Peak: #7 on the Hot 100
Streams: 718,000
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I’ve always been aware of Shaun Cassidy. He’s David Cassidy’s brother. He was a teen idol with a few pop hits, but unlike, say, Leif Garrett, he avoided tragedy as he got older. Instead, he became a successful TV producer, and he recently ran NBC’s medical drama New Amsterdam. Good for him!
But other than his silly cover of “Da Doo Ron Ron,” which hit #1, I didn’t know Shaun Cassidy’s music. This was my loss! His other two hits are great. First came “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a jumpy jam about how everybody needs to rock out sometimes. Released in the era of the Grease movie, it has some Broadway-style, crisply articulated singing, but I don’t mind that. It’s fun!
And you know what’s even more fun? “Hey Deanie,” Cassidy’s third and final top ten.
Inspired by Natalie Wood’s character in “Splendor in the Grass,” it’s a straightforward rock love song about a lady who makes the singer go wild with lust, love, and general enthusiasm. The guitar hook is catchy as hell, and Cassidy’s vocal, while not exactly masterful, has just enough husky sexiness to make it sound believable that he would like to kiss this lady on the mouth. He was 20 years old at the time, so one can assume he’d felt an urge or two.
Meanwhile, the song’s lyrics are surprisingly evocative. The second verse begins, “I stand accused / I’m in league with the forces of darkness / An incurable believer in the magic of a midnight sky.” That’s some grade-A pop writing, because it seems a little bit dangerous, then reveals that the darkness this guy worships is actually the romantic kind. It’s very rock and roll to tease the boundary between bad boy and good guy.
Like “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “Hey Deanie” was written and originally recorded by the late Eric Carmen, who had big hits like “All By Myself,” “Hungry Eyes,” and “Make Me Lose Control.” He's not a household name or anything, but Eric Carmen really wrote some hot-ass jams! And as I think about it, “Make Me Lose Control” also has some sexy lyrics. Check out the storytelling in the first verse: It’s specific and horny, and it gives way to a swooning chorus. Well done, sir!
And yet despite the solid songwriting, the great production, and Shaun Cassidy’s sturdy performance, “Hey Deanie” has disappeared. Sometimes on The Lost Songs Project, I’m not sure why this happens, but this time, it’s very clear. In the late 70s, when the disco revolt was in full swing and bands as different as The Knack, The Sex Pistols, and Black Sabbath were all being touted as the saviors of “real” rock and roll, there was absolutely no way that Shaun Cassidy was going to be honored for his gifts. He appealed to kids, for heaven’s sake. He was the star of a Hardy Boys TV show. His brother was in the Partridge Family. He was part of the very machine that tastemakers and snotty teenagers had to rebel against if they wanted to be cool.
I mean, how could any self-respecting rock snob acknowledge the excellence of a single by a kid who posed for photos like this?
But we are not those snotty teens! We have entered a happier era, when we can appreciate both The Sex Pistols AND Shaun Cassidy. And we are better for it!
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I’ve always been familiar with the title of this song, but I have no conscious memory of hearing it before now. But I do remember Shaun Cassidy’s reign as a teenybopper icon because when we moved into what would become the primary home of my childhood, my younger sister (then 4) got the room with his poster left behind on the door. I was only 6 but even then, it felt unfair.