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Song Exploder

Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us

Song Exploder

Hrishikesh Hirway

Music

4.86.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sparks are the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, a legendary duo from Los Angeles. Over the last 50 years, they’ve released 25 albums. They’ve collaborated with Giorgio Moroder and Franz Ferdinand, and they’ve influenced bands like Joy Division, Faith No More, Björk, and countless others. Director Edgar Wright, whose films include Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World, has made a documentary about the band called The Sparks Brothers. It premiered at Sundance, and comes out in theaters on Friday, June 18th. In this episode, Ron and Russell break down their hit, “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us," which came out in 1974, and changed their careers forever.

To learn more, visit songexploder.net/sparks

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Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to Song Exploder where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishikesh, your way.

0:11.8

We're big cinema buffs, so I think we've always had this kind of rationale that in making pop songs

0:19.1

you're able to make the most elaborate

0:22.6

movie in your own mind in a three-minute song.

0:25.3

That's Russell Mail. He and his brother Ron Mail are the legendary duo Sparks from Los Angeles.

0:31.3

Over the last 50 years they've released 25 albums. They've collaborated with Georgia O' Marauder and

0:37.8

France Ferdinand and influenced bands like Joy Division, Faith No More, Bjork, and Countless Others.

0:43.8

There's a new documentary about them called The Sparks Brothers, made by one of my favorite directors at Gerritte. His films include Sean of the Dead,

0:50.8

Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver, and Scott Pilgrim versus The World. The new documentary premiered at Sundance's here and comes out in theaters this Friday, June 18th.

0:59.8

Here's what Edgar Wright says in the intro of the film.

1:03.8

Sparks. How did this glam rock anomaly become a band with a career spanning five decades?

1:09.8

How can Ron and Russell Mail be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and overlooked all at the same time?

1:17.8

And where does one even start with 25 studio albums and nearly 500 songs?

1:23.8

We're going to start with just one song. For this episode, Ron and Russell break down one of their hits.

1:28.8

This town ate big enough for both of us, which came out in 1974 and changed their career forever.

1:34.8

The original tracks from their recording are long gone, but they re-recorded the song a while ago. And for the purposes of this discussion, you'll hear those isolated tracks.

1:42.8

And in the end, you'll hear the original 1974 recording.

1:57.8

I'm Russell Mail from Sparks.

1:59.8

And this is Ron Mail from Sparks.

2:03.8

We moved to England in 1973, but we had had two albums out in the States previously, but they sold in a very slow fashion.

2:16.8

We had played one show in the UK with the band that we had at the time.

2:23.8

And Ireland records really liked the songwriting, and they really liked the singing, and thought if we assembled British musicians

...

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