Guadalcanal Diary's Murray Attaway wasn't cut out for pop stardom, and his songwriting showed it. Attaway's obsessions, notably the history of the South and spirituality, dominate his lyrics. These lyrics and the often minor-key melodies in which they were embedded provided moments of great joy for brooding spirits like myself but guaranteed that radio programmers would shy away from the band like germophobes from a leper.
Guadalcanal Diary's best-known tune, "Watusi Rodeo," was as upbeat and conventionally pop as anybody thought Attaway and his colleagues could get -- that is, until their final album, Flip Flop, produced "Always Saturday," an unabashed stab at the pop charts.
Lyrically, it's a romp through idealized images of halcyon days that might or might not ever have been real, interspersed with a dig or two at contemporary culture, sprinkled throughout with a touch of Attaway's trademark irony and wistfulness.
"Always Saturday" emphasizes the beautiful, strong harmonizing the rest of the band (Jeff Walls, Rhett Crowe, and John Poe) could provide. Their call to Attaway's response makes for an irresistible chorus. (It may bear mentioning that I'm a huge fan of Attaway's clear, strong voice: it rings as brightly as the band's guitars.)
As if to emphasize the band's goal of hitting the charts, there's a video for the song. If the upbeat melody and arrangement fool you into thinking this is a simple, happy summer song (everything about it says "summer" to me), the footage in the video will undercut your expectations. I think the song works better without the imagery, but I'm glad to have seen the video just for the chance to see Attaway in all his 1980s glory, looking like Elvis Costello in wire-rims.
I first heard and obsessed over this song more than fifteen years ago when I stumbled across the only copy of Flip Flop I've ever seen. The song beguiles me as much today as it did then.
UPDATE: The aforementioned video not only is in mono, but also is an edited version of the song. Find a used copy of Flip Flop if you can. (I did, just the other day. The album is better than I remember.)
been searching for this song for like more than a dacade now and finally thanks to the internet and youtube i was able to find the title and artist. I loooooove this song :)
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