"Too Much Junkie Business" is a song written by Walter Lure of the New York punk band the Heartbreakers. Johnny Thunders sometimes introduced it as "written by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Waldo (Lure)."[1] The lyrics are a black-humored takeoff on Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" (1956), about the complications of everyday life. Its melody is the New York Dolls' version of "Pills" by Bo Diddley.[2] Thunders performed it often in his post-Heartbreakers career. Lure has said that he let Thunders take co-writing credit because "he liked it so much and he wished he’d wrote it".[3]
| "Too Much Junkie Business" | |
|---|---|
| Demo by The Heartbreakers | |
| from the album L.A.M.F.: The Lost '77 Mixes | |
| Released | 1994 |
| Recorded | December 13, 1977 |
| Studio | Riverside, London |
| Label | Jungle |
| Songwriter(s) | Walter Lure, Johnny Thunders |
| Producer(s) | Mike Thorne |
A Heartbreakers demo recorded for EMI appears on L.A.M.F.: The Lost '77 Mixes and live versions are included on many compilations. Walter Lure has performed it often with and without his band the Waldos. He and Billy Rath recorded a version in 1978 for Island Records which was never released.[4] With Dee Dee Ramone's "Chinese Rocks," the song became a nostalgic anthem of sorts for punk-era and Thunders memorial concerts and tributes.
References
edit- ^ For example, on Jungle Records' Live at Max's Kansas City Vols. 1 & 2 (2015) and recorded (as an "outroduction") for the Neil Cooper compilation cassette Too Much Junkie Business (1982). "Heartbreakers—Live at Max's Kansas City at Discogs (#Versions)". Discogs. 1979.
- ^ Walter Lure said, "I actually stole the music for it from the Dolls version of 'Pills'." Interview : Walter "Waldo" Lure (The Heartbreakers, The Waldos)
- ^ Cronin, Claire (August 25, 2009). "Walter Lure: The Devil's Inside!". L.A. Record. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
- ^ "Interview : Walter "Waldo" Lure (The Heartbreakers, The Waldos)". White Trash Soul. January 21, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
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