"big and heat and the"

Separated at birth: The Big Heat and Peg And Pete And Me?

I've been listening to Mosquitos and The Big Heat constantly since I first heard Stan Ridgway back in 1989, and eight years later or so I noticed something interesting: The Big Heat and Peg And Pete And Me are almost the same song! Progression-wise, I mean. They have the same sort of stanza, followed by the same sort of pre-chorus, then the same sort of repetition in the chorus, and the same sort of bridge. The only real trick is skipping the third stanza in Peg And Pete And Me and going straight for the bridge. (That, and shuffling the "extra line" around during the chorus.)

I suppose this sort of thing is inevitable; unless your style is all over the map, you're bound to produce two songs with a high degree of similarity. Me, I just think it's fun to sing along to one with the lyrics of the other. And now, you can too! Just put on The Big Heat, and sing along with the lyrics below. I've mapped each line from The Big Heat to its equivalent lyrics from Peg And Pete And Me. The easiest way to play around with this, by the way, is to pop in your copy of Songs That Made This Country Great––'cause on that CD they're right next to each other (tracks 12 and 13!).

I've made some of the words bold, which is a cue for meter. For instance, this line from The Big Heat:

And everybody wants another piece of the pie
matches this line from Peg And Pete And Me:
Every night when the lights go out Pete drinks his booze and then he passes out
You should sing Every when Stan sings every, and Pete when Stan sings piece. All set? Then let's go!

When Stan sings this...

you sing this.

The Big Heat

Peg And Pete And Me
The room was dark, it looked like someone had to get out fast I can feel the life runnin' out of me workin' here at Pete's
A window open by the fire escape Two years ago it was just the thing, workin' cars part time every week
How long have you been following this guy, the bellboy asked I met 'em both at a drag race--they both dressed pretty snappy that day
Not long enough, 'cause we got here too late Pete's wife Peg, she put the make on me while Pete just looked the other way
And everybody wants another piece of the pie Every night when the lights go out Pete drinks his booze and then he passes out
today, he said I hear a footstep outside my door and then I remember what I started working here for
You gotta watch the ones who always keep their hands clean Now tell me what would you do if you were in my shoes?
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
There's someone followin' you One and one and one make three
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
Step aside, we're comin' through One and one and one make three
Well, we followed him from Tuscon, ended up in Baton Rouge Now no one can say what your future may hold or what your life will have in store
We trailed him with information by We went home that night, Pete passed out on the couch and then Peg pulled me down on the floor
A woman he knew in Barstow that would like to see him dead Well, I know now she knew what she was doing--forbidden fruit, but what the hell, I bit
That was four weeks ago--well, maybe five That's all it took--my fate was sealed--that night the flame was lit
And everybody wants another piece of the pie Every night when the lights go out Pete drinks his booze and then he passes out
today, he said I hear a footstep outside my door and then I remember what I started working here for
You gotta watch the ones who always keep their hands clean Now tell me what would you do if you were in my shoes?
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
There's someone followin' you One and one and one make three
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
Step aside, we're comin' through One and one and one make three
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
There's someone followin' you One and one and one make three
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
Step aside, we're comin' through One and one and one make three
A block away he wondered if he'd left behind a clue The next morning, when I woke up, Peg was gone--the detective said
The front page of the paper dated 1992 "Son, you gotta come downtown with me 'cause we know you killed Pete dead"
He remembered when he used to be the chairman of the board The jury found me guilty and sent me up for ninety-nine to life
But that was when the world was young and long before the war And if there's any advice I can give from this cell, never trust a rich dead man's wife
And everybody wants another piece of the pie Every night when the lights go out Pete drinks his booze and then he passes out
today, he said I hear a footstep outside my door and then I remember what I started working here for
You gotta watch the ones who always keep their hands clean Now tell me what would you do if you were in my shoes?
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
There's someone followin' you One and one and one make three
It's the big heat Peg and Pete and me
Step aside, we're comin' through One and one and one make three
"Big And Heat And The" / Larry Hastings / larry@hastings.org