Searching for (and Finding) Jonathan Richman

I was in the 10th grade when I first heard a Jonathan Richman song called “Hospital.” Over a minimalist beat, a sad, glum singer crooned: 

“When you get out of the hospital
Let me back into your life.
I can’t stand what you do,
I’m in love with your eyes.” 

As an angsty 14-year-old, this song spoke to me. I listened to it over and over again. But it would take a few years until I discovered Jonathan Richman and his band The Modern Lovers’ full discography.  

When I went to college, a fellow student introduced me to more of Jonathan Richman’s music. I quickly became obsessed with the song “Roadrunner,” an upbeat and fun track that I enjoyed playing while I drove my 1995 Ford Escort to my local grocery store, Stop & Shop. Jonathan sang: 

“Roadrunner, roadrunner.
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Stop ‘n’ Shop
With the radio on.”

Years later, I found another great song of his, “That Summer Feeling,” which I’ve been hooked on since 2020. It brings back so many childhood memories of spending countless hours with friends in the humid heat, drinking water from hoses to cool down and catching fireflies in our hands. Who couldn’t relate to these beautiful, sweet lyrics? 

“When there’s things to do not because you gotta
When you run for love not because you oughta
When you trust your friends with no reason, nada
The joy I’ve named shall not be tamed 

And that summer feeling is gonna haunt you one day in your life.”

I was such a fan of Jonathan Richman. For many of us, this Jewish musician from Massachusetts was an absolute legend. 

I was such a fan of Jonathan Richman. For many of us, this Jewish musician from Massachusetts was an absolute legend. 

He formed the Modern Lovers in Boston as a 21-year-old in 1970. By 1972, they had become popular enough to attract the interest of Warner Bros. Records. The Modern Lovers entered a Los Angeles studio with producer John Cale, a member of the Velvet Underground, one of Richman’s biggest early influences, to record their debut album.

That album was not a commercial success — songs  proudly declaring a love for parents and a distaste for drugs over clamorous, primitive  proto-punk were a tough sell in the 1970s — but its influence far exceeded its sales. Joan Jett, the Sex Pistols and David Bowie covered Jonathan’s songs and two members of the Modern Lovers — keyboard player Jerry Harrison and drummer David Robinson — went on to join Talking Heads and the Cars, respectively. Frank Black, the lead singer and main songwriter for the Pixies, another Boston area band and one of my favorites, was influenced by Richman. 

But by the time the album was released, Richman had radically altered his sound, trading the blaring guitars and whiny vocals of “The Modern Lovers” for softer, much less aggressive songs that took their cues from early, pre-Beatles rock. Now known as Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, he crooned simple songs that could be romantic (“Important In Your Life”), childlike (“Ice Cream Man”), silly (“Here Come The Martian Martians”) or unclassifiable (“Egyptian Reggae”), accompanied by his own acoustic guitar and rudimental drumming. He’s probably best known as the singing narrator of the hit 1998 movie “There’s Something About Mary.” While he continued recording and touring in the 21st Century, it was easy to believe that Richman had dropped out of the music business and become a recluse. His most recent album, “Want to Visit My Inner House?,” is not available on any of the major streaming services.

Even today, he lives off the grid; Richman doesn’t use email and has no social media presence. Our interview was conducted in writing; I sent my questions to his publicist; she mailed them to Richman, who mailed back his answers, a process that stretched out over a few weeks. But Richman is now on tour and making a rare Los Angeles appearance at Zebulon, an intimate club in the arts district, for seven shows, December 13-17. Tickets are available on Zubulon’s website. 

Jewish Journal: Where are you living now? 

Jonathan Richman: I live about 100 miles north of Sacramento in a college town. 

JJ: How did you spend the pandemic? Was it a challenging time for you, especially as a touring musician? 

JR: I spent the pandemic mostly outdoors working on a bread oven and also a garden wall. I build these out of stone and brick. I apprenticed in the mid 1990’s at this. I take it dead serious. Anyway, it kept me far away from contagion. I’d come home after work at around 6 or 7 and hang out with my certain someone and I’d play guitar around the house and I’d walk around the block making up songs and stuff, taking a guitar with me. I still do that now. This really had nothing to do with the pandemic. I’m just sort of like that. So everything was fine for me during the pandemic and not so good for the neighbors. 

JJ: What inspires you these days? 

JR: So many things inspire me! On this last road trip (we tour about three or four times a year – two big ones and one or two little ones) I found at a used record shop a CD I really like, and me my drummer listened to it over and over. It’s called “Arabic Groove” and was put out by Putumayo Records probably about 10 or 15 years ago. It’s a collection of dance hits on the Middle Eastern scene. What great dance music! What gorgeous singing and graceful melodies! Yes! I listened to a lot of Reggaeton on the car radio too. You like that? It goes good (the rhythm, I mean) with a lot of the melodies I make up. I listen to stuff from India and Spain, too. Lots of stuff. 

JJ: How has the music business changed since you first started? 

JR: The music scene used to be about dancing. Sometimes they’d just say ‘live band’ under the ad for the “Seafood special, $4.95.” Now people take this stuff much more seriously – for better or for worse. But you still stand there and sing stuff. 

JJ: What did your Jewish practice look like when you were growing up? Did you go to synagogue/day school or Hebrew school? 

JR: I grew up in a suburb outside of Boston that was 25% Jewish. I was bar mitzvahed, like most of my friends. We went to Hebrew school after regular school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was part of the Temple Youth group too (U.S.Y.). The group leader warned the other kids to speak their minds before we had a group discussion about some Jewish issue. One time, he said to speak right up because “Jonathan dominates!” (He was friendly enough about it. I was just surprised.) I must have been bad. I mean, if even among wise-ass, nurtured-for higher-education suburban Jewish teenagers I dominated, I must have talked a blue streak! I wasn’t always well liked. But I had a sense of humor. 

JJ: Does your Judaism play into your work at all?

JR: Of course being Jewish has affected my music. My Uncle Nathan’s phrasing from the Passover Seder is probably still there.