It's Always Penny and Me Tonight
by Nyssa Jayne
Taylor was in the driver's seat, as we cruised through LA. The roof was
off and the windows were down, the radio was up and the city lights reflected
off the smog, tinting the sky pink. I was trying to play along with the
music on the guitar we had just picked up and were couriering back to the studio
and we were all singing. We didn't notice any attention we might have been
drawing to ourselves. Nothing could beat this moment of music induced
peace, love and cruising.
Isaac's phone rang. Taylor turned the radio down as he answered.
"Hello? ... What?!" Isaac snapped. I quickly set the guitar
down and leaned against the front bench seat. "Shit... no," he whimpered,
before hanging up the phone and throwing it forcefully over his shoulder.
I tried to dodge it.
"What was that about?" I asked, as Taylor brought the car to a stop out the
front of the studios.
"It's over, she's gone, the label blew the lid and talked to the press,"
lamented Isaac. "Back to writing songs about heartache." Taylor put
his hand on Isaac's shoulder, and I scruffed his hair a little. "I know we
weren't that close or anything, but..." Isaac sighed. "She
understood music." I reached over the seat next to me and grabbed the
guitar.
"This one won't break your heart," I assured him.
"You should give it a name," laughed Taylor gently. It elected a
slight response from Isaac.
"We'll call her Penny," decided Isaac, rolling his eyes and trying to smile.
* * * * *
It was getting late. Taylor was going over wedding plans with Nat,
while Isaac played Penny the Guitar and I made up lyrics about the spiked
"lemonade" we were drinking. I don't think Natalie minded that her secret stash
of lolly lemonade was depleting.
"What are you going to tell your fans," Natalie giggled, throwing a list
of sorts in the air. "Dear Junior High-cum-College Students and Your
Parents. I, Jordan Taylor Hanson, knocked my favourite groupie up and our
parents found out. We are being forced to wed due to outdated Catholic
measures. Let it be a lesson -- don't forget your pill, girls. Love,
Taylor." She looked at Taylor with big eyes. "I'm one of your fans.
And I don't want you to get married."
"We get to exchange our freedom for wedding bands and a baby because someone
told us to. It's an irresistible deal!" Isaac and I shot glances at
each other.
"I'd take the bottle off them," said Isaac, picking up said bottle, "except that
it's making them happy." He took a sip and handed it to me.
"We're musicians," I reasoned sardonically, taking a drink myself.
"It's the only thing that makes us happy."
* * * * *
It wasn't a hard party to clean up. Rinse glasses and throw empty
bottle out.
Natalie was lying down while Isaac, Taylor and I lazily recorded the next day.
"I don't know how many more versions of this song we can do," called Taylor to
the record exec sitting in with us.
"You'll keep doing it until it's right," he called back, his voice reeking of
hostility. "First up, Taylor, stop fooling around and put the guitar down.
Turn those keyboards on now."
"And do what, play 'MMMBop'?" quipped Taylor. Isaac jokingly started to play the opening arpeggio chords, as I mimicked Taylor's old-school cute vocals.
"That'd be great, thanks," drawled the exec. "At least it sold more than
your last record."
"Why do you keep having this guitar fixed if I'm not allowed to play it?"
"Shut up and be cute, Taylor," the exec barked back. Taylor's pretty face
scrunched up as he turned the amplifier to distort and started to play.
"And we won't go down!" he sang at the top of his voice. Isaac and I
accompanied him until the exec came barging into the studio, yanking the guitar
lead from the guitar itself.
"I want something sugary and marketable by tomorrow," he ordered darkly, storming
out of the studio.
"Well, fuck you too!" Isaac yelled after him. The exec didn't hear.
* * * * *
Isaac called on my help later on that afternoon.
"I'm updating the Hotline, what should I say?"
"Hey guys. Our twat of a record label won't release our new album until it
sounds like 'Middle of Nowhere', which you all already own. Please stand
by us, we need you more than anything."
"Yes, but we'll be executed by Island for saying that."
"The Man from Milwaukee ate our creativity. Be right back."
"You are no help," chuckled Isaac. "I'll just say the standard message
with the words in a different order..."
"I think the fans are catching onto that." I put on my best "starving
children in Ethiopia" voice. "Every minute, Hanson looses more fans.
