2010-08-14

Chris Isaak - Gone Ridin'


Artist: Chris Isaak

Song: Gone Ridin’

Album: Silvertone (1985)

The rock and roll singer-songwriter, musician and actor, Chris Isaak was born in California in 1956. Although he has touched on many styles over his career, he is best known for his rich vocal style, as heard on his single "Wicked Game".

He released his debut album Silvertone in 1985, it was a low key success, brought to greater attention when the track "Gone Ridin'" was used by Director David Lynch in the film Blue Velvet. This would be the first of many Isaak/Lynch collaborations.

The single "Wicked Game" from Isaak's third album 1989's Heart Shaped World took him into the top 10, while the video for the single won three MTV awards. The track was used by David Lynch in his film Wild at Heart and Stanley Kubrick used the track "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing" in his film Eyes Wide Shut.

Along with Isaak's album releases he has taken on roles in the films Little Buddha, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Silence of the Lambs. He has also appeared in the TV shows Friends and The Chris Isaak Show, where he plays himself.

Chris Isaak's debut album, Silvertone, named after his three-piece backup group, sets the pattern for his subsequent albums in its meticulously constructed retro sound. Isaak enters a time machine and emerges around 1960, when Roy Orbison is ruling the charts with his melodramatic ballads and Elvis Presley has just returned from the Army. Of course, what passed for a style 25 years before is in Isaak's hands stylization, and when he wails in an Orbison falsetto of romantic desperation, then does a flat, -Presley-like recitation in the album-closing "Western Stars," it all seems over the top. But he is just about sincere enough to pull it off, and James Calvin Wesley is a strong enough guitarist to keep the arrangements on track. So, to the extent that you can resist the "Is this guy kidding?" impression, the music is appealing.

In feature film American Flyers this song is used to score scene which shows protagonists training on bikes on way to a big race.

Well the moon is on the highway, darkness fills the sky.
As long as I keep driving, I know that I won't die.
And I'm gone, gone, gone.
Gone Ridin'.
Well I broke up with my baby, told myself I won't cry.
Broke up with my baby, told myself a lie.
And I'm gone, gone, gone.
Gone Ridin'.
Get gone Cal.
Well the moon is on the highway, darkness fills the sky.
As long as I keep driving, I know that I won't die.
And I'm gone, gone, gone.
Gone Ridin'.
Gone Ridin'.

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