"Chinatown" by Luna (1995)
Dad's Song of the Day #108, Dec. 15, 2025
Top 5 Force-Fit Rhymes That You Have To Respect
5.”Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield
“You know, I feel so dirty when they start talking cute/I wanna tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot.”
4.”I Am, I Said” by Neil Diamond
“‘I am’, I said/To no one there/And no one heard at all/Not even the chair.”
3.”White Punks on Dope” by The Tubes
“Other dudes are living in the ghetto/But born in Pacific Heights don’t seem much betto”
2.“That Was Then and This Is Now” by ABC
“Can’t complain, mustn’t grumble/Have yourself another piece of apple crumble.”
1. “Chinatown” by Luna
“You’re out all night, chasing girlies/you’re late to work, and you go home earlies.”
Really!! Luna actually went there…and rhymed “chasing girlies” with “go home earlies!!” How friggin’ awesome is it that he went with “go home earlies”?!?!
I’m not kidding that the audacity of rhyming “girlies” with “earlies” has been floating around my head for 30 years. Band lead Dean Wareham cops to it: “I know it’s a spectacularly bad rhyme,” he laughs in an interview on the Life of the Record podcast.
Luna’s albums are dreamy and hypnotic, drenched in atmosphere…very poetic lyrically. Definitely a grandchild of The Velvet Underground (DSOTD #72), and supported them in a 1993 tour.
Brilliant Friend Jim (yesterday’s other Birthday Boy) introduced me to them via a MiniDisc (!) of their very great 2nd and 3rd albums.
I bet Jim doesn’t even remember making this for me…but it was the gift of a lifelong earworm:
”…go home earlies”…awesome!
Spotify:
YouTube:
This series is for my two 19-year-olds, who moved off to school with the misguided belief they’d escaped their dad’s relentless nostalgia and monopolization of the car stereo. I’m very happy for anyone else to come along for the ride.
The Spotify playlist for Dad’s Song of the Day is located here:
It would totally work just as well if it simply said "early". Love the perversity of the choice.
I have many but my favorite I think is from Police and Thieves by the Clash: "Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition" but they pronounce ammunition as "ammanation" which isn't remotely close. Always makes me laugh at how lazy that is.