Dr. Frank's What's-it

Fascist Dictator

This was one of my favorite singles when I was a kid, bought at the Columbus Street Tower Records import section on the basis of the title and the fact that they looked cool on the cover, and played till it was nearly cut to shreds. (I recently found it, covered with black mold and with a little chunk missing from the edge -- a well-used record.) I still love the way the singer forces his way through the virtually un-enunciatable phrase "fascist dictator" every single time with such bravado and determination, as well as the fascism/love metaphor, possibly truer than most of us might like to think.

One of the former Cortinas was at UC Berkeley at the same time I was, and was in a quite good pop band called the Sneetches. I knew people who knew him, and was astonished to hear that "he used to be in this band called the Cortinas in England." But I was too shy to talk Cortinas with him, even when my band played with his band a time or two. I'm sure he had no idea that I was singing "Fascist Dicator" under my breath and picturing the record going around and around the whole time.

Cortinas anthology here. Good stuff.

Posted by Dr. Frank at June 8, 2011 05:24 PM | TrackBack