Music / Parallel Lines

"I always said you could make it/I know what I said and I meant it/I always liked the way you played guitar/I always knew that someday you'd go far/And if you do, will anything happen? Will it come true, will anything happen?"

Parallel Lines is the third studio album by the band Blondie, released in 1978 through Chrysalis Records. Their second album that year (after Plastic Letters), it was produced by Mike Chapman, a pro songwriter who had co-written The Sweet's hit "Ballroom Blitz".

Driven by the single "Heart of Glass", Parallel Lines reached #1 and #6 on the UK and US charts, respectively, becoming a Genre Popularizer for New Wave Music.

Personnel:

• Clem Burke - Drums
• Jimmy Destri - Keyboards
• Nigel Harrison - Bass
• Debbie Harry - Vocals
• Frank Infante - Guitar
• Chris Stein - Guitar

Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Hanging on the Telephone" - 2:17
2. "One Way or Another" - 3:31
3. "Picture This" - 2:53
4. "Fade Away and Radiate" - 3:57
5. "Pretty Baby" - 3:16
6. "I Know But I Don't Know" - 3:53

Side Two

1. "11:59" - 3:19
2. "Will Anything Happen?" - 2:55
3. "Sunday Girl" - 3:01
4. "Heart of Glass" - 3:54
5. "I'm Gonna Love You Too" - 2:03
6. "Just Go Away" - 3:21

Once I had a trope and it was a gas:

• Break-Up Song: "Just Go Away":
  O Don't ya know
  Don't wanna see you any more
  Put up or shut up
  You spell, you read.
• Cover Version: "Hanging on the Telephone" was a cover of a song by power pop band The Nerves. "I'm Gonna Love You Too" was a Buddy Holly cover.
• Face on the Cover: The six band members standing in front of a striped scrim.
• Female Gaze: "Picture This":
  All I want is a room with a view
  A sight worth seeing, a vision of you
  All I want is a room with view, oh-oh
  I will give you my finest hour
  The one I spent watching you shower^note Yeah, imagine their hot water bill.
  I will give you my finest hour, oh yeah.
• Gratuitous French: "Pretty Baby" has "Pretty baby, un petine ingenue".
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: "I Know But I Don't Know", which is made up of statements like that.
• Love Hurts: "Heart of Glass":
  In between
  What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
  Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
  If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good
  You teasing like you do.
• Love Is a Drug: The "Riding high on loves true bluish light" in "Heart of Glass" implies this.
• One-Woman Song: "Sunday Girl"
• Questioning Title?: "Will Anything Happen?"
• Record Producer: Mike Chapman.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: All the male members of the band are in black suits with black ties on the front cover
• Shout-Out: One verse of "Just Go Away" starts "Don't be cruel."
• Special Guest: King Crimson's Robert Fripp plays on "Fade Away and Radiate".
• Stalking is Love: Hoo boy! "One Way or Another":
  One day maybe next week, I'm gonna meet ya'
  I'm gonna meet ya', I'll meet ya'
  I will drive past your house and if the lights are all down
  I'll see who's around.
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The time just before midnight is treated with particular drama in "11:59".
  We can run
  Today can last another million years
  Today could be the end of me
  It's 11:59, and I want to stay alive

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Don't go be bad 'cause you've been had
Don't go away sad
Don't go away mad
Just go away!

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