Six months ago, before any of this coronavirus mess started, I was working on an article about the Reddit-dubbed ‘most mysterious song on the internet.’ I checked the forums basically every day, waiting for new updates about the song’s potential origins. I even thought I had a lead of my own, but they never responded. However, one red herring stood out to me: an Irish new wave band called Hey Paulette. Ever since this discovery, I’ve been plugging Hey Paulette on every social media I have, recommending them to all of my friends, and constantly trying to find out more about them.
Hey Paulette broke up in 1991, for starters. They’re on Discogs and a million Irish music archive sites from the proto-internet that existed around that time, but there aren’t really any articles on them past 2009. There’s only one video of them on YouTube, an old performance of “my half of the pillow” on a talk show. Hey Paulette’s music is truly some of the cheeriest new wave stuff out there, with optimistic lyrics about being alive, in love, and appreciating the little things, like a day off or streets lined with trees. These lyrics are paired with bright, jangly guitar riffs that play around and intertwine with each other. Cheery, jangly, wonderful: all words used to describe Hey Paulette. Some of the information about the band is blurred, though: while I know the band was made up of Eamonn Davis, Derrick Dalton, and Colm Fitzpatrick, I can’t seem to figure out exactly who did what in the band. Every source says something different, so I guess I should find the band members themselves and ask, but that’s an article for another time. In addition, they had a couple drummers over the years who have pretty spotty information on the archive sites. I want to give credit where it’s due, so I’ll say that at different points in time, Darren Nolan and Stan Erraught were both drummers for Hey Paulette. Band roles aside, no matter who did what in Hey Paulette, they’re talented. Their one-off album, Long Ball Into Nowhere, is on Spotify, iTunes, and a bunch of other places where you can find music, but it barely cracks 300 listens. Like everything I cover on BLIP, I see something special in what Hey Paulette made for us to listen to. So, here are my top five tracks from Hey Paulette:
Anyway, please check out Hey Paulette. Some of the greatest music is lost in blips that we often don’t hear about. I really hope this little article could do them justice, because ever since I discovered them on that fateful day in my school’s art library, I’ve been utterly obsessed. And, during these times of chaos and the exact opposite of chaos, I don’t think there’s anything better to do than to reminisce on the Dublin new wave scene. Be safe, stay inside, and listen to Hey Paulette!
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About The AuthorLiah is a high school senior who plays guitar and loves the color yellow. She doesn't post much, but when she does, it's awesome. We promise.
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