It's not their fault."
"Maybe I'll keep the "we need you more than anything" bit."
* * * * *
We became quite attached to Penny. Isaac started to
explain why she made such a great sound, but he ended up reasoning with Natalie, and
just "shared the love" and rocked out. I finished the song about the
lemonade. I named it after the guitar. However, the label was definitely not happy
about the song and these other incidents:
One, Isaac's affair with the rival poppet.
Two, Taylor and Natalie's "forgetfulness". We didn't invite
anyone from the label to the wedding. We invited other musicians instead.
Three, in what should've been in the number one position, it was our music that
they weren't happy about. They weren't happy that we kept requesting Penny
be serviced and restored so we could play guitar.
Isaac, Taylor, Natalie and I were arguing with the security at the studio when
we attempted to come into "work" one morning.
"Can't let you through."
"You know us. You know we work here."
"Not anymore."
"Do we get an explanation?" The security guy handed over a letter.
"Sorry, boys. Me, I was looking forward to your new album."
"So were we."
"Can we go and get our stuff we left behind?" The guard handed Natalie her
secret stash of lolly lemonade.
"That was it."
"I look like a drunk."
"We know you're not."
"Penny's trapped in there with those record execs who don't love her like we
do," sighed Taylor melodramatically. "There'll be other Penny's, but she
had such good connections to the music industry."
* * * * *
Our studio work had been couriered to our rental flat, which we were cleaning
out. Natalie was out booking tickets back home, while Isaac, Taylor and I
tried to make the flat look like it did when we first moved in. It was
quiet, our instruments and stereos had been packed, and no one felt much like
singing.
The plane ride was very similar. It was a cheap flight with no headphones,
not even any lolly lemonade. I read out the letter Island left us with.
"Due to breech of contract (see attached), Island Def Jam Records would like to
formally dismiss you and your services. Any works will be forwarded and
copyright is to be negotiated. Regards, some record exec who doesn't like
us," I spat. "Breech of contract?" I flipped through the pages.
"Basically because we didn't give them another polished pop disc."
"Fans wouldn't dig it if you did," explained Natalie. "The label should've
really researched your demographic and gotten to know you."
"That, and the girlfriends thing..."
"Not even a groupie slash wife?" I shook my head.
"So there's no more music..."
* * * * *
By the time we got back home to Tulsa, our manager, Chris, had found out
about what happened.
"There's nothing we can do. The label pulled all the strings, what they
did was legal, even if it seems unfair." Chris sighed. "Have you
told the family yet?"
"Nooo... they are surprised that we're home early."
"Need help breaking the news?"
"It would help a lot."
Mum and Dad weren't angry at us, not like when they met Natalie or found out
about Isaac's poppet.
"I just don't understand," Mum sighed. "What's wrong with their music?"
"Nothing," explained Chris. "It just didn't suit the label's taste and
vision."
"Well, what do we do now?"
"I don't know," sighed Chris. "Let's sleep on it. Maybe we'll think
of something tomorrow morning."
* * * * *
Isaac, Taylor and I couldn't sleep (and Natalie wouldn't sleep), so we went
and hung out in our band room. What was left of the lolly lemonade had
been finished. Most of our sentences began with "Remember when...?"
"Remember when we first met Natalie?" I started. She turned her head at
the mention of her name. "We'd just finished feeling like absolute rock
gods because we'd just played a venue that The Beatles or someone had played at.
The exec who was sitting in the audience was yelling at us for taking 'Where's
the Love' out of the set or something and successfully crashing our blissful
mood of peace and love and rock 'n' roll. And then, this chick, who had
flashed everyone she'd met to get backstage, comes barging in-"
"Yes, I love 'Where's the Love', but I also loved every other song in the set!"
Natalie filled.
"Get her out of here," Isaac and Taylor quipped, mimicking the exec.
"No!" remembered Natalie. "You guys rock! Your guitar shines, your
vocals are bewitching, your rhythm is uplifting. Don't ever stop making
the best rock 'n' roll music I've ever heard!"
"Then, she raced over and pashed whoever was closest-"
"Me," blushed Taylor.
"And was dragged from the room."
"Only to be picked up by a tour bus and taken to an afterparty."
