1 post tagged “80s”

Scrubbles sent me down a completely unnecessary flashback the other day with a through-away link to a YouTube version of Agnetha Faltskög's 1985 video  "Can't Shake Loose."  There's nothing memorable or remarkable (or even particularly good) about the song.  I think I probably remembered it because a) it was on MTV, and therefore it seeped into my longterm memory, probably replacing a good chunk of the periodic table or some other useful fact and b) I was an embarrassingly avid ABBA (of which Agnetha is one of the As) freak when I was in middle school.  I still have vivid memories of leaping around my room to "Super Trooper"; thank GOD YouTube didn't exist back then or I might have had the misguided urge to broadcast my "dancing."

The only think remarkable about the video is how watching it jostled loose a perfect recall of the song from my brain.  I don't think I've thought about the melodic stylings of Ms. Faltskög for 21 years, but when I watched the video, I could recall every word, moments before she sang them.  Why does my brain think I'm going to need that information?  Why have I forgotten the names of my high school teachers, my college suitemates, and many of our country's Presidents, but these inane lyrics (sample: " I don't wanna stay here / But you know I can't leave /Please let me go dear / Please let me leave") are superglued in some dusty corner of my cerebellum.

And when could you ever rhyme "leave" with "leave"?  That's cheating.

Here's the video for your viewing pleasure.  Notice the trappings of the 80s video: everyone's afraid to move during a scene, the director has only the most literal interpretation of the lyrics ("These old shoes keep walking . . " Cut to Agneatha looking at her shoes), and the makeup gun is set on "Whore."