Happy Birthday to Johnette Napolitano, born September 22, 1957!
My favorite Concrete Blonde song is “Someday.” My second favorite is the heartbreaking, “Tomorrow Wendy,” which is about a woman dying of AIDS.
But Joey is my pick for a CB G.O.A.T. because it was their biggest hit. The song appeared on the band’s biggest record, 1990’s Bloodletting, and was written by Johnette Napolitano about her former boyfriend Marc “Wall of Voodoo” Moreland, who died of alcoholism. The chorus, “Joey I’m not angry anymore” tears my heart open every time I hear it.
Further listening: Someday, Tomorrow Wendy, God is a Bullet, Mexican Moon. Concrete Blonde are a hugely underrated band, and one of the few bands I’ve seen multiple times. Oh, and their great song “Long Time Ago” was the last song played over the credits for the last episode of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, The Shield.
Covers: Joey isn’t covered that often, but Concrete Blonde’s cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing is amazing. Let’s start with that…
Okay, and now some covers of Joey…
