"Cryin' on the corner, waitin' in the rain
I swear I'll never, ever wait again
You gave me your word, but words for you are lies
Darlin', in my wildest dreams, I never thought I'd go
But it's time to let you know
I'm gonna harden my heart
I'm gonna swallow my tears
I'm gonna turn and leave you here"
I think one of the very first videos that I can remember watching is Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart". I remember as a kid it not making a whole lot of sense to me and visually it reminded me of an episode of Doctor Who. I was a bit freaked out by that show but I quickly got over it resembling it because I absolutely loved the song.
I think that Quarterflash singlehandedly made me love the saxophone in under four minutes. From that point on, I looked for and usually found a sax solo in every song that I loved in the 80's. Rindy Ross handles vocals and sax like a rock goddess and in my mind, no other woman has ever come close to her playing. She said in an interview years ago that she felt the sax was like an extension of her voice and I actually get that feeling when a Quarterflash song plays.
I don't think I'm alone in loving "Harden My Heart" because it is one of the top songs that old school radio stations across the U.S. favor. And honestly, how could they not? Whatever happened to sax being a regular part of top 40 music? It added so much to so many songs, why did it disappear and who is going to decide to start bringing it back- one song at a time?
In the meantime, check out this classic below!