When the infamous epic Caligulawas first released back in 1979, a disco version of Caligula’s love theme — We Are One — was also released as a promotional gimmick.
This song is so over-the-top, so blatantly exploitive, so insidiously catchy, and so totally inappropriate for so many reasons that become clear after you watch the film it was written for that it simply cannot be ignored. To me, this song represents everything that makes the Grindhouse great.
(As well, I hope whoever was playing bass got paid extra…)
Apparently, when Norman Greenbaum wrote today’s song of the day, he wasn’t quite writing a parody but, at the same time, he wasn’t being totally serious either. Greenbaum wrote the song after watching a gospel performance on television and thinking, “Yeah, I could do that.” By his own recollection, it took him 15 minutes to come up with the lyrics for Spirit In The Sky.
Originally, he was going to perform the song with a jug band. (Yikes!) He also tried to do a folk version. (Double yikes!) Fortunately, he ultimately went for the hard rock sound that made the song a legend.
Today would have been the 82nd birthday of Jack Nance, the talented but troubled actor who was a favorite of David Lynch’s and who died under mysterious circumstances in 1996. Born in Massachusetts but raised in Texas, Nance first won acclaim as a star of the stage show, Tom Paine. The director of Tom Paine later received a fellowship to the American Film Institute where he met a young director named David Lynch and recommended that Lynch cast Nance as the lead character in his film, Eraserhead. Lynch and Nance were kindred spirits, two all-American eccentrics with their own unique view of the world. Lynch went to use Nance in almost every film that he made up until Nance’s death. Nance would also appear in small roles in films from other directors, usually cast as quirky and obsessive characters. Outside of his role in Eraserhead, Nance is probably best known for playing Pete Martell on Twin Peaks. Pete’s discovery of Laura Palmer’s body launched the entire saga.
Twin Peaks 1.1 — The Pilot (dir by David Lynch)
In honor of Jack’s talent and legacy, here is today’s song of the day!
Inspired by a story that the Human League’s Phil Oakley read in a teen-girl’s magazine, Don’t You Want Me is a song not about love but instead a song about two people battling for control. While the song was originally conceived as being a male solo, Oakley made the last-minute decision to turn it into a duet, with Susan Ann Sulley taking on the role of the girl who once worked in a cocktail bar but always knew she was meant for a much better life.
After the song was recorded, Oakley disliked it because he felt that the song’s sound was too “poppy” and he was not happy when Virgin decided to release Don’t You Want Me as the fourth single off of The Human League’s third studio album, Dare! Despite Oakley’s misgivings, Don’t You Want Me went on to become the band’s biggest hit and one of its signature songs.
(As of 2014, Phil Oakley still didn’t think much of the song. In an interview with Classic Pop Magazine, Oakley said, “‘Don’t You Want Me‘ might have shifted gazillions, but either I’ve heard it too many times or the rest of Dare! is just so far ahead that it puts it in the shade. Still, it made the band.”)
Don’t You Want Me was the 1981 Christmas number one in the UK, where it has sold over 1,560,000 copies, making it the 23rd most successful single in the history of the UK Singles Chart. In 2015, in an ITV poll, it was voted the 7th most popular number one single of all time.
Marty Robbins’ “Big Iron” is one of those songs that instantly takes you back to the Old West. It’s simple but powerful—a ranger rides into town to face down an outlaw, and you just feel that quiet tension building with every verse. Robbins’ steady voice gives the story a calm, almost cinematic vibe, like a slow pan across a dusty street before the final showdown. It’s storytelling stripped to the bone: two men, one promise of justice, and the air thick with purpose.
What’s cool is how “Big Iron” hasn’t just stayed stuck in the past. It’s popped up everywhere—from memes to movies to, of course, Fallout: New Vegas. That game gave the song a second life as a kind of anthem for wanderers—loners crossing desolate landscapes where myths feel more real than history. There’s something timeless about its message: standing your ground, even when the whole world’s gone sideways.
So when “Big Iron” opens the first episode of Fallout Season 2, it feels like a perfect fit. The familiar twang instantly throws you into that classic Fallout energy—part Western, part apocalypse. It’s not just a fun musical nod; it sets the tone for everything that follows. The song reminds us that even in a broken world, we’re still drawn to stories about courage, justice, and lone figures walking into danger with purpose. Robbins’ ballad might be old, but in Fallout’s world, it feels right at home.
Big Iron
To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn’t have too much to say No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip For the stranger there amongst them had a big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip
It was early in the morning when he rode into the town He came riding from the south side slowly lookin’ all around He’s an outlaw loose and running came the whisper from each lip And he’s here to do some business with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip
In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead He was vicious and a killer though a youth of twenty-four And the notches on his pistol numbered one and nineteen more One and nineteen more
Now the stranger started talking, made it plain to folks around Was an Arizona Ranger, wouldn’t be too long in town He came here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead And he said it didn’t matter, he was after Texas Red After Texas Red
Wasn’t long before the story was relayed to Texas Red But the outlaw didn’t worry men that tried before were dead Twenty men had tried to take him, twenty men had made a slip Twenty-one would be the ranger with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip
The morning passed so quickly, it was time for them to meet It was twenty past eleven when they walked out in the street Folks were watching from the windows, everybody held their breath They knew this handsome ranger was about to meet his death About to meet his death
There was forty feet between them when they stopped to make their play And the swiftness of the Ranger is still talked about today Texas Red had not cleared leather for a bullet fairly ripped And the Ranger’s aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip
It was over in a moment and the folks had gathered ’round There before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground Oh, he might have gone on living but he made one fatal slip When he tried to match the Ranger with the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip
Big iron, big iron When he tried to match the Ranger With the big iron on his hip Big iron on his hip
Through the Shattered Lens 