(Info by "Songfacts.com"): "This song is about a stalker. The lyrics are very dark and go into detail about a guy with evil intentions, but the music is very light and catchy, which masked the meaning of the song. According to 'Blondie' lead singer Debbie Harry, it was inspired by real events. She told Entertainment Weekly: 'I was actually stalked by a nutjob, so it came out of a not-so-friendly personal event. I tried to inject a little levity into it to make it more lighthearted.
"It was a survival mechanism.' Harry says that the title and the idea for the song popped into her head during a rehearsal, and most of the song was hashed out on the spot. ... Harry wrote this song with the group's bass player Nigel Harrison. Harry wrote the lyrics to Blondie's songs, but composer credit for the music was generally given solely to whoever made the biggest contribution. This was often guitarist Chris Stein, who co-wrote 'Rapture' and 'Heart Of Glass'.
"This song has appeared in a number of movies and TV shows, often to imply dogged determination, not stalking. This was featured on a 2011 episode of the TV show 'Glee' in a mashup with 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot'. The medley by the 'Glee Cast' was released as a single and went to No. 86 in the US. With radio-friendly songs like this one, 'Blondie' was one of the first 'punk' bands to have pop success.
"They played clubs like 'CBGBs' ... with bands like 'The Ramones' and 'Television', but their songs were much lighter and led to mainstream acceptance. The 'Police' and 'Talking Heads' are other groups that came out of that scene. In 2013, the UK 'boyband' 'One Direction' recorded a new version of this song, mashing it up with 'The Undertones' 'Teenage Kicks'.
"It was recorded to mark the 25th anniversary of the fundraising event 'Red Nose Day', and was a hit in both the UK, where it topped the chart, and the US, where it peaked at No. 13." It was, nevertheless, roundly booed by ex-'Oasis' guitarist/singer Noel Gallagher, who said in the 'NME' music paper: "The young 12-year-old girls are winning because one day they might actually grow up to give one of them a blowjob. They're all winning. No-one's losing.
"The only people who are losing are idiots like me at 9.30 in the morning when you're trying to get the kids out the door for school, and they're f***ing murdering one of Blondie's songs." Tell it like it is, Noel!!! Released by 'Blondie' as a single in the USA (but not the UK), it managed to reach No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979 (eclipsed by its own performance in the Canadian chart, getting to No. 7 in the RPM chart). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Way_or_Another
12 Comments (since 9 Jul 2015)
leejohnson
(Info by "Songfacts.com"): "This song is about a stalker. The lyrics are very dark and go into detail about a guy with evil intentions, but the music is very light and catchy, which masked the meaning of the song. According to 'Blondie' lead singer Debbie Harry, it was inspired by real events. She told Entertainment Weekly: 'I was actually stalked by a nutjob, so it came out of a not-so-friendly personal event. I tried to inject a little levity into it to make it more lighthearted.
leejohnson
"It was a survival mechanism.' Harry says that the title and the idea for the song popped into her head during a rehearsal, and most of the song was hashed out on the spot. ... Harry wrote this song with the group's bass player Nigel Harrison. Harry wrote the lyrics to Blondie's songs, but composer credit for the music was generally given solely to whoever made the biggest contribution. This was often guitarist Chris Stein, who co-wrote 'Rapture' and 'Heart Of Glass'.
leejohnson
"This song has appeared in a number of movies and TV shows, often to imply dogged determination, not stalking. This was featured on a 2011 episode of the TV show 'Glee' in a mashup with 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot'. The medley by the 'Glee Cast' was released as a single and went to No. 86 in the US. With radio-friendly songs like this one, 'Blondie' was one of the first 'punk' bands to have pop success.
leejohnson
"They played clubs like 'CBGBs' ... with bands like 'The Ramones' and 'Television', but their songs were much lighter and led to mainstream acceptance. The 'Police' and 'Talking Heads' are other groups that came out of that scene. In 2013, the UK 'boyband' 'One Direction' recorded a new version of this song, mashing it up with 'The Undertones' 'Teenage Kicks'.
leejohnson
"It was recorded to mark the 25th anniversary of the fundraising event 'Red Nose Day', and was a hit in both the UK, where it topped the chart, and the US, where it peaked at No. 13." It was, nevertheless, roundly booed by ex-'Oasis' guitarist/singer Noel Gallagher, who said in the 'NME' music paper: "The young 12-year-old girls are winning because one day they might actually grow up to give one of them a blowjob. They're all winning. No-one's losing.
leejohnson
"The only people who are losing are idiots like me at 9.30 in the morning when you're trying to get the kids out the door for school, and they're f***ing murdering one of Blondie's songs." Tell it like it is, Noel!!! Released by 'Blondie' as a single in the USA (but not the UK), it managed to reach No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979 (eclipsed by its own performance in the Canadian chart, getting to No. 7 in the RPM chart). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Way_or_Another
ErnieBilko
Even better than One Direction's version :-)
ErnieBilko
I used to like Nigel Harrison's previous band, Silverhead...
capnhollis
Definite classic!
dutchbeeblebrox
It seems as if, like fine wine, Blondie's songs are still getting better with time passing by...
sisterj
all-time hit!
ian38018
Love It.