Radio XXXVI, side B, track 8: “Taking The Best” by Time Gallery

Oh, Time Gallery, I read a quote by Arthur C. Clarke one time where he said that there would come a day when we wouldn’t be able to distinguish between magic and technology.  Well, Time Gallery, I think that time has come.  This song is a great case in point.  Just like that Work Force song I played a few days ago, there was very little about this song online.  Actually, at first, I couldn’t find a damn thing about this song, because my beloved Mylan Ray didn’t tell me the name of this song or who played it.  I typed in the lyrics as far as I understood them, but truth be told, Time Gallery, the lyrics were a little generic, and in the end, I came up empty.

So finally, I turned to my friends at work who have way more musical knowledge than I ever will, including my friend who helped me decode “Rigor Mortis”.  I played them your song, Time Gallery, and they had no more clue than I did.  But then one of them pulls out his phone and tells me he’s got an app from Shazam, whatever that is, and that he guarantees that he’ll be able to find this song within ten seconds.  Both my other coworker and myself were skeptical.  Extremely skeptical.  But I figured I’d humor him.

I pushed play, he held out his phone, and with a triumphant grin he looked up from his phone and told me that this song was “Taking The Best” by Time Gallery.  Of course, our first reaction was to be in awe of what technology hath wrought.  Our second reaction was “Who the hell is Time Gallery?”  And that particular question remains mostly unanswered besides that you’re from Sweden and someone likes to post your videos on YouTube.  That’s about it.  So if I’ve gotten your lyrics wrong below, I apologize.

As for the song, it’s pretty great.  It’s exactly the kind of song you’d expect to be played over a montage in an ’80s movie, maybe where they’re running a car wash fundraiser or building a treehouse, right before the scene where the bad guy, usually some preppy douche, knocks them down so they can attain victory at the end of the third act.  In other words, right up my alley.

But back to Mr. Clarke and his prophecy.  My grandparents both turned 90 in the last couple of months.  They grew up without indoor plumbing, no electricity, and no phone.  They now live in a world where faucets have motion sensors, you can tell your lights to shut themselves off, and you carry your phone in your pocket.  Hell, Time Gallery, the internet was still brand new when I was in college.  And if you wanted to figure out a song, you called in to the radio station and asked them.  Now our phone can tell us who sang what song when and pretty much anything else we want to know.

It actually comforts me that I couldn’t find your lyrics online, Time Gallery.  It just proves that the machines don’t know everything.

Yet.

“Taking The Best”

<awesome Time Gallery jam>

I can’t be wrong this time

I’ve got a creepy feelin’
I’ve gotta leave this behind me

Uhhh

No matter what it takes
I’ve gotta leave this behind
‘Cause now I see
What a fool I’ve been
There’s nothin’ here for me ta hang around because I’m takin’ the best of yooou
With me

Nothing as I can do, you see

No matter whatchoo say, our love is secondhand these days, ’cause I’m takin’ the best of yooou
With me

Oo oo oo oo oo oo

Somebody told me once
To keep my back door open
And never judge by the cover
Uh
Oooooooo oh
And you’re the living proof
All the dreams gotta change

Still I wear
The winner’s face
For I’m the one to walk away with yours because I’m takin’ the best of yoooou
With me (I am taking the best of you)
Nothing as I can do, you see

Ohhhhh

No matter whatchoo say, your love is secondhand these days, ’cause I’m takin’ the best of yooou
With me

<awesome Time Gallery jam>

(Taking the best of you)
Taking the best of you

You’ve been climbing an endless wall
Step by step

Heaven help you the day you fall
‘Cause I won’t be there ta get you standing

I’ve taken the best of you, girl

Oh oh woah oh

Takin’ the best of yooou
With me (I am taking the best of you, girl)
Nothing as I can do, you see

No matter whatchoo say, your love is secondhand these days, ’cause I’m takin’ the best of yooou
With me (I am taking the best of you, girl)
Nothing as I can do, you see

No matter whatchoo say
Love is secondhand these daaaaays
(Takin’ the best of yoou)
(With me) (I am taking the best of you, girl)
Nothing as I can do, you see

Yeah yeah yeah

No matter whatchoo say, your love is secondhand these daaays

(Takin’ the best of yooou)
(With me)
(I am taking the best of you)