Forgotten Classic Video of the Week

Since I was having trouble embedding the video that I originally wanted to post this week, I just Googled "forgotten classic songs" and started looking at random pages that popped up in the search. It seemed like either most of the songs were ones I've already posted or that have never been forgotten (whoever suggested that Human League's "Don't You Want Me" for this category is nuts), until I happened upon one title that seemed vaguely familiar — Cock Robin's "When Your Heart is Weak."

Immediately upon playing the vid, I remembered it, along with many of the lyrics. I always thought it was kind of a lame song (and the singer sounds like he has peanut butter lodged in his throat), but it was played so frequently back in the day that I had kind of gotten used to it. But regardless of how popular it was at the time of its release, the song and the band disappeared from the public radar pretty quickly.

The vid is definitely worth watching for a) the singer's over-emoting and "I have to pee" dancing, and b) the guitarist's fabulous ensemble. It's also kind of hilarious that the "love interest" seems to be just some chick who accidentally wandered into the wrong shoot.



I never realized it before, but the lyrics to this are really pathetic. It's basically a song about a dude who waits until a girl is vulnerable and then tries to swoop in on her. Seriously, check this out: Better forget getting rid of me/I don't see how you can/You put me off and I will hunt you down again. And then there's this: I'm gonna come without warning/When your defenses are down/And you're in a desperate need/Oh I bet you then, you'll welcome me

What the hell, Cock Robin? Nice date rape music. No wonder you guys never made it big.

Comments

A high school friend and I used to have a running joke about Cock Robin, about how "eet ees a group along thee lines of Meester Meester" (said in a silly foreign accent.) Just thought I'd share.
J.J. in L.A. said…
I'm thankful that I'm 45, because this is the first (and the last) time I've heard this song. ; )
Judging from some of those lyrics, I think it falls into the category of premature ejaculation music.
Moxie said…
Did he say "My fingertips won't fail"? Ugh.

I'd like to see a list of songs with lyrics that seem to promote stalking or date rape, because there seem to be more than a handful out there. Example: Morrissey's "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get." This Cock Robin tune would definitely make the list.
Gwen said…
The song is only vaguely familiar but the bad 80s video format was not. Bands REALLY FELT the music back than. I hang my head in shame that I argued with my parents about whether or not this was good.
Penny said…
Yeah.....about those guys :)
hahahahhaa
Anonymous said…
It's hard to see how they could fail with COCK in their name.

Maybe it stood for cock up?
Cormac Brown said…
I never heard of them and I'm amazed that one of the "Young Comedians on HBO" didn't do a whole routine on their name. Yeah, the so-called love interest seems a bit disjointed, so your date-rape analogy doesn't seem so far-fetched. I also hope that everyone involved didn't suffer radiation poisoning, as it seems like this was filmed on a Nevada test site.

Anne said that the video chick was right up there with Helena Chirstensen in the "Wicked Game" shoot, in terms of she couldn't care less.
Wow, that guy REALLY has to pee. I guess the producer of the video forgot to rent a port-a-john.

Also, I'm pretty sure I've never heard this song in my life and I would have been happy to have it remain that way. So THANKS.
Malcolm said…
This is one of my favorite one-hit wonders of the 80s. The only thing I remembered about the video was the spicy female band member. Somebody should have told the lead singer to tone down the histrionics a bit.