CRITICAL CUT: Just Like Me

Or, Holy Crap – it’s that Pat Benatar song!

I was in my late teens and just starting to discover what we refer to these days as garage rock. It was 1982.  By this time I had discovered The Sonics and was simultaneously discovering  some of the bigger garage hits of the sixties such as “Gloria”, “Psychotic Reaction” etc.  So, I’m tuning across the radio dial and when I reached New York oldies station, WCBS, I came across this song in the middle of what would become one of my favorite guitar solos all time.  Actually, it was two simultaneous guitar solos flailing away over a cool “Louie Louie”-ish chord progression which may not sound like much on paper but to me was pure garage rock nirvana.  I immediately scrambled for a cassette to record the second half of the song.  The guitar solo ends, then a couple of sustained chords and we’re back to the “Louie” rhythm.  The third verse begins and…..”holy crap, it’s that Pat Benatar song”.  Pat had a song on her 1981 LP, ‘Precious Time’ called “Just Like Me” which was in regular rotation on the FM rock stations.  I had no idea it was a cover.  Her version was rearranged to fit her style so it wasn’t obvious until the vocals came back in that I was listening to the same song.  The version I was listening to had a cool breathy lead vocal punctuated by some guitar fills.  Halfway through the verse came some tough sounding “aah-aah” backing vocals building to a screaming chorus.  The song shot straight to the top of my want list. I waited for the DJ to back announce the set so I could find out who’s version I now needed to track down.  It turned out to be Paul Revere & The Raiders.  I would later learn the song was originally done by a group called The Wilde Knights.  The Raiders’ version, however, was the one that became the hit.  At the time, the only other Raiders song I was familiar with was “Kicks”.  I liked that tune, but “Just Like Me” was the catalyst that made me want to investigate the band further.  Now that I had a mission, I soon found a copy of the 45 at a New Brunswick record shop.  The record’s label listed the band as “Paul Revere & The Raiders: Featuring Vocal by Mark Lindsay”.  This credit had me second guessing whether the record I was holding in my hand was the same version that I heard on the radio.  Was Lindsay a member of the group?  Or was this a different version featuring some outside guy named Lindsay?  I came across a different Raiders single in the same bin with a similar group credit which confirmed it…Lindsay’s cool, he’s with the band.  I took the record home and yes, it was the version I was looking for and all was good.  Mission accomplished…now on to the next discovery.