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SOLITARY ONE
(words by Rick Springfield)
You know it gets too much and sometimes she cries like a baby
But she's almost certain it'll pass when she becomes a lady
But while she's still a young girl love is avoiding her
And thank God for the radio and the color TV, oh, oh, oh, oh
Heroes are hard to find in the cold world but not in her mind
And she's talking to Jesus during the radio station breaks
And she's on her knees, fallin' on her knees
Asking how the world can be so cold to her
And she listens to the records, playing on the radio
And she's falling in love with a singer
Now she's feelin' better and she's feelin' good But she's coming down by the time the song is over
And she starts feelin' lonely
Feelin' she's the only ordinary Solitary One
All alone the Solitary One
And hurrying home oh God its been one of those bad days
But with a flick of a switch and a twist of the dial
She gets love on the airwaves
And they send her favorite lovers to keep her satisfied
And she's talking to Jesus during the radio station breaks
And she's on her knees falling on her knees
Asking how the world can be so cold to her
And she listens to the records playing on the radio and she's falling in love with a singer
Now she's feelin' better and she's feelin' good
But she's comin' down by the time the song is over
And she starts feeling lonely
Feeling she's the only ordinary Solitary One
All alone the Solitary One
And she's on her knees fallin' on her knees
Asking how the world can be so cold to her
And she starts feeling lonely
Feeling she's the only ordinary Solitary One
All alone the Solitary One
All alone the Solitary One
All alone the Solitary One
All alone the Solitary One
(total playing time: 3:29)
Song Facts: This song appears on Beautiful
Feelings and Rick Springfield - The Early Sound City Sessions
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This song is another example of Rick's ability to "get inside" the subject. How did he know so well what life was like for a young girl? I identify with this song so much, I swear he was peeking into my bedroom window most days after school.
I have a few favorite lines that really stick out for me on this one. "Heroes are hard to find in the cold world but not in her mind" I interpret this as me being the young girl seeing "The Singer Rick Springfield" as the knight in shining armor. I'm so glad that Rick was clean-cut looking and didn't have long hair (at least then he didn't) and wore suits. My parents approved of me listening to his music , and if he had had any bad publicity or problems with drugs, well then it might have been a different story - and I would've been crushed as well. He WAS my hero. He set a very high bar for any guy who came later, not just in looks but by the way he dressed and acted in the public eye. I still admire him to this day for being polite in interviews, and respectful to his fans.
"Thank God for the radio and the color TV" For sure! I don't know if I would've survived my teen years without those modern technologies. The radio --*my music*-- was a life-saving device. "With the flick of the switch and a twist of the dial she gets love on the airwaves." If it weren't for the TV, I would have never had been introduced to Rick Springfield via Dr. Noah Drake. I thank God for that one all the time.
As much as I love the lyrics in this song - that's about what saves it for me. Something sounds wrong with the music. It still has that fake-drum sound that I hear in Just One Look, and the beat seems way too fast for the words and the subject of the song. I'd love to hear a remake of this one, just to see what Rick would do with it now.
- Michelle P.
One of the first things that popped into my head about this one is that if you just read the lyrics it seems very solemn and then when you listen to it - it has the incredibly upbeat and repetitive drum beat and spunky guitars. So it's the type of song if you are just bopping along too and not really listening to the words you likely would walk away with a completely different idea about it.
As for the meaning of the song, like so many here, I can see myself in so many of these lyrics it is almost eerie. Music always been a really important element of my life - I've always felt that it was because no matter what type of struggle or twists my life would encounter daily - you flip on the radio and there everything was the same. Your favorite artist didn't suddenly stop singing or decide to move away. So it was quite a comfort while also being an escape. Oh and of course, I fell in love with a singer or two
- Jen H.
This song reminds me a little of something from Wait for Night. Also this is still Rick writing from a third person point of view which he did so much of earlier on in his career, and writing from a female point of view, too. In this case, though, this could be more personal and he could have changed it to third person and changed the gender. It's no secret that he seemed to feel pretty isolated growing up, and then coming over to American he had some pretty dark times, so this could certainly fit.
It's rather odd how the lyrics are about such loneliness, but the beat is so chipper. They don't seem to really go together, and although it's well documented that Rick doesn't have anything to do with the instrumental/musical part of this album, he was signing it in a rather upbeat fashion, so that seems to be how he meant it to be.
- rlh
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I like this song! Rick wrote if for me, you know! Yeah, dream on…LOL but back in the day, I always wished he had written most of his songs for me, this one included. Gosh, it describes my teenage years perfectly.
"you know it gets too much and sometimes she cries like a baby, but she's almost certain it'll pass when she becomes a lady" Actually, I never thought it would pass, but thank goodness it did. Being young and naïve, you never think life will get better, but Rick was right, it does! He was also very right when he says that the teenage years are the worst, because for me they sure were. This song pretty much sums up the fact that he understood what we were all going through.
"But while she's still a young girl love is avoiding her and thank god for the radio and the color tv" hhmmm yeah, if it wouldn't have been for the radio or the tv, I would never have found Rick and boy did he make growing up a lot easier, not to mention enjoyable. "oh oh oh oh" that little part just fits in there perfectly, I love it!
"and she's on her knees, falling on her knees asking how the world can be so cold to her, and she listens to the records playing on the radio and she's falling in love with a singer" Yep! I sure was, as many others were, too. Singers are more or less a fantasy that take you away from the hardships of life, although they are really people just like you and me. It's nice to 'escape' sometimes. This song describes that exactly! And also, once you become a grown-up you realize you were never the "only ordinary solitary one"
This song has a good little sound to it, sorta pop-ish and happy. I just wonder how it would have sounded if it were done as a ballad with some softer music. It could have been interesting.
- Amy L.
This is a pretty good song, I think. The music itself is very upbeat, but the lyrics are sad in a sense. It reminds me of how I felt as a teenager, alone…like no one understood me. But that "singer" I fell in love with was Rick, like so many of us did. He was the first rock star I got hooked on. I had his posters & pinups everywhere, his music playing on my record player, and then eventually he was also all over the TV. "And she listens to the records, playing on the radio. And she's falling in love with a singer." For some of us, that pain & hurt did pass when we became "ladies." For some, maybe not. As he says, heros ARE hard to find in the cold world. But often we DO connect with someone, somewhere…someone to cling to, whether it be a TV hero or a radio hero.
Life can really feel cruel through the eyes of a teenager, and sometimes that carries over into adulthood. I imagine Rick probably drew on a lot of the feelings he had as a teen when he wrote this song. I recall him saying he felt out of place, lonely & weird. (don't know if that's his exact words, but you get the picture!) Feeling like the Solitary One….yes, we often feel like no one understands us when we are troubled, but then we can hear a beautiful voice, like an angel, on the radio that seems to "understand" our pain-- an amazing "hero" who we can relate to.
The lyrics to this song remind me a of what he talks about in the song "Perfect." Interesting how that theme came back up in a song in 2004. We use the radio as an escapism for our pain…a way to heal. Like in "Perfect…" "Turn up the radio love is king, everything will be beautiful." For me, the theme of this song is very much like that. Obviously Rick feels that music is a great escape from the stresses of the world, and that it has a way of healing one's pain. But like he says in this song, it's only a temporary fix. The reality of our problems are still there for us to deal with. "Now she's feeling better, and she's feeling good. But she's coming down by the time the song is over." Another comparison I see between this song and "Perfect" are the lyrics "she gets love on the airways." That is so true! Nearly every song we hear has something to do with love or relationships. LOVE IS KING.
I like how he works the religious references into so much of his writing. Again…another comparison to the song "Perfect" in which he mentions something religious (But with Perfect it's…Hail Hail Mary full of grace). Here, the religion comes in with… "And she's talking to Jesus, during the radio station breaks……and she's on her knees, falling on her knees, asking how the world can be so cold to her." (Praying!) She is praying to God to take away the loneliness she feels. "Feeling she's the only, ordinary Solitary One."
I like the guitars and the beat in this song….they sound catchy to me. But I have no clue how much of the music really came straight from Rick, since he did not have the final say on this record. Even if Rick DIDN'T complete the music here, it still sounds pretty good to me. This is not one of my favorite songs off of Beautiful Feelings, but it's certainly not the worst track. His voice sounds amazing as always…and the lyrics are quite meaningful. I suppose the lyrics are what "saves" this tune for me.
- Kelley Pearson
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