The Rovers – Wasn’t That A Party

Growing up in Canada in the 1970s, I was not a fan of our national television networks. They were great for sports and, to the extent I was paying attention, news, but our scripted programming left much to be desired. There were such short-lived “classics” as “The Trouble with Tracy” (which I mostly remember now in connection with co-star Steve Weston’s tragic early death) and “Excuse My French”, and long-lived but mostly not-much-better shows like “The Beachcombers” and “The King of Kensington”. I did love some of the children’s shows – “The Waterville Gang” stands out in my memory (it’s crazy that almost 50 years later I can remember character names and what their voices sounded like) – and there were smart quiz shows, like “Headline Hunters”, “Front Page Challenge” and my beloved “Reach for the Top”. But all of the musical and variety shows were pretty old fashioned, with such gems as “The Pig and Whistle”, “The Bobby Vinton Show”, “The Tommy Hunter Show” and the stars of today’s missive, The Irish Rovers, and their eponymous series.

I had nothing against The Irish Rovers, or anyone else on these shows. But their music had nothing to offer me when, for example, Don Cornelius and “Soul Train” were airing on Saturdays (which I foolishly almost never watched because I didn’t know the songs – soul music didn’t have a big presence on our local radio band waves). I knew there were other great shows being denied to me – like “American Bandstand” and “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” – from reading “TV Guide” and other print media. Instead, I was being served up traditional Irish music, country and soft pop. My ears were not interested.

Then, in 1980, The Irish Rovers went rogue. They rebranded – punting the Irish part of their name – and made a stab at the pop charts. They’d been there before, but 1968’s Top 10 “The Unicorn” was one of those freak occurrences that could only happen in the pop folk environment of the era. It wasn’t a half-hearted effort either – they appeared on frickin’ “Solid Gold”. (I offer this fake but oh-so-accurate clip from “The Boys” as some evidence of how truly bonkers that show was.) And it worked: it got them back into the American top 40, and to #3 in Canada, which seems somehow factually wrong to me even though I remember it happening.

What I have trouble understanding now is why this song was a hit at all: it should’ve been a tune that got a few plays, was rewarded with some earnest chuckles, and then consigned to the musical dustbin other than being hauled out now and then at evening’s end by a not-as-clever-as-he-thinks-he-is dive bar deejay. (On the other hand, Joe Dolce’s “Shaddap You Face” was an even bigger hit the following year, so it’s possible we were all just idiots back then.) It’s a fun song, but it’s not a good one. How do I know it’s not good? Because good songs reward repeated plays. There are songs that compel you to play them again, and again, and maybe again, only to reveal more depths over time. That’s not “Wasn’t That A Party”. The lyrics have a few cute lines (you won’t go wrong with me by throwing in references to cats and the law), but the music is simple and repetitive, save for some honky tonk piano and horn bits. On the first replay, I was bored after two minutes, and there is really no reason for this recording to last longer than 2:30 – almost everything after that simply repeats what came before, so that a cute little ditty becomes something you have to survive. And survive is what I did. On the second play, my ears began to hurt. On the third, blood began to flow from my eyes. I stopped there, fearing one more would put me in “Scanners” territory. (I may be exaggerating a bit here.) If you can get to four, you are clearly made of tougher stuff than I, and probably also way too drunk to be on your phone right now.

As it turns out, this was a cover of a song by a fellow named Tom Paxton, whose version is vastly superior. Gentler, more melancholy, remorseful as opposed to boasting, and, though some 33 seconds shorter, not at all repetitive.

Anyway, I hadn’t thought of the band in years, save for every Christmas season when “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” turns up again. I can’t even say why I thought of them now. So I was surprised to learn they are still very much an active concern, 38 years after they last had a song on the charts. (That would be 1985’s “Everybody’s Making It Big (But Me)”, also a cover and, yes, also not even close to as interesting as Shel Silverstein’s drunken piano bar blues original, or Dr. Hook’s goofily strained version.) They toured from Sarnia to Victoria in March and April 2023, supporting the January 2022 release of their latest album, “No End in Sight”. The title song is an original in the traditional style, and I like it a lot. 10-year-old me would be shaking his head at the codger I’ve turned into.