{"id":29755,"date":"2025-09-02T05:30:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T09:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29755"},"modified":"2025-08-14T13:48:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:48:32","slug":"take-five-non-blondie-tunes-featuring-deborah-harry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/take-five-non-blondie-tunes-featuring-deborah-harry\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Non-Blondie Tunes Featuring Deborah Harry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As justly acclaimed and admired as she is, vocalist Deborah Harry is far more musically eclectic than casual listeners might recognize. As lead singer and co-leader of Blondie, Harry was a prime exponent of the New York City punk and new wave movement of the late 1970s. Fronting that Grammy-nominated (and 2006 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted) group, Harry scored No. 1 hit singles with \u201cHeart of Glass,\u201d \u201cCall Me,\u201d \u201cThe Tide is High\u201d and \u201cRapture\u201d before Blondie went on hiatus in 1982.<\/p>\n<p>The band would return (and continues to this day), but before, during and outside of Blondie \u2013 and in addition to a solo career \u2013 Ms. Harry embarked on a wide array of sessions with other outside-the-mainstream artists, underscoring her adventurous spirit. On the occasion of her recent 80th birthday (July 1) here are five fascinating tracks featuring Deborah Harry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wind in the Willows \u2013 \u201cDjini Judy\u201d from <em>The Wind in the Willows<\/em> (1968)<\/strong><br \/>\nThis New York folk rock band made one self-titled album in 1968; band member Harry sang harmony on many tracks, and took the lead on this one. Impresario Artie Kornfeld invited them to play a festival he was helping organize, but the group demurred, deciding they\u2019d \u201cplay it next year.\u201d As a result of that decision, Wind in the Willows did not appear at Woodstock. The group folded soon thereafter, with its members going on to other worthy projects.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xg9NfvO9rzo?si=j4knWnws9srcMsfc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ramones &#8211; \u201cChop Suey\u201d from <em>Pleasant Dreams<\/em> (1981)<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter their stylistic detour on 1980\u2019s Phil Spector-produced <em>End of the Century<\/em>, The Ramones hooked up with pop songwriter and producer Graham Gouldman for <em>Pleasant Dreams<\/em>. A bonus track appended to that album\u2019s CD reissue was \u201cChop Suey.\u201d The song was originally cut for the soundtrack of the Alan Arkush film <em>Get Crazy<\/em>; the alternate version here features Harry on backing vocals, joined by B-52\u2019s singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vIbN4-yUWPc?si=6rMmQIgziY3a6phS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Los Fabulosos Cadillacs &#8211; \u201cStrawberry Fields Forever\u201d from <em>Rey Az\u00facar<\/em> (1995)<\/strong><br \/>\nThis popular and influential group from Buenos Aires, Argentina began in 1985, showcasing their inimitable brand of ska-meets-rock with a Latin twist. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs won a Grammy Award in 1998, and earned a Latin Grammy nomination in 2000. The band\u2019s seventh long player, 1995\u2019s Platinum-selling <em>Rey Az\u00facar<\/em> was produced by Talking Heads\u2019 Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and featured a ska reinvention of The Beatles classic \u201cStrawberry Fields Forever,\u201d featuring Deborah Harry on vocals.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-bnRRLcPyXo?si=KRgKKJmS8s_Z1Znu\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Jazz Passengers &#8211; \u201cDon\u2019cha Go Away Mad\u201d from<em> Individually Twisted<\/em> (1996)<\/strong><br \/>\nAnother NYC outfit \u2013 but one quite different than most on this list \u2013 The Jazz Passengers are an avant garde collective of jazz players led by trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and Roy Nathanson. The group of playful yet serious dance band musicians has recorded a number of albums enlisting special guests. For their 1996 album the group brought in Deborah Harry \u2013 who\u2019d go on to sing on several albums \u2013 and Elvis Costello. The two rock legends duet on \u201cDon\u2019cha Go Away Mad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LwlptgcMbvI?si=Vjuk1x7EtNuwv1-t\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>John Doe &#8211; \u201cGo Baby Go\u201d from <em>The Westerner<\/em> (2016)<\/strong><br \/>\nGuitarist and singer John Doe is best known for his work as a member of Los Angeles punk pioneers X, but he has long maintained a fruitful solo career as well. Doe\u2019s work encompasses much more than punk; his 2016 release <em>The Westerner<\/em> adds an American flavor to the mix. Deborah Harry joined Doe on \u201cGo Baby Go,\u201d a highlight of the well-received album.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/knnChCkCth8?si=Z-rlycrXoVGeMakS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As justly acclaimed and admired as she is, vocalist Deborah Harry is far more musically eclectic than casual listeners might recognize. As lead singer and co-leader of Blondie, Harry was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5734],"class_list":["post-29755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-deborah-harry","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29757,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29755\/revisions\/29757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}