22. chairmen of the board, "pay to the piper"
why here? i wanted to end the disc on an upbeat note.
why this song? after "band of gold," this is the finest thing holland-dozier-holland had anything to do with in the 70s. after they left motown, they set about creating a blueprint for post 60s pop/r&b that was as fabulous as it was short-lived. like many of those early hot wax/h-d-h numbers, the track itself is hysterical, motown laced with mania. lyrically, this is one horny-ass song: it's about this guy, the lead singer, who's seeing this chick, spending his last dime on her, and is getting no play. the pre-chorus goes, "i played the tune, you dug the beat, now come on girl, be nice to me"; if not for matters of censorship and of good taste, it should have been, "i played the tune, you dug the beat, now come on girl, and suck my meat." it even rhymes better. in the annals of pop, blue balls have never been made to sound so joyful.