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| B-side = Don't Go to Pieces
| B-side = Don't Go to Pieces
| released = {{Start date|1981|1|5}}
| released = {{Start date|1981|1|5}}
| format = 7"
| recorded = 1980
| recorded = 1980
| studio =
| studio =
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"'''Gimme Some Slack'''" is a song by the American rock band [[the Cars]] from the album ''[[Panorama (Cars album)|Panorama]].'' The song was written by bandleader [[Ric Ocasek]].
"'''Gimme Some Slack'''" is a song by the American rock band [[the Cars]] from the album ''[[Panorama (Cars album)|Panorama]].'' The song was written by bandleader [[Ric Ocasek]].

==Lyrics and music==
The lyrics to "Gimme Some Slack" have a more concrete basis than many songs written by Ocasek. They are influenced by Ocasek's memories of the apartment building on the [[Lower East Side]] of Manhattan in which he lived in the early 1970s.<ref name=globe/> Ocasek stated that "I remember people hanging clothes out on the roof and having all kinds of dirt in the hallway. So I'd think 'gimme some slack, gimme some rope, ''please''.'"<ref name=globe/> Jonathan Takiff of the ''Philadelphia Daily News'' points out that "Gimme Some Slack" and "[[Touch and Go (The Cars song)|Touch and Go]]" are examples of a "subtle, philosophical vision of first person survival" that represents an alternative side of the Cars from the "lost and frantic new age romantic" side exposed in songs like "[[Candy-O (song)|Candy-O]]" and "[[Just What I Needed]]."<ref>{{cite news|title=The Cars Tune Up Here|author=Takiff, Jonathan|newspaper=Philadelphia Daily News|access-date=2020-04-22|via=newspapers.com|date=November 21, 1980|page=49|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49317249/philadelphia-daily-news/}}</ref>

Stuart Mungalies of ''The News'' states that "Gimme Some Slack" sounds like a combination of the [[Rolling Stones]] and [[Devo]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Shock Value Can't Always Sell|author=Mungalies, Stuart|date=August 30, 1980|page=35|newspaper=The News}}</ref> Jim Bohen of the ''Daily Record'' describes the music as starting with "revved up [[rhythm guitar]]" but then having a [[refrain]] on which it is difficult to find the [[groove (music)|groove]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Shortcuts|author=Bohen, Jim|date=September 21, 1980|newspaper=Daily Record|page=D1|via=newspapers.com|access-date=2020-04-22|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49320173/daily-record/}}</ref> Cars keyboardist [[Greg Hawkes]] plays both organ and [[saxophone]] on "Gimme Some Slack."<ref>{{cite news|title=The Cars' 'Panorama' LP depressing, repetitious|author=Roysdon, Keith|newspaper=Muncie Evening Press|date=October 18, 1980|page=T-8}}</ref>


==Release and reception==
==Release and reception==
"Gimme Some Slack" was first released on ''Panorama'', but in 1981, the song was released as the third single from said album. However, the song failed to chart in any countries, making it one of the band's least successful singles. The song has since appeared on the compilation album ''[[Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology]]''.
"Gimme Some Slack" was first released on ''Panorama'', and in 1981, the song was released as the third single from said album. However, the song failed to chart in any countries, making it one of the band's least successful singles. The song has since appeared on the compilation album ''[[Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology]]''.

''[[Record World]]'' said that "the band hits a rhythm gallop over a steady dance beat" and that the song has "contagious keyboards."<ref name=rw>{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=January 24, 1981|page=1|accessdate=2023-02-23|title=Hits of the Week|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/80s/81/RW-1981-01-24.pdf}}</ref>


