[Video: The Knack, in a 1979 live performance of “My Sharona.” It’s not the performance described in the poem cited below, but it’s probably pretty close. Embedding YouTube videos can be a crapshoot, as they often end up getting taken down for copyright violation. But this video was uploaded to the account of The Knack’s lead singer, shortly after his death in 2010, so I’m counting on its being deemed legit for awhile yet.]

Let’s get this post’s inspiration out of the way right up-front: it wasn’t The Knack per se — or “power pop” generally — and it wasn’t that song. No, it was prepping for a recent whiskey river Fridays post here. It’s not uncommon for me to seek inspiration for those posts at The Poetry Foundation site, and that’s how I came across this poem: “…But the Little Girls Understand,” by Steve Kistulentz. It’s a mashup of relevant musical references:

• The poem’s title quotes “Back Door Man,” written by Willie Dixon for Howlin’ Wolf…
• …and is also the title of The Knack’s second album (following on the heels of Get the Knack).
• The Knack’s “My Sharona” is the central focus…
• …but Ray Manzarek of The Doors (who also had a hit with “Back Door Man”) shows up, too.
• Not uncommonly in writing about The Knack, The Beatles make a glancing appearance.
• The Troubadour — an L.A. club instrumental in the careers of a lot of musicians in its 60-plus-years history — features as the venue for The Knack’s live performance of “Back Door Man.” (Aside: Ray Manzarek of The Doors joined the Knack onstage in 1978 at the Troubadour.)
• Leonard Cohen wanders in unexpectedly, sort of nods at the proceedings, and wanders back out again.

Well, as one does, I began trying to piece it all together. I never found a copy of the 1979 bootleg recording which inspired the poem itself. I did read a heck of a lot about The Knack (more on which, in just a moment). I read that without “My Sharona,” Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” might never have come about. I read about Phase II of “My Sharona’s” popularity, with the release of 1994’s Reality Bites (in which the young cast — Winona Ryder, Steve Zahn, Janeane Garofalo — dance happily and spontaneously to the song, while sad-sack Ethan Hawke watches)… although I’ve never (yet) seen that film.

Bottom line: I never could piece together a coherent single writeup of what it all says. For now, I’ll just offer you this playlist of (some of) the great music I came across while working on this post.

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