Wow, does it get more early 80’s than seeing a one-hit wonder on the weekly music recap show “Solid Gold?” In this video we have Rocky Burnette lip-syncing  his smash from May of 1980, “Tired Of Toeing The Line” while the Solid Gold Dancers gyrate around him in powder blue leotards.

I especially like the inclusion of the show’s intro (with a weird one second clip of Bill Cosby for some reason) followed by an intro that just barely gets in before Burnette starts “singing.”  And then, for some reason host Dionne Warwick walks out in the middle of the song, introduces her other guests for the evening, and then exits so Burnette can apparently finish the song. We even have that great forgotten VHS tape warp at the top of the frame. (Someone forgot to adjust the tracking!) Not sure how I found this song, but now that I have, it’s become an ear splinter in my head where it’s played endlessly all day, so I thought I would put in your head and maybe you will play it for your family and co-workers today so even more people get it!  It also happens to be a great sing-along song, so for fun here are some of the opening lyrics, just in case you forgot:

Baby, I’m tired of toeing the line.
Don’t know why you want to jump on me,
Baby, baby, baby, and make-a me cry.
Baby, I, I’m gonna find myself someone new,
Someone who will be true,
But no more toeing the line.

Here’s a little bit more on the song from Wikipedia:

“Tired of Toein’ the Line” is a song by Rocky Burnette, who co-wrote it with Ron Coleman, former bass player of the Brothers Grim and The Everly Brothers. It was performed by Burnette, and contains lyrics detailing an imminent breakup from the point of view of a man who no longer wants to toe the line. After first appearing on the UK Official Singles Chart Top 75 in November 1979, it became an international hit after its release in the United States in May 1980, and was Burnette’s only hit single.

By peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, “Tired of Toein’ the Line” tied “You’re Sixteen”, by Rocky’s father Johnny Burnette, as the highest-charting Hot 100 single from a member of the Burnette family. The single was number one in Australia (for two weeks) in June 1980.