Sing Me A Story> One Way Or Another

Okay, how do we sell our dog food?

I know! The Blondie Song “One Way Or Another.” It’s catchy and anytime any nostalgic music fan hears it, they’ll think of us! Or Hyundai. Or Swiffer. It worked for them.

Isn’t that a song about a stalker?

Nobody pays attention to the story of a song anyway.

Hi.

Coming off their 1978 album Parallel Lines and released as a single in 1979 with “Just Go Away” as the B-Side, Blondie’s “One Way Or Another” was the fourth single off of the album and is one of their well known hits. Now it’s being used to sell dog medicine and occasionally other products, none of which have to do with stalking. Is that the oddest choice for advertisers to use as their music? We’ve had secret gay romance ballads used to push party cruises, and a girl about to leave prison talking about her and her boyfriend’s favorite music to push almost everything. There was even a song I apparently didn’t cover about how teachers are brainwashing kids used in an ad to celebrate teachers. Dumb choices are nothing new.

I mean, you can tell it’s about stalking, though the question is whether the singer realizes it or not. Her character could be a crazy person talking about how she’s going to win someone’s heart. Then I do research before even looking at the lyrics and find that is not the case. Not a first for this series. I’ve learned a lot of fascinating things about songs since starting this series, but this one was quite personal for Blondie frontwoman and future soloist Deborah Harry. She actually lived it.

Could one think of this song as a woman pursuing her love interest and just coming off creepy? It would be the first time. Half of Adelle’s early songs give me that impression, and Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” could be on that list. “One Way Or Another” isn’t, but we have had the history. I did say this hit close to home for Harry. That’s because she’s lived it…on the victim’s side. From American Songwriter:

Written by singer Debbie Harry and former Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison, the lyrics to “One Way or Another” were “inspired in part by a New Jersey stalker of mine,” said Harry in the liner notes of the Blondie box set Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982, a collection of outtakes and rarities, along with remastered editions of the band’s first six albums. The incident forced Harry, a New Jersey native, to move from her hometown to New York City.

Lyrically, the meaning of the song is darker than it may sound and goes into detail about a man with sinister intentions. “I was actually stalked by a nut job, so it came out of a not-so-friendly personal event,” said Harry in a 2011 interview. “I tried to inject a little levity into it to make it more lighthearted. It was a survival mechanism.”

Check out the full article. Once source I saw even claimed it was one of her exes, but I didn’t see that mentioned in this article so that could be in error. I’m not sure it matters. She had to leave her hometown because of a stalker. It also doesn’t say what happened to the guy. Hopefully he got some help…or at least locked away from stalking anyone else. And yet some how this was covered by boy band One Direction. Oh, we have to hear this.

I wonder if they knew what they were actually singing about…and apparently performing at Comic Relief according to Wikipedia. It also adds lyrics from The Undertones “Teenage Kicks” at one point in the song. The Undertones are an Irish punk rock band. I think punk was one of Blondie’s inspirations but a boy band? “I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight / Get teenage kicks right through the night.” Okay, I need to hear this.

Admittedly the music links together, but the lyrics are two different discussions. It’s a woman finding catharsis from her old stalking incident versus a song about a teenager thinking about his unrequited love. Or teenage lust. This is a punk band.

I’m all in favor of keeping your dog healthy and fed, but this is an odd song to use to promote your service. It doesn’t even fit what your selling, and the musical tone isn’t the best for that kind of ad, either. At least when the cruise line grabbed “Karma Chameleon” they used a cover that fit the vibe. This is a woman angerly proclaiming she’s going to “get ya” and drive around your neighborhood to see if you’re alone. I do not get this decision at all. It’s also been used in car ads, which fits a bit better if you don’t know the story behind the song, and dust cloths, which makes about as much sense as the dog food, unless it’s being interpreted as “we’re having a guest, so I need this room clean when he coves over with his rat poison sandwiches”.

Sometimes I don’t think ad agencies pay any more attention to what they’re doing than movie studios. That’s sad.