In his review of ''Panorama'', [[AllMusic]] reviewer Greg Prato stated "'Gimme Some Slack' proved to be a fierce rocker."<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|last1=Prato|first1=Greg|title=Panorama|url=http://allmusic.com/album/panorama-r3401|website=allmusic.com}}</ref> Prato also said, in his review of ''[[Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology]]'', that it was "previously released album tracks [on the album]" that were "highlights."<ref name=justwhatineededallmusic>{{cite web|last1=Prato|first1=Greg|title=Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/just-what-i-needed-the-cars-anthology-mw0000176483|website=allmusic.com}}</ref> In the ''Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology'' liner notes, Brett Milano said, "Rockers like 'Getting Through' and 'Gimme Some Slack' had a heavier sound than before [''Panorama'']."<ref name="Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology">{{cite book|last1=Milano|first1=Brett|title=Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology|publisher=Rhino}}</ref>
In his review of ''Panorama'', [[AllMusic]] reviewer Greg Prato stated "'Gimme Some Slack' proved to be a fierce rocker."<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|last1=Prato|first1=Greg|title=Panorama|url=http://allmusic.com/album/panorama-r3401|website=allmusic.com}}</ref> Prato also said, in his review of ''[[Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology]]'', that it was "previously released album tracks [on the album]" that were "highlights."<ref name=justwhatineededallmusic>{{cite web|last1=Prato|first1=Greg|title=Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/just-what-i-needed-the-cars-anthology-mw0000176483|website=allmusic.com}}</ref> In the ''Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology'' liner notes, Brett Milano said, "Rockers like 'Getting Through' and 'Gimme Some Slack' had a heavier sound than before [''Panorama'']."<ref name="Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology">{{cite book|last1=Milano|first1=Brett|title=Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology|publisher=Rhino}}</ref>


''Boston Globe'' critic Steve Morse called "Gimme Some Slack" a "masterpiece."<ref name=globe>{{cite news|title=Cars in High Gear|author=Morse, Steve|date=September 7, 1980|accessdate=2020-04-22|pages=C1, C9|newspaper=Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49315034/the-boston-globe/|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
''Boston Globe'' critic Steve Morse called "Gimme Some Slack" a "true masterpiece."<ref name=globe>{{cite news|title=Cars in High Gear|author=Morse, Steve|date=September 7, 1980|access-date=2020-04-22|pages=C1, C9|newspaper=Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49315034/the-boston-globe/|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Morse praises how the song "paints a seedily phantasmic portrait of a tenement building" with the lines "the seven floors of walkup/the odor musted cracks/the peeping keyhole introverts/with the monkeys on their backs/the rooftops strung with frauleins/the pastel pinned up sails/the eighteen color roses/against your face so pale."<ref name=globe/> Morse suggests that the [[stream of consciousness]] style of the song was influenced by [[E.E. Cummings]], [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]] and [[Richard Brautigan]].<ref name=globe/>


==B-side==
==B-side==
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* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAyjRc9qffM
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAyjRc9qffM
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXC_-GO9wIQ
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXC_-GO9wIQ
* {{MetroLyrics song|the-cars|gimme-some-slack}}<!-- Licensed lyrics provider -->
* [http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Don%27t-Go-To-Pieces-lyrics-The-Cars/E8BDCB3A509B8451482568A8002B4B65 Lyric's to "Don't Go To Pieces."]
* [http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Don%27t-Go-To-Pieces-lyrics-The-Cars/E8BDCB3A509B8451482568A8002B4B65 Lyric's to "Don't Go To Pieces."]


{{The Cars singles}}
{{The Cars singles}}

{{authority control}}


[[Category:1981 singles]]
[[Category:1981 singles]]

Latest revision as of 04:36, 6 October 2023

"Gimme Some Slack"
Single by the Cars
from the album Panorama
B-side"Don't Go to Pieces"
ReleasedJanuary 5, 1981 (1981-01-05)
Recorded1980
GenreNew wave
Length3:32
LabelElektra
Songwriter(s)Ric Ocasek
Producer(s)Roy Thomas Baker
The Cars singles chronology
"Don't Tell Me No"
(1980) 		"Gimme Some Slack"
(1981) 		"Shake It Up"
(1981)
Panorama track listing
10 tracks
Side one
  1. "Panorama"
  2. "Touch and Go"
  3. "Gimme Some Slack"
  4. "Don't Tell Me No"
  5. "Getting Through"
Side two
  2. "Misfit Kid"
  3. "Down Boys"
  4. "You Wear Those Eyes"
  5. "Running To You"
  6. "Up and Down"

"Gimme Some Slack" is a song by the American rock band the Cars from the album Panorama. The song was written by bandleader Ric Ocasek.

