Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, April 1st, 2022)
Photo by Roberta Bayley
“Marquee Moon” by Television, from their first album released in 1977
I remember how the darkness doubled
I recall, lightning struck itself
I was listening, listening to the rain
I was hearing, hearing something else
Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
There I stand ‘neath the Marquee Moon
Just waiting
I spoke to a man down at the tracks
And I asked him how he don’t go mad
He said “Look here junior, don’t you be so happy
And for Heaven’s sake, don’t you be so sad”
Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
There I stand ‘neath the Marquee Moon
Hesitating
Well a Cadillac, it pulled out of the graveyard
Pulled up to me, all they said, “Get in”
Then the Cadillac, it puttered back into the graveyard
Me, I got out again
Life in the hive puckered up my night
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
There I stand ‘neath the Marquee Moon
I ain’t waiting
I remember how the darkness doubled
I recall, lightning struck itself
I was listening, listening to the rain
I was hearing, hearing something else
I remember hearing this song on FM radio the year it was released with my friend Owen P (from the Mopeds) in his Art Room on the side of his parent’s house in Linden, NJ. We were both blown away by what we heard. I had read about Television in rock mags like Trouser Press, as well as articles about Patti Smith and the Ramones, both so-called punk bands at the time.
Being a prog & avant-jazz snob, I wasn’t paying that much attention to this music. Yet, when I heard this song, it completely blew my mind. It sounded to me like Television was influenced by earlier double lead guitar bands like Quicksilver or the Allman Bros. or even the Dead.
A short time later I went to visit my friend Yvonne Ramirez who was working at the record store where I used to work the year before. She handed me a bag of records (Elvis Costello, Devo, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson & Television) and said to check them out. I ended up enjoying them all as well as a number of other punk, new wave and No Waves bands of that time.
That first Television album seemed to be the best of that batch. A few months later, I was asked by The Monz (other half of the Mopeds) to go hear Television play at My Father’s Place in Rosalyn, Long Island. We decided to trip (on acid) and their set was completely amazing! Plus they did two covers, “Satisfaction” by the Stones and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan, showing that they were part of the older rock legacy. That performance was recorded, played on WLIR-FM and released as a double album called The Blow Up.
Within a year another Television album was released, called Adventure. It was also very good but not as monumental as their first record. In late 1978 or early 1979, it was announced that Television were breaking up and they would play their last concert at the Bottom Line in NYC.
Hence, I got tickets and was eager to go. However, it turned out that I had an operation (don’t ask) scheduled to take place the day before the gig. I already had a ticket and didn’t want to miss their last gig. Crazy music fan that I am, I tried to sneak out of the hospital to go to the gig. I was caught in the elevator in my gown with a shopping bag of my clothes by a nurse who asked where I was going. I said that I had to get to an important gig and that I would be back later that night. The nurse laughed, told me that I was crazy and that if I didn’t go back to my room, she would call one of the orderlies and restrain me to my bed.
Oh well! I did see Television play a reunion gig at Irving Plaza in 1991, when Capitol Records released their self-titled reunion studio effort. That gig and that record were both great!
I can still hear “Marquee Moon” in my head, Tom Verlaine’s whiney yet powerful voice and both he and Richard Lloyd played those wicked double guitar lines/interplay. I dig the lyrics as well, which seem to involve going to and from the graveyard. I ended up speaking with Tom Verlaine on several occasions when he came to visit our first store in the 1990’s. I caught Richard Lloyd in his band as well as with the Health & Happiness Show. Billy Ficca went on to record & still plays with Gary Lucas. This song still haunts me more than 40 years later.
