The riff-driven and infectious tribute song Stretch was heralded by a jangling guitar chord that is scruffy, strong, and arresting. There are songs that demonstrate that the Northampton years are still very much a part of his life and here Hunter describes one such unfortunate friend, Barry Parkes, also referenced in Rain who Ian lost and how easily it could have been him. Barry passed in 2003 and used the literary reference.
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reference is about the Gothic novella and used in the vernacular to refer to people with an outwardly good but sometimes shockingly evil nature. Ian tried to intervene but all to no avail since Stretch went his own way. Hunter's mate had a great brain and a sense of humor but with a dark side so he hit people. He had a messed up life and when Ian met his mate again around 2000 they enjoyed a couple of good years until his buddy got cancer and died. Missing him, Ian wrote this song for him.
The term Stretch does double duty referring to a long term prison sentence contrasted to the rock lifestyle in a stretch limousine. Stretch is the "pirate with the silver tongue" who went to his death. There are powerful images and words in this song about a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who couldn't turn his life around when Hunter escaped a dead end life.
Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde[1] is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old friend Dr. Henry Jekyll and a murderous criminal named Edward Hyde.
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of the most famous pieces of English literature, and is considered to be a defining book of the gothic horror genre. The novella has also had a sizable impact on popular culture, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" being used in vernacular to refer to people with an outwardly good but sometimes shockingly evil nature.
Stretch
(Ian Hunter)
Abandoned by - abandoned by - abandoned by your Mother
Stranded in a boys' home - stranded in a boys' home
And never really recovered
Drain that poison from your mind
Or it's gonna take you down
STRETCH
Stretch - fish outta water - yah swim against the tide
Ain't no takin' sense to ya
Jekyll 'n' Jekyll 'n' Jekyll 'n' Hide
Oblivious to - oblivious to - oblivious to the danger
I tried, but I could never - I tried but I could never
I tried, but I could never - change ya
You went your way - I went mine
There was nothing I could do
You wouldn't listen - no you wouldn't listen to me
STRETCH
Stretch - always something' eatin' at ya - never towed the line
Mixed up 'n' dangerous - most 'o' the - most 'o' the
Most of the time
I can still see you walkin' down the street
I can still see the placed we'd meet
I can hear the voices in my head
One 'o' them yours
Even though you're dead
Attracted by - attracted by - attracted to the lifestyle
I could never go the - I could never go the
I could never go the last mile
The pirate with the silver tongue - among my souvenirs
You wouldn't listen -- aah you wouldn't listen to me
STRETCH
Pride of the army - hero of the corps
You hated every minute of it - they gave you two years
You made it four
I gotta stop hangin' out with ya - perhaps it's just as well
Now we're both doing stretches - I'm in a limo
And you're in a cell
I loved you like a brother - deep down sad
You were the best friend - I ever - I ever - I ever - had
Stretch (another guitar-led rocker) sees Ian taking aim at some of the ne'er-do-wells he grew up with, perhaps noting that things could easily have turned out so very differently.
| Stretch | 4:12 | Originally released on Shrunken Heads. |
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