Re: TEMPTATION EYES LYRIC QUESTION ANSWERED

Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 13:06:22 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1970s
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Well, he was good enough that I'm going back tonight. I've always loved The
Grassroots' hits and seeing them live has eluded me all these years, so
they'd have to be pretty bad or not do enough of their own songs for me not
to go again. This is a two-night free outdoor oldies concert that the
Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas sponsors every summer. Last
night I made the mistake of staying right in front of the stage, which makes
the sound distorted, the bass overloaded, the drumming go through your
chest, and the vocals not pronounced enough. The biggest disappointment is
that they don't do all of the Grassroots' hits-- they omitted "Glorybound,"
"Bella Linda", "Lovin' Things", and "The River is Wide." (It occurred to me
today that Rob wasn't the lead singer on at least three of those, but I did
ask him if they ever do the rest of the hits and he said yes and that they'd
do them tonight.) Instead, they do a few songs never recorded by The
Grassroots-- "Drift Away", "Something About You", "Love Grows Where My
Rosemary Goes", and "Don't Pull Your Love," announcing at the beginning of
the show that every song they'll do was either written for or by or turned
down by The Grassroots. He also didn't seem prepared for the fact that the
same audience stays for their second 45 minutes (each set separated only by
the hourly sound & light show), so at the start of the second set, he kind
of embarrassedly announced that they might repeat a few songs from the first
set, which turned out to be most of them, adding only "Where Were You When I
Needed You" and "Temptation Eyes". It seemed to me that he was using more
power than necessary in his voice, which resulted in his going off-key on
some songs, but it could've been the distortion from my being so close to
the speakers. As far as energy goes, he seemed to be enjoying himself, but
he seemed physically tired. His face is pasty, and he alternately looked to
be "with it" and burnt out. He still has a full head of hair in the same
style as old photos, salt and pepper mixed so that it looks uniformly
grayish. He told jokes during the show and outwardly exudes a lot of
personality. They have a live CD and he made a point of announcing that he'd
be available to sign copies after the show, but in talking to him for a
minute, I felt that he was tired and/or jaded and couldn't wait to sign
things and get outta there. He got up from the table and walked away while
we were still actually conversing, because apparently he realized there were
no more people waiting for autographs. I was told that the three other band
members have been with him for 20 years. The guitarist sings the high parts
very well, but his microphone was way too low for it to matter. I'll know
better tonight, because I'm going to stand way in the back. LOL, I'm
foregoing Dean of Jan & Dean, another free concert, to see Rob again tonight
so I guess I had an enjoyable enough time. I never thought my "Rock On,
Volume 2" would start to amass autographs the way my Volume One has. The Other Diane
Tregembo <email-address-deleted> wrote in message
news:email-address-deleted...
>
> "TVC" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message
> news:email-address-deleted...
> > A while ago I initiated a discussion here about the line in The
> Grassroots'
> > song "Temptation Eyes".... I felt that the line was meant to be "Her
> > wide-eyed innocence is just a game" but it accidentally came out "Her
> > wild-eyed innocence..." on the record. I felt that the phrase made no
> sense
> > with "wild-eyed." The Grassroots played here in Las Vegas tonight and I
> > asked Rob Grill about it. He said the lyric as written was "wide-eyed
> > innocence", he sang it as "wild-eyed innocence" on the record, and he
now
> > sings it in concert as "wide-eyed innocence" because he realized it
makes
> > more sense. Just thought someone might like to know the definitive
answer.
> > The Other Diane
>
>
> How was the concert? How did Grill sound? Does he still have the energy?
>
> Ray Arthur
>
>