Another Girl, Another Planet Lyrics

In a world rife with injustice, the music industry has seen — if not perpetrated — more than its fair share of travesties (the sad saga of Badfinger comes immediately to mind). But one of the biggest involves, arguably, the greatest rock single ever recorded: the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet"." The word "timeless" and "transcendent" get bandied about far too often when describing a song or an album, but in the case of "Another Girl," even those terms are probably inadequate. The song marks that rare confluence of lyrical, instrumental, and vocal poetry that is so complete, so absolute, that it renders everything else — in, on, above, below, and around it — irrelevant while it plays. While frontman Peter Perrett gets — and deserves — a lot of the credit for the song's majestic squalor, the song truly is a band effort. Released as a single off the band's formidable self-titled 1978 debut, it's a pitch-perfect fusion of Perrett's spectral vocals and doom-laden lyrics, John Perry's virtuosic guitar flights, and the rhythmic hyperdrive of drummer Mike Kellie and bassist Alan Mair. When Perrett sings "Always flirt with death/I'll get killed but I don't care about it/I can't face your threats/And stand up straight and tall and shout about it," the regret and despondency in his voice hang like dead flowers in the autumn rain. Yet Perry's soaring guitar is always there to carry the pain far enough away to keep the song aloft. Suddenly it's over, and the darkness that you felt dancing behind your back through the entire song now washes over you in waves of almost shivering despair. The effect, as is the case with most classic compositions, lingers far longer than the song itself. Foreshadowing the bad luck that would haunt the band throughout its brief existence, "Another Girl, Another Planet" failed to chart. After releasing two more studio albums — 1979's Even Serpents Shine and 1980's Baby's Got a Gun — the Only Ones disintegrated in a blur of drugs and acrimony. But their legacy didn't die quite as easily. Greg Kihn and alt-rock legends the Replacements both felt the transcendental pull of "Another Girl, Another Planet," covering the song and frequently including it in their live sets. The Only Ones may be gone, but their signature song soars above time, an eternal three minutes of pop perfection.