it’s now easy to recognize him for what he was: a modest man of immodestly lavish talent. He was one of the great songwriters of his generation, with a body of work that stands next to those of far bigger boldface names.”

**********************

Yes.

 

[ford]

thanks for sharing this. I always sort of had the feeling that Adam was challenging himself to take a sports cliche and make it the hook in a song about transcendence. I guess I wasn't far off.

Yeah, it was always more than just about sports...

Writing a relevant song about a sports character without seeming hokey is so hard to do... and he nailed it with this one.

 

[BlueDream]

I'm a coronavirus naysayer, but this hurt. Adam was a great.melodic bass player and kill songwriter. Respect.
RIP Adam. Tonight it's gonna be Tincup and FoW.

 

[Blanket Jackson]

This was sweet, in retrospect

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This is another kind of sweet

​

 

[Norm N Playin]

Peace.

 

[Ingolf]

This is devastating.
Very sad news.
What a gifted man!

 

[colinesquire]

I'm a coronavirus naysayer, but this hurt. Adam was a great.melodic bass player and kill songwriter. Respect.
RIP Adam. Tonight it's gonna be Tincup and FoW.

Naysayer?

 

[somecafone]

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/03/8266...ountains-of-wayne-co-founder-adam-schlesinger

 

[Finj]

I first met Adam when he and Chris came by my place to buy my Marshall JCM 900 half stack - Early nineties and their band was called The Wallflowers which they later changed due to Jacob Dylan using the name and getting signed first - I later had the honor of working with him on a bunch of TV and film projects - Always a lot of laughs at those sessions - And that first Fountains record is an absolute CLASSIC! - 'Not a bad cut on there - 'Devastated that he's gone.

 

[Digits_Only]

RIP Adam. You were given The Gift and you shared it like a hero.