written by Naimy Hackett and Maurizio Bassi

produced by Maurizio Bassi

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One of the things you get to do when you create a website for classic

rock songs is of course trot out your all-time favorites very early on, a

privilege of which I’m taking full advantage. What helps immensely

from this point is having great confidence in your musical tastes,

even if others may make fun of them. Yet another intensely dynamic ’80s classic coming at you now, this time courtesy of Italy’s Baltimora, and its Irish lead vocalist, the late Jimmy McShane.

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While I consider all the songs I’ve included thus far pretty cool, a selection like this takes “cool” back to its definitive roots. It’s up there in my book (or should I say my site blog) with “cool” defined by wicked bad-ass numbers such as Berlin’s “Like Flames,” Golden Earring’s “Twilight Zone,” Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back,” Heart’s “Never,” Messiah’s “Thunderdome,” and countless others. With such an upbeat and danceable sound boasted by this little treasure, it’s no surprise it was destined to shine in the remix realm. I’ve got not one, not two, but—count them—three versions of “Tarzan Boy” bursting to get out there: the original album version plus two remixes. (Why it’s sung and printed in the lyrics as “Tarzans boy” is one of those mysteries I’ve never been able to unravel. Likely has to do with Italian interpretation of English.) While it’s always possible I caught it on the airwaves beforehand, my mass exposure to this one first came—as it did for many my age—from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, in 1993. Easily and by far the least popular and successful of the ’90s/pre-Michael Bay TMNT franchise, and yet... get ready for it... yep, here it comes—

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...I still kinda liked it. Part of the reason was this song. The TMNT3 soundtrack led off with it, and it popped up in the movie both in a late scene, and over a chunk of the end credits. TMNT3 also followed a different formula from its two predecessors, soundtrack-wise. Like 1 and 2, its soundtrack was issued by SBK Records (a division of Capitol-EMI), though the movie included only four songs. They were (1) “Can’t Stop Rockin’” by ZZ Top (also from “TB”’s birthyear of 1985), (2) “Conga” by the Barrio Boyzz (a cover of Gloria and the Miami Sound Machine—the original version of which came also from 1985), (3) our “Tarzan Boy” here by Baltimora, and (4) a new remix of Technotronic and Ya Kid K’s “Rockin’ Over The Beat.” To fill out the soundtrack to a complete ten, we were also given: a remix of Partners In Kryme’s “T-U-R-T-L-E Power!” from TMNT1... the original version of “Rockin’ Over The Beat” from ’89... a piece of score from the film... two newly recorded songs not in the movie but lyrically reflecting different sides of it... and not least but last, a new ’93 remix of—you guessed it—“Tarzan Boy.”

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Four years later, “Tarzan Boy” enjoyed a bit of a resurgence when the Dennis Dugan-directed Chris Farley vehicle Beverly Hills Ninja roundhoused us in 1997. Two ninja-themed movies... interesting, considering this Baltimora song in and of itself had nothing to do with martial arts... though, granted, it has a good feel for them. (It almost makes me wonder how it missed inclusion in 1995’s Mortal Kombat, though that film’s soundtrack was all current trance, electronica and death metal.) Beverly Hills Ninja was one of Chris Farley’s last films. “TB” featured in it for about 45 seconds, and the version on BHN’s soundtrack was also a bit different, missing the extended bridge (bold purple in the lyrics below). Though Dennis and the BHN crew may have included the song in the film as an homage to singer Jimmy McShane, who though never confirmed, was rumored to have been gay, a speculation that was reinforced when he died of AIDS in 1995. I’m starting to notice quite a bit of reporting deaths of artists in writing my summaries of these entries... what I now see as an inevitable by-product and drawback of capsulizing and Revisiting Classic Songs. The upside is that we keep their memories alive, in 4-minute nuggets of pop and rock history.

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As to the versions: while any other version you’ll find on record—or now on YT—is roughly 3 and 3/4 minutes long, the original one from Living In The Background (Baltimora’s ’85 album) is over 6. It too is on YT, so there’s the link. I could not at this moment tell you which version/remix the second is, but what I can say is that it’s the version played on Music Choice ’80s. I can only assume it’s from the ’85 single, which contained too many mixes to be able to review and discern. But it too is linked below, in 8-minute form (as “1985 remix”). Finally, the ’93 remix is the aforementioned inclusion on the TMNT3 soundtrack.

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RIP Jimmy, 5/23/57 to 3/29/95.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full original version

full 1985 remix

full 1993 remix

music video