Song Of The Day 8/1/2013: Alan Thicke - "Sweaty And Hot"
Alan Thicke, who was on an '80s sitcom I never watched, not only broke in the U.S. via his syndicated talk show Thicke Of The Night, but also tried to launch a pop music career simultaneously. Sometimes he did his original songs on the show. The only one I recall was something about a telephone operator. Neither the talk show nor Thicke's music career was successful. I felt this would be an ideal time to locate one of those Thicke pop songs from 1983-84 for SOTD, but I couldn't find any online. They seem to have been exorcised from the web. But then I found this, which is oh, so much more than I asked for.
When one of my children asks me, "Dad, what were the '80s like?," all I need do is call this video up and point. "Like this." It's from the 1988 Crystal Light National Aerobic Championships. Yes, they (still) have championships for exercising. I do not know how scoring works for stationary bike riding, but I would be eager to see.
This gem illustrates Alan Thicke's most special trait as a songwriter: He will rhyme anything. There is no word too oblique, arcane or multi-syllabic for him to conjure up a rhyme. You got the semi-clever match of "ready or not" with "sweaty and hot" and the blue-ribbon pairing "spectacular" and "cardiovascular." But "cutest little gluteus?" That's outstanding. That's something that should be adapted for use in the military. And I am tickled to report that Alan co-wrote a song on his son's new album in which he apparently rhymes "preposterous" with "obstreperous."*
We have tragically underrated Alan Thicke's compositional theory. You hear me? See! I just did it! The Way Of The Thicke! Oooooh, Canada, oh Ca-a-na-a-da...
*(I'm partially mistaken about this. "Preposterous" and "obstreperous" are the last words of the first lines on each of the verses of the song "Ain't No Hat 4 That."** So they have the same placement in the overall meter of the song, but they're technically in different verses. That's to say, the "preposterous/obstreperous" rhyme is there, but it's a whole verse and chorus apart.)
**(Believe it or not I like this song too.)
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