If not the most representative of Ian's songs Cleveland Rocks certainly is one of the top three. From the memorable shout start of "Three! Four!" to the city of inspiration Cleveland Hunter has expressed his appreciation to those smaller town Americans who embraced Mott and the full-tilt rocker has remained a standard of his live act.
Instantly memorable from the unusual count in the song rejoices about the fervent fans living in middle America who support live acts in the smaller towns outside the big entertainment areas such as New York of LA. The references are to David Bowie's Jean genies and pop icon James Dean. It's a fun pop song with mama living in sin and grandpa as a rocker.
As performed live on Welcome to the Club the song means Disco Sucks and "may have been based on Studio 54" and Ian's one-time visit to the famous New York City club. The Studio was filled with sorry hopefuls outside. Inside, there was a half-empty room of stupid flashing lights, lawyers, accountants, hookers, weekenders, and lousy music.
The first version of the song as England Rocks was too regional and CBS thought it would not sell. As reconstituted the song honors the city of Cleveland and early rock 'n' roll DJ Alan Freed who popularized the city as it was considered by the music industry to be a "breakout" city, where national trends first appeared in a regional market. It has been Hunter's biggest earner. Freed's announcement fragment beginning the song was taken from an April 1953 archive tape of his Moondog's Rock 'n' Roll Party radio show aired on WJW Cleveland. Hunter advises he got the fragment idea from the Akron, OH band Devo. Ronson considerably improved the original version and the repeated "Ohio" effect on the coda made the track memorable.
Originally released on You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic there is a single and album version as well as 1979-1981 live performances, one with Ringo Starr in 2001, and another version from 2004.
Also recorded at the Park West, Chicago IL 22nd June 1979 on Collateral Damage.
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Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
Cleveland Rocks
(Ian Hunter)
Three! Four!
Three! Four!
Three! Four!
(Bunch of Ah-ah-ah's here)
All this energy calling me
Back where it comes from
It's such a crude attitude
It's Back where it belongs
All the little kids growing up on the skids are goin'
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Jumpin' (Jean) Gene genies, moody James Deanies goin'
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Mama knows but she don't care
She's got her worries too
Seven kids and a phony affair
And the rent is due
All the little chicks with the crimson lips go
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
She's livin'in sin with a safety pin
She's goin' Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
I got some records from World War Two
I'll play 'em just like me Grand dad do
He was a rocker and I am too
Oh Cleveland Rocks, Yeah Cleveland Rocks
So find a place
Grab a space
and yell and scream for more
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks, Cleveland Rocks
(Bunch of Ah-ah-ah's here)
Three! Four!
Three! Four!
Three! Four!
Ohio
Don Tracy emailed me suggesting that maybe they are actually alternating England Rocks with Cleveland Rocks on the choruses. As Hope Campbell and others have pointed out, no they are not (at least, not here).
Ian Hunter LP/CD: "You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic"
Sleeve and track listing
CHRX 1214 / 50999 698134 2 9.
Sleeve variations
The US CD sleeve
The original UK sleeve
Review
Ian came back after a two-year absence in 1979 with this album. Mick Ronson was back on guitar, and Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band were the backing musicians (they had just worked on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album).
This is a brilliant album, and the yardstick by which all his other work is judged. From the opening beat of Just Another Night to the closing strains of The Outsider there isn't a bad track on here. Mixing full-tilt rockers (Cleveland Rocks, Life After Death) with sensitive ballads (Ships) the album is well-paced and leaves the listener wanting more.
This was issued on CD on Chrysalis in the UK in 1994, and on Razor & Tie in the USA in 1995. The UK release was a limited-edition "25th Anniversary" edition, in a long (blue) box, with a blue jewel-case and booklet (which was about Chrysalis generally, not Ian). Sound quality is very good. No bonus tracks.
1999 saw this CD reissued in the UK, this time on the EMI label as part of their "Classic Rock" series. It boasted new sleeve notes, and improved (remastered) sound quality.
2009 saw a 2-CD issue with a wealth of bonus tracks and a second disc of previously-unreleased live material. As a live document the second disc works very well, despite being recorded at a variety of venues.
Of the bonus material on the first disc perhaps the most interesting is the early version of Just Another Night which features radically different lyrics, showing how such a classic song can develop from the initial germ of an idea to the finished product.
| Cleveland Rocks | 3:48 | Originally issued on You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic and on the compilations The Best of Ian Hunter, From The Knees Of My Heart, The Golden Age 1969-1997, The Journey, Old Records Never Die, Shades of Ian Hunter and Once Bitten Twice Shy. |
| Cleveland Rocks (single version) | 3:39 | The single version is about ten seconds shorter than the album version, and can be found on The Singles Collection 1975-83 and on The Collection. |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 18th June 1979) | 6:53 | This live version (recorded at the Agora, Cleveland OH) is on the 30th Anniversary issue of You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic. Not on the box set. |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 22nd June 1979) | 6:15 | This live version (recorded at Park West, Chicago IL) was issued on Collateral Damage. Not on the box set. |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 5-11th November 1979) | 6:01 | This live version (recorded at The Roxy, Los Angeles CA) was issued on Welcome to the Club, and on the compilation From The Knees Of My Heart. |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 5-11th November 1979, edit) | (6:10) | An edited version of this live track (recorded at The Roxy, Los Angeles CA) was a single b-side and on the CD issue of Welcome to the Club. |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 22nd November 1979) | 8:41 | This live version (recorded Hammermith Odeon, London England) was originally issued on If You Wait Long Enough For Anything, You Can Get It On Sale (box set only). |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 19th April 1980) | 8:02 | This live version (recorded Rockpalast TV Show, Grugahalle, Essen Germany) was originally issued on Live At Rockpalast (not on the box set). |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 11th September 1981) | 7:51 | This live version (recorded Dr. Pepper Music Festival, Pier 84, New York NY) was originally issued on the Ian Hunter Rocks video (VHS/Laserdisc only). The video (DVD) can also be found on It Never Happened (box set only); the audio can be found on From The Knees Of My Heart (not on the box set). |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 22nd August 2001) | This live version (recorded at the Rosemont Theater, Chicago IL) is on the Ringo And His New All-Starr Band DVD. | |
| Cleveland Rocks (live 28th May 2004) | 5:52 | This live version (recorded The Astoria, London England) was released on The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nuthin' But The Truth and on Behind The Shades and Greatest Hits Live In London. Not on the box set |
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