Album: Dean Friedman (1977)

Charted: 26

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• Way on the other side of the Hudson
  Deep in the bosom of suburbia
  I met a young girl she sang mighty fine
  Tears on my pillow and Ave Maria
  
  Standing by the water fall in Paramus Park
  She was working for the friends of BAI
  She was collecting quarters in a paper cup
  She was looking for change and so was I
  She was a Jewish girl, I fell in love with her
  
  She wrote her number on the back of my hand
  I called her up, I was all out of breath
  I said, "Come hear me play in my rock and roll band"
  I took a shower and I put on my best blue jeans
  
  I picked her up in my new VW van
  She wore a peasant blouse with nothing underneath
  I said "Hi", she said, "Yeah, I guess I am"
  Ariel, Ariel
  
  We had a little time, we were real hungry
  We went to Dairy Queen for something to eat
  She had some onion rings, she had a pickle
  She forgot to tell me that she didn't eat meat
  
  I had a gig in the American Legion hall
  It was a dance for the Volunteer Ambulance Corps
  She was sitting in a corner against the wall
  She would smile and I melted all over the floor
  Ariel, Ariel
  
  I took her home with me, we watched some TV
  Annette Funicello and some guy going steady
  I started fooling around with the vertical hold
  We got the munchies and I made some spaghetti
  
  We sat and we talked into the night
  While channel two was signing off the air
  I found the softness of her mouth
  We made love, the bombs bursting in air
  Ariel, Ariel, Ariel, Ariel
  
  Way on the other side of the Hudson
  Deep in the bosom of suburbia
  I met a young girl
  She sang mighty fine
  Tears on my pillow and Ave Maria
  Tears on my pillow and Ave Maria
  Tears on my pillow and Ave Maria Writer/s: MICHAEL SMITH
  Publisher: Songtrust Ave
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

• Lee from Louisville KyDoes anyone know who played the saxophone in this recording of Ariel?
• Ray from Dallas, Tx"Ariel" was a huge hit in Chicago on Top 40 powerhouse WLS in the late summer of 1977. It peaked at #4 on their weekly survey and managed a respectable showing on the Big 89 of 1977, coming in at #60.
• Ekristheh from HalathI could swear I have heard a different concluding verse to this, in which the narrator marries Ariel, they have "a couple of kids" and she still sings in the park. Is there any truth to this or is it all the pot I was smoking when this came out?
• Jack from London, UkIn 1976 an AM/FM radio station launched in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands of the UK which was managed by an American guy and programmed by a Scot/Canadian guy. They had the idea of creating a station that sounded like a US commercial radio station. It was originally going to be called WABC (Wolverhampton and Black Country), but the regulator blocked that and it was called Beacon. Commercial radio had only begun in the UK in late 1973 and was strictly regulated in order to avoid American-sounding radio taking root. These two guys (Jay Oliver and Allen McKenzie respectively) managed to bend, and often break, the rules resulting in a great station playing a lot of American chart music, album tracks and spectacular American-sounding jingle packages. They even broadcast the "Billboard American Hot 100" every Sunday night a day after its publication such were the contacts Jay had in the States. They introduced and promoted lots of American artists like Poco, the Eagles and of course Dean Friedman. I remember hearing Ariel on their daily showcase of new artists/songs called the Beacon Ballot where listeners would phone in and vote for their favourite. Not only did Ariel win its heat, it also won the weekly ballot and was automatically put on the play list. They championed Dean Friedman and it would appear that other radio stations picked it up and it became a UK hit along with his others. He tours the UK every year (obviously cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic) and always does à gig in Wolverhampton where he's fondly remembered. The radio station was treated with closure in 1979 by the regulator for breaking the rules and Jay and Allen had to resign, but for those three years from 1976 to 1979 we were treated to radio station that was as close to a US West Coast sounding radio station as anyone could get away with producing.
• Cliff from NjNice article. However, the contention that "In this song, Ariel is from 'the other side of the Hudson.' For the Paramus area of New Jersey, that would be Yonkers or The Bronx on the other side of the Hudson river." is obviously incorrect.
  
  Ariel is a Jersey girl, as Friedman confirms when he says she is "an amalgamation of all these cute teenage girls in peasant blouses I had a crush on growing up in Paramus." In the present of the song, he's in New York, telling about a time in the past in New Jersey --way on the other side of the Hudson, deep in the bosom of suburbia. The whole story takes place in NJ -- OBVIOUSLY!
  
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 3rd 1977, Dean Friedman performed "Ariel" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
  Five months earlier on April 10th, 1977 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #86; and on June 19th, 1977 it peaked at #26 {for 1 week} and spent 22 weeks on the Top 100...
  As already stated it was his only Top 100 record, but in the United Kingdom he had three records make the singles chart; "Woman of Mine" {52 in 1977}, "Lucky Stars" {#3 in 1978}, and "Lydia" {#31 in 1978}...
  Mr. Friedman will celebrate his 60th birthday come next May 23rd {2015}.

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