A Million Miles Away
Two bands, one song, and a long shadow cast.
Originally released in 1982 on their Shaky City imprint on Greg Shaw’s BOMP! Records, “A Million Miles Away,” showed up the following year on The Plimsouls’ 1983 Everywhere at Once album on Geffen Records (their second; their first, in ‘81, was on Planet).
The Plimsouls included singer/guitarist/songwriter and Buffalo native Peter Case, whose previous band, The Nerves (along with Blondie and Def Leppard), were featured on a recent “Hanging on the Telephone” edition of FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE “Inside Tracks.”
Check it out by clicking here.
Matthew Greenwald of Allmusic.com called the song:
“The Plimsouls’ greatest recorded achievement. ‘A Million Miles Away’ packs all of the passion and punch of some of John Lennon’s finest recordings, with a wonderful power-driven Byrds-like arrangement.”
This live version of the song was recorded at The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach in 1983 and released in 2012 On Beach Town Confidential.
[Fun Fact: Beach Town Confidential was executive produced by upcoming Abandoned Albums guest Danny Holloway].
The guitars sound like a victorious marching army and are very up-front, more so than I thought possible on a song whose studio recording is next to sonically flawless.
— Brad Kyle, FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE
Keith R. Higgons of Abandoned Albums:
One summer, many moons ago, I fell head over heels for a girl. Our bond was forged over our love of music, and that would be both our foundation and love language for years to come.
During our first summer together, I read that Buffalo’s Goo Goo Dolls were opening for The Replacements. I was then, and remain, a die-hard' mats fan, and this was the only stamp of approval I needed.
I immediately hunted down The Goo Goo Dolls’ eponymous 1987 debut album.
Listening, I could sense a connection to The Replacements, yet it was a different animal altogether. The Goo Goo Dolls’ debut lacked the Eddie Haskell charm and snark of The Replacements’ debut, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.
The Goo Goo Dolls record brimmed with anger and street-urchin grit.
That was a summer of discovery for me and my lady friend… on all levels. And while that was awesome, I suspect we got as much pleasure from impressing one another with our musical knowledge and taste as we did from touching and kissing. She introduced me to the college rock of Boston, and in return, I guided her through the grit of New York City.
We were bona fide music nerds. And we loved it.
One fateful day during that summer, we were perusing the record store when she stumbled upon Goo Goo Dolls’ third album, 1990’s Hold Me Up.
We searched for two copies, but alas, there was only one.
Eying each other like gunslingers from a Sergio Leone spaghetti western, each silently asking, “Who’s taking this home?”
She suggested I buy it, under one condition: I promised to make her a tape of it. To the younger generation, that gesture might seem trivial, but rest assured, it was the purest and most genuine form of love.
As promised, I went home and popped Hold Me Up into the CD tray, hit play and record on the tape deck. What I heard blew me away. The jump from the self-titled debut (I’ll skip the second album, Jed) to Hold Me Up was dramatic. The sound was bigger, the songs stronger, and the band was tighter. Much tighter.
It’s a similar evolution that we heard with The Replacements’ Hootenany to Let It Be Now. Don’t get your knickers all knotted up; I’m not saying they’re the same. While the two bands share some DNA, they are far from identical.
Hold Me Up became the soundtrack of our summer. Even the tracks we didn’t particularly fancy, like “Out of the Red,” possessed a certain je ne sais quoi that made them tolerable.
And, if you ever need proof of how punk rock Prince was, simply listen to The Goo Goo Dolls cover of Prince’s “Never Take the Place of Your Man” (vocals courtesy of Lance Diamond):
Little did I know that this wasn’t the only cover on Hold Me Up.
As the summer drew to a close and we got ready to go back to our respective schools, my lady friend and I zeroed in on “A Million Miles Away.”
Of course, we were going to stay together, but 150 miles may as well have been a million miles. It was a few weeks into the semester when mi amore told me that “A Million Miles Away” was a cover of a song by a band I had only heard of, The Plimsouls, and was off their album, Everywhere At Once.
