Reyes Was Right: Squeeze Is Best Band Ever

While in high school we all wanted to be able to say we knew who the hot new band was, and finding out and telling everybody before anyone else knew was the aim of the game.

Mark Richardson got this game into high gear when he told Rudy and Sportface at the age of 14 about the just dropped Frampton Come Alive album and what he labeled the utter perfection of the hit song “Baby I Love Your Way.”

Mark wasn’t altogether wrong in his assertion. For a while, I thought he had won the game although I never could fully worship a musician named Peter Frampton because of the name alone.

Peter Frampton — sounds like Donny Osmond.

So Mark made a valiant attempt to win the game. Close but not quite.

Then there was Rudy talking about the album by Bread with the honking hit song “Mother Freedom.” His older brother Spreadfingers, who used to torture Rudy and me by spreading our fingers several inches apart for no reason, brought that Bread album to the basement and cranked it. When I would go over to spend the night at Rudy’s we would go to the basement, watch Spread bite his fingernails down to his knuckles, spit them across the room in a well-time performance, and groove to Mother Freedom.

A good tune and the fingernails added to the experience. But still not the winner.

Queenie was always trying to tell us that The Who was the greatest band of all time but he’s always been wrong about that.

The winner of this multi-year game was Jim Reyes, arguably the greatest athlete in the history of St. Jane de Chantel, who one night went and saw a band none of us were aware of and came back and proclaimed: “Squeeze is the greatest band of all time. I saw them play and that’s the best concert.”

Jim was way ahead of us in discovering Squeeze. I am sure the biggest reason he was beyond impressed was that he got to hear them play “Goodbye Girl,” a song I’ve been singing on my smartphone the past week, recording me singing it, then sending it to random friends because it’s a great song and I want to share it with others who asked me to sing to them. The opening:

I met her in a bar room.

Her name I didn’t catch.

Then later:

She said I hardly know you.

Agreed we kissed goodnight.

Back then — 46 years ago — Squeeze busted out several other catchy tunes: “Pulling Mussels,” “Coffee in Bed,” “Another Nail in My Heart,” and “Tempted.” They contributed to Jim’s exuberant reaction to their concert. But I am sure hearing “Goodbye Girl” was what busted him open emotionally.

Listen to this classic: