A Song About Robert De Niro (Sort Of)

I tell you, little buddy, this whole island is bewitched.

Just the cops do it.

I lost the seal.

And now I'm friendin' all my own.

Standin' far from home.

But you remember, we were shipwrecked together.

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Jim, it's awesome to have this opportunity to do even more music on the show with the bonus.

Yes.

We got a desert island jukebox just for the bonus podcast.

What are you going to add to it?

Give us a little hint about what you're going to add to it today.

Well, I'm going to play Greg one of my favorite singles out of the UK in the 80s,

which I always thought was a piece of trifling pop.

But as I went down the rabbit hole into its writing,

oh, there's a whole other side to it.

All right, that's going to be in a minute on Sound Opinions.

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Welcome back to Sound Opinions.

Jim, tell us about that song you're going to add to the Dozer-Known jukebox.

Greg, I think, you know, of the many artists that I haven't given enough love to on this show.

That's why we keep doing it.

Banana Rama.

I just loved Banana Rama.

Okay, I was like, I even went to say it, you need to smile.

I mean, this was not a heavy lifting change the world group.

This was pop at its very best.

Those singles, right?

You know, Shy Boy and really saying something, Cruel Summer, right?

But I don't know what it was.

You know, one of those endless holiday weekend reruns of the Godfather trilogy.

And there's Bob De Niro, right?

And I was thinking, how could I have never added Robert De Niro's waiting to the Desert Island jukebox, right?

So, you know, I began to dig.

I knew that the trio of women, Irish English pop group, London 1980.

You know, Sarah Dallan, Shabban, Fahey, Karen Woodward.

They start out backing up, Funboy 3.

They become a huge hit on their own.

And basically, you know, a couple of year run of some great, great singles.

Fahey leaves the group.

And, you know, they've gone on since there are 12 banana rama albums.

I don't know that the world needs 12 banana rama albums.

I think it was basically done after the first three.

But Robert De Niro's waiting, I've always loved talking Italian.

Robert De Niro's waiting and he's talking Italian, right?

I don't even know if Robert De Niro can actually speak Italian.

But he did in Godfather 2.

You know, I'm in that scene, Greg.

Yeah.

On the rooftops where he's dissembling the gun every kills the first dot.

And he's going to become, and he's dropping different pieces down different chimneys.

Yeah.

Okay.

It turns out that only one of the three women in banana rama say that it's actually was just like a, you know, we had a crush on De Niro.

You know, Dallin has said it was a meaningless piece of hero worship.

It was, it was just a pop song, right?

Shabon and Karen say it was actually about sexual assault and stalking.

That De Niro, I don't know why he becomes the figurehead for toxic masculinity.

But he is, I mean, he's menacing in many of his roles.

But there's also kind of a charm about him.

Even when he's killing people, right?

And then you look at the lyrics.

I mean, everybody remembers the chorus.

Robert De Niro is waiting talking to Italian.

Do you remember another single word?

No.

No, of course not.

I don't think anybody does.

A walk in the park can become a bad dream.

People are staring and following me.

This is my only escape from it all.

Watching a film or a face on a wall.

I don't need a boy.

I've got a man of steel.

Don't come any closer.

Wow.

It's like, so this came out in interviews at the time.

And in subsequent years, two or three women saying,

we're going to tell you what it's really about.

And you're never going to hear the song the same way.

They're partners saying, oh, that's rubbish.

I just love that such a simple and essentially silly pop song has another dimension.

Should you choose to dive into it?

I kind of am disturbed by that.

I just love the chorus.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Thank you for directing me to the complexity of that,

because I don't think I appreciated it fully in its time.

Catchy song, and then you go, oh, okay.

Yeah, a little deeper than anyone expected, right?

Well, Banana Rama.

Robert De Niro is waiting.

A walk in the park can become a bad dream.

People are staring and following me.

This is my only escape from it all.

Watching a film or a face on a wall.

Robert De Niro is waiting.

Talking to Tanya.

Robert De Niro is waiting.

Talking to Tanya.

Robert De Niro is waiting.

Talking to Tanya.

Banana Rama.

Robert De Niro is waiting.

I can remember being in clubs like the Anceturia in New York,

and hearing that come from like three dozen speakers surrounding you in every area.

Yeah, I liked them too.

I guess might have been called a guilty pleasure,

but I never felt guilty about it.

I always thought they were kind of cool.

Yeah, absolutely.

But again, why they need to continue as a duo well after their pride?

I don't know.

Nobody retires anymore.

I know.

But then again, we haven't either.

No, we haven't.

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