Is it sad that I love this song just because of the line: “They got a lot of great desks and chairs at the government center”? I guess not, since a lot of The Modern Lover’s appeal comes from their slightly absurd lyrics combined with Jonathan Richman’s wonderfully droll singing style. The idea of rocking at the government center - and cheering up those secretaries - puts an enormous smile on my face, but we all know it would just be stupid if someone sang about it seriously. Plus, the song kind of does rock - it’s all peppy chorus and handclaps and makes you want to do the twist on some of those great desks and chairs.
In truth, the whole The Modern Lovers album is a classic, but “Government Center” wasn’t actually on the original release in 1976 (which kind of wasn’t even an album at all - you can read more about the winding road to its release on the wikipedia). Fortunately for us, it was included on the re-releases and it’s definitely my favorite from a classic album.
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May 5, 2008 at 7:53 pm
hierophantus
It’s a great track. As you can see, it’s my all-time #4 track played on last.fm (although that only tracks back to last February).
I love the “great desks and chairs” line, too. It’s endearing to think of Jonathan trying to come up with something nice to say about the bland bureaucratic government offices and then deciding that he could sincerely praise their furniture.
When I listen to this song, I like to imagine a video where Jonathan is up on top of one of those great desks, strumming and crooning knock-kneed, while all the office boys and secretaries are gathered around clapping along.
Maybe I have a tad extra affection for this song because I’m going to start working in a true “government center” in a few weeks and if the Modern Lovers showed up one day there and started playing, it would certainly make this “office boy” jump for joy.