Sunday, August 10, 2008

Song of the Week - Escalator of Life by Robert Hazard

In the early 1980's there was nobody bigger on the Philadelphia New Wave club scene than Robert Hazard and the heroes. They got a lot of radio play in Philly but I expect he was a local phenomenon. A native of Philadelphia, Hazard was a son of an opera singer. Cyndi Lauper had big hit (perhaps her signature hit) "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" which was written by Hazard. It has probably been more than 20 years since I've last heard "Escalator of Life". It doesn't seem like he's done much since then, according to Wikipedia. He died last Tuesday from pancreatic cancer. He was 59.



Got my Mazda at the E-Z Park It
At the rock & roll supermarket
Muzak music make me feel so funny
I went and spent all my money
We're riding on the escalator of life
We're shopping in the human mall
We're dancing on the escalator of life
Won't be happy 'til we have it all
We want it all
Escalator of life - up and down
Escalator of life - round and round
There's 111 choices
Don't listen to those little voices
I don't let the guilty feeling shake me
You can have your cake and eat it baby
We're riding on the escalator of life
We're shopping in the human mall
We're dancing on the escalator of life
Won't be happy 'til we have it all
We want it all
Escalator of life - up and down
Escalator of life - round and round
Hey girl, I'm a personal friend of Gloria Vanderbilt
I got all the gold in the world around my neck
Come ride the steel dinosaur
Run wild in the jungle
Its a Zulu Nation
Seduction, sacrifice, a new sensation
Nothing ever changes
We're riding on the escalator of life
We're shopping in the human mall
We're dancing on the escalator of life
Won't be happy 'til we have it all
We want it all
Escalator of life - up and down
Escalator of life - round and round

1 comment:

deal said...

Great pick for song of the week. According to an Obit I read that Hazard had moved back to doing more folk oriented albums - which is closer to his roots than the songs like Escalator and Girls. Hazard was pretty large figure in the changing music scene in Philadelphia in the 70s.

Also Phils are on ESPN 2nite - although it is against the Dodgers so it will be late.