Now, as I said, I was bona fide; I had done my time working in a record store, and I had the necessary subscriptions for the times - Rolling Stone and Spin magazines - so I was aware of Peter Case and The Plimsouls… and naturally, I worked at the college radio station. But knowledge of The Plimsouls stopped at me only knowing of their existence.
On my next radio show, I ventured into the library and unearthed The Plimsouls’ 1983 album, Everywhere At Once. I was pleased to see that the album was produced by Jeff Eyrich, who produced one of my all-time favorite albums, Broken Homes’s self-titled debut.
The Goos’ cover of “A Million Miles Away” was undeniably similar, but The Plimsouls were deeply entrenched in the power pop realm of the Los Angeles music scene. Consequently, their “A Million Miles Away” resonated as more sincere and heartfelt to me.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Jeff Eyrich, the producer of The Plimsouls’ Everywhere At Once. I asked him if he had ever heard The Goo Goo Dolls’ version. He had only caught a snippet of it live once, as The Goo Goo Dolls performed on the streets of New York City.
Naturally, I played it for him.
On the first listen, he said: “It’s faster,” and then his eyes lit up: “Oh, they changed it. They left out one of the lines from the chorus.” How Jeff can remember that forty years later is impressive; I can’t remember where I put my phone on most days.
“Yeah, it’s faster - more like The Plimsouls live,” he said. This is true if you listen to The Plimsouls live version. “The guy’s (John Rzeznik) voice sounds like Peter Case. But, what I miss are the cool Eddie Munoz guitar parts. Not a big deal.” Eyrich concluded, “Yeah, it’s OK.”
Keith’s interview with Jeff Eyrich:
Reflecting on “Million Miles Away” on his website, songwriter Peter Case (above) said:
“I was remembering something from a long time back, and the feeling was pouring into the song. I’d been having an affair with a girl I really thought a lot of, and that had just broken off.”
I believe that this self-reflective vibe of “Oh, what have I done?” sentiment, shines on The Plimsouls’ original. On the flip side, Goo Goo Dolls’ cover exudes frustration and anger. The verses leading into the chorus build to an explosive climax, evoking a “This sucks!” rather than an “Oh, what have I done?” sentiment.
Neither interpretation is incorrect because they both work - that’s the wonder of art. And they both originate from each band’s roots: The Plimsouls, rooted in power pop, and Goo Goo Dolls, in punk. Attempting to talk about a preference is a fool’s errand… which means I’ll go ahead and do that.
I prefer The Goo Goo Dolls’ version for several reasons: First, it was my introduction to the song, and first impressions often linger. Second, my sentimental attachment to the Goo’s version, and the memories of its discovery, remain unyielding. Lastly, I resonate more with their edgier sound. I like power pop just fine, but I react more viscerally to rock and roll.
In the grand scheme of things, my initial affinity for the song stemmed from Goo Goo Dolls’ fervent and vexed rendition. I was a figurative “Million Miles Away” from the girl I loved. Yet, with the passage of years, a different layer of significance has enveloped the plaintive sentiment conveyed in The Plimsouls’ version.
Ain’t it funny how that works? Two versions of the same song. Two divergent interpretations. Two distinct epochs. Two sides of the same coin.
And as for that girl? We traveled a million miles and spent five remarkable years together, pushing the boundaries of our love as far as circumstances allowed. To this day, I’m pleased to call her a friend.
A long shadow was cast that summer, and I cherish that time and those memories with her just as much as I cherish Goo Goo Dolls’ Hold Me Up and “A Million Miles Away.”
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The Plimsouls original video for “Million Miles Away”:
Broken Homes self-titled debut (also produced by Jeff Eyrich):
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I first heard it in Valley Girl!! https://youtu.be/DAJsFMQHolI?si=Mlk9axIQKDHfWHOb