During the end of the story, Isaac had reached over and grabbed the nearest
guitar. He'd started to play softly, before Natalie raced over to the
amplifier and flicked the "on" switch.
"And we won't go down!" sang Taylor at the top of his voice. Isaac picked
up on the and started to play it, as we shouted rock 'n' roll anthems well into
the night.
* * * * *
While I Wasn't Looking, Hanson Got Hot
Lisa Turner of newmoanyeah.com, July 21st, 2003
"I'm flipping through channels the other night, to see who the guests are on
various talk shows. I get to Leno, who I don't always enjoy, and saw that
alongside Bill Maher and Serena Williams, the musical guest was going to be
Hanson. I tried to laugh at the cheese factor, but secretly, I was excited. I
flipped around some more, pretending it wasn't a big deal to me, but knew I
would come back to check them out.
"You probably haven't heard from, or even thought about, the Hansons in a while.
Their last new record, and accompanying tour, happened three years ago, an
eternity in a business where many careers don't last more than a few months.
Since then the biggest news to come from the Oklahoma boys was last year's
wedding of Taylor Hanson (the middle one, age 19 at the time) to his high school
sweetheart.
"Now, before you start with the 'Hanson sucks!' chant, let's take a look at the
boys' history. Yes, they brought us MMMBop. Some people will never forgive them
for that, even though they poked fun at themselves for that song in an amusing
SNL skit.
"But compared to other boy bands (most of whom joined the scene after Hanson
broke through the grunge wall of the mid 90's), Hanson has heart, and talent.
They play their own instruments. They were not put together by a greasy fat man,
a cable tv channel or by an elaborate mobile phone voting system. They have
never gone into rehab, terrible reality TV hosting gigs, or the Russian space
program.
"Back to Leno. The boys went on last, promoting their upcoming tour and album,
Underneath Acoustic. That means they performed stripped down: two guitars, a
couple of percussiony shaky things and three voices. The voices are older, more
mature and seasoned, and fittingly, so is their look.
"Acoustic won't be available until next month, but if the Leno performance
is any indication, it's going to be full of the energy and excitement that you
feel as you finish your teenaged years and start the chaos of your early
twenties. Having lived a little life now, the boys probably have more to say
too. Probably.
The tour starts next month (as long as no one breaks a stupid finger in a stupid
car accident). I think you'll want to catch them, this time around."
* * * * *
Musical Credit
Based on 'Penny and Me' by Hanson
From 'Underneath'... check out the
'Acoustic EP in the wake
of its release
Cigars in the summertime under the sky by the light
I can feel you read my mind
I can see it in your eyes under the moon as it plays
Like music every line
There's a rug with bleeding dye under the fan in the room
Where the passions burning high
By the chair with the leopard skin under the light
It's always Penny and me tonight
On a plane step up with both my feet riding in seat number three
On a flight to NYC
Got my bean in a coffee cup next to my seat cat the view
And another good book to read
Sending me home on the friendly skies missing her eyes
It's always Penny and me tonight
Cause Penny and me like to roll the windows down
Turn the radio up and push the pedal to the ground
And Penny and me like to gaze at starry skies
Close our eyes, pretend to fly
It's always Penny and me tonight
Staring at a million city lights but it's still Penny and I
Alone beneath the sky
Feel the wind brushing slowly by if I could soar I'd try to
Take these wings and fly
Away to where the leaves turn red
But no matter where I am instead
Singing along to feelin' alright
We'll make it by in the pink moonlight
It's always Penny and me tonight
Cause Penny and me like to roll the windows down
Turn the radio up and push the pedal to the ground
And Penny and me like to gaze at starry skies
Close our eyes, pretend to fly
I said oh, oh, close our eyes, pretend to fly
It's always Penny and me tonight
Penny likes to get away and drown her pain in lemonade
Penny dreams of rainy days and nights up late by the fireplace
And aimless conversations about the better days
Singing along to feelin' alright
We'll make it by in the pink moonlight
It's always Penny and me tonight
Cause Penny and me like to roll the windows down
Turn the radio up and push the pedal to the ground
And Penny and me like to gaze at starry skies
Close our eyes, pretend to fly
Yeah said, oh, oh, close our eyes, pretend to fly
It's always Penny and me tonight
Penny and me tonight
Penny and me tonight
Penny and me tonight