jon_chaisson | T is also for This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us

I just remembered that I'd wanted to use this song for the letter T, so I'm adding it here. This is a 1993 acoustic version of the original 1974 single.

Sparks is one of those bands that you know about but you're not sure if you actually know anything by them. If anything, you may remember "Cool Places", a song from their 1983 album In Outer Space, which had Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Gos sharing vocals. Or lacking that, you might recognize the band as the two Mael brothers--the pretty-boy singer Russell and the weird-looking, pencil-mustachioed keyboardist Ron--and their quirky videos in the early days of MTV.

I never really paid too much attention to them until just recently when I saw the above video on YouTube. I was familiar with the song through the Siouxsie & the Banshees cover from 1987's Through the Looking Glass. After that I started downloading more of their earlier albums, and I'm glad to say I'm quite happy I did--they're extremely odd, but they're damn fine songwriters and a lot of fun to listen to.