Lyrics and music

[edit]

The lyrics to "Gimme Some Slack" have a more concrete basis than many songs written by Ocasek. They are influenced by Ocasek's memories of the apartment building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in which he lived in the early 1970s.[1] Ocasek stated that "I remember people hanging clothes out on the roof and having all kinds of dirt in the hallway. So I'd think 'gimme some slack, gimme some rope, please.'"[1] Jonathan Takiff of the Philadelphia Daily News points out that "Gimme Some Slack" and "Touch and Go" are examples of a "subtle, philosophical vision of first person survival" that represents an alternative side of the Cars from the "lost and frantic new age romantic" side exposed in songs like "Candy-O" and "Just What I Needed."[2]

Stuart Mungalies of The News states that "Gimme Some Slack" sounds like a combination of the Rolling Stones and Devo.[3] Jim Bohen of the Daily Record describes the music as starting with "revved up rhythm guitar" but then having a refrain on which it is difficult to find the groove.[4] Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes plays both organ and saxophone on "Gimme Some Slack."[5]

Release and reception

[edit]

"Gimme Some Slack" was first released on Panorama, and in 1981, the song was released as the third single from said album. However, the song failed to chart in any countries, making it one of the band's least successful singles. The song has since appeared on the compilation album Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology.

Record World said that "the band hits a rhythm gallop over a steady dance beat" and that the song has "contagious keyboards."[6]

In his review of Panorama, AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato stated "'Gimme Some Slack' proved to be a fierce rocker."[7] Prato also said, in his review of Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology, that it was "previously released album tracks [on the album]" that were "highlights."[8] In the Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology liner notes, Brett Milano said, "Rockers like 'Getting Through' and 'Gimme Some Slack' had a heavier sound than before [Panorama]."[9]

Boston Globe critic Steve Morse called "Gimme Some Slack" a "true masterpiece."[1] Morse praises how the song "paints a seedily phantasmic portrait of a tenement building" with the lines "the seven floors of walkup/the odor musted cracks/the peeping keyhole introverts/with the monkeys on their backs/the rooftops strung with frauleins/the pastel pinned up sails/the eighteen color roses/against your face so pale."[1] Morse suggests that the stream of consciousness style of the song was influenced by E.E. Cummings, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Richard Brautigan.[1]

B-side

[edit]

The B-side of the song, "Don't Go to Pieces", features Benjamin Orr on lead vocals. "Don't Go to Pieces" was first released as the B-side to "Don't Tell Me No", the single released before "Gimme Some Slack".

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Morse, Steve (September 7, 1980). "Cars in High Gear". Boston Globe. pp. C1, C9. Retrieved 2020-04-22 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Takiff, Jonathan (November 21, 1980). "The Cars Tune Up Here". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 49. Retrieved 2020-04-22 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Mungalies, Stuart (August 30, 1980). "Shock Value Can't Always Sell". The News. p. 35.
  4. ^ Bohen, Jim (September 21, 1980). "Shortcuts". Daily Record. p. D1. Retrieved 2020-04-22 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Roysdon, Keith (October 18, 1980). "The Cars' 'Panorama' LP depressing, repetitious". Muncie Evening Press. p. T-8.
  6. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. January 24, 1981. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  7. ^ Prato, Greg. "Panorama". allmusic.com.
  8. ^ Prato, Greg. "Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology". allmusic.com.
  9. ^ Milano, Brett. Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology. Rhino.
[edit]
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