by Kevin Burton
You remember Eric Carmen for “All By Myself” and for the Raspberries’ “Go All The Way.” But it’s one of his B-sides that resonates most with me.
We got word last week that Carmen had died at age 74. The news sent my mind to several places, including to a classmate who is a huge Eric Carmen fan.
Carmen took All By Myself to number two in 1975 and the follow-up “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again” to number 11 the next year. Though he had two top-ten hits in the late 80s, the mid-70s represented his peak in popularity.
The history of rock and roll is full of examples of B-sides, discovered when a DJ flipped the 45 and preferred, played and promoted the other song.
But Carmen was hot then and apparently few if any felt the need to flip “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again” and play what turned out to be my favorite Carmen tune, “No Hard Feelings.”
It’s very possible you’ve never heard No Hard Feelings. There isn’t much about it on the internet. I did find this from reviewer Matthew Greenwald:
“Possibly the most Raspberries-influenced song on the Eric Carmen album, “No Hard Feelings” could have easily been a single for that band. A funky, almost British rock groove and melody drives the song with great momentum, and it’s quite similar to some of Badfinger’s songs in the same vein.”
“A summation of rock stardom and, more directly, the Raspberries’ career struggle and subsequent demise, it’s an effective commentary on the uncertain rock world and lifestyle,” Greenwald wrote.
To my great sorrow I’ve never been in a rock and roll band. But I have had a job or two. I have adopted “No Hard Feelings,” Carmen’s reaction to the breakup of the Raspberries to represent my leaving some of those jobs.
So you will understand that, I include the first verse and chorus:
“We was young
And still believed in a “Hard Day’s Night”
But no one seemed to understand
That there was no relief in sight
The company man
He’s got his nose glued to the charts
He says the record’s doin’ fine
But now the group is fallin’ apart
I hope there’s no hard feelings
‘Cause there isn’t anyone to blame
I hope there’s no hard feelings
‘Cause nothin’ ever stays the same
Well we was locked in image prison
Waitin’ for that break
We was raped, reshaped and tryin’ to escape
Caught in a rock and roll time warp
Just tryin’ to find the way to get out”
Corporate types with their eyes on the bottom line, trampling if need be, the actual people who helped them make money. That is not unique to music of course.
. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of songs about the music industry and how it rips off artists. “Stuck in the Middle With You,” written by Gerry Rafferty while with Stealers Wheel, is perhaps the sunniest of this genre. Others, such as Billy Joel’s “Great Wall of China,” are OK but a little inside-ish, not leaving room for the listener to make himself at home in the song.
No Hard Feelings gets it just right, paying tribute to rock and roll with its rollicking beat. The song does point fingers, but in the end recognizes that “nothing ever stays the same,” and calls for no hard feelings.
Is it possible that the “raped, reshaped and tryin to escape” line is the reason this song wasn’t released as a single? Greenwald is correct when he says “No Hard Feelings” has that Raspberries groove. I’m not sure why it would not have been a hit, except maybe that it wouldn’t be what fans were looking for after the softer All By Myself and Never Gonna Fall in Love.
The title song from Carmen’s 1977 album “Boats Against The Current” is another lesser-known gem. It was released but peaked at number 45. I never heard it until I bought one of Carmen’s greatest hits packages.
The song is about a love affair that didn’t work out. If you’re going down that lyrical road for the millionth time, you better nail the feel of the song. Carmen did.
He sings of two dreamers “sailing separate oceans worlds apart.” They come to the mutual conclusion that “perfection is consuming and it seems we’re only human after all.”
In the chorus Carmen is hoping against hope:
“Oh, but tomorrow, we’ll run a little bit faster
Tomorrow, we’re going to find what we’re after at last
Feelings that we left in the past
There’s romance in the sunset
We’re boats against the current to the end.
And now Eric Carmen has had his sunset. But there is romance and artistry in his music.
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