Nineteen Seventy-One, the year I graduated from high school. Badfinger is riding high in the charts. Heir apparent to the Beatles, backed by George Harrison, published by the Beatles’ Apple Corps (no relation to Apple Computer, but that is another story), with a number of hits already playing. No Matter What, Come and Get It, and Day After Day had been or were playing regularly on AM radio. Come and Get It debuted in the 1970 Peter Seller / Ringo Starr movie The Magic Christian.
Perfection was a deep cut on the Straight Up album. I was a rabid perfectionist, tortured by an imperfect world.
This song saved me.
Pete Ham, Badfinger, Straight Up, 1971
There is no real perfection
There’ll be no perfect day
Just love is our connection
The truth in what we say
There’s no good revolution
Just power changing hands
There is no straight solution
Except to understand
So listen to my song of life
You don’t need a gun or a knife
Successful conversation will take you very far
There is no real perfection
There’ll be no perfect man
Just peace is our connection
For giving all you can
There’s no good kind of killing
Just power taking life
It’s all good blood that’s spilling
To make a bigger knife
So listen to my song of life
You don’t need a gun or a knife
Successful conversation can take you very far
So listen to my song of life
You don’t need a gun or a knife
Successful conversation can take you very far
Successful conversation will take you very far
Successful conversation will take you very far
The video below features Pete Ham’s demo version.
Available from iTunes, Amazon, and all the usual places.
See also: Breaking Badfinger
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Contrafactual 