Side one featured the hit single "Sing for the Day" which reached #41 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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6) Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) - The first single released from the album and was available in two 7" vinyl formats, one with the b-side "Superstars", a track from The Grand Illusion, and a second single with the instrumental album track "Aku-Aku" as the b-side. Some printings of the single were also issued in a translucent blue vinyl, which are now highly sought after collectors items. The song was composed by Tommy Shaw after hearing the sound of his motor boat engine when it failed to start. He said it sounded like a good riff to a song. The song reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.It was also featured on the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati on the episodes "Fish Story" and "Johnny Comes Back". A re-recorded version has been released as downloadable content for the Rock Band video game. In other words, the song is a freaking classic.
Give me a job, give me security
Give me a chance to survive
I'm just a poor soul in the unemployment line
My God, I'm hardly alive
My mother and father, my wife and my friends
I see them laugh in my face
But I've got the power, and I've got the will
I'm not a charity case
I'll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my eye to the keyhole
If it takes all that to be just what I am
Well, I'm gonna be a blue collar man
Make me an offer that I can't refuse
Make me respectable, man
This is my last time in the unemployment line
So like it or not I'll take those
Long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my back to the wall
If it takes all that to be just what I am
Well, I'm gonna be a blue collar man
Keeping my mind on a better life
Where happiness is only a heartbeat away
Paradise, can it be all I heard it was
I close my eyes and maybe I'm already there
I'll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my back to the wall
All that be just what I am
Well, I'm gonna be a blue collar man
You don't understand
I'll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my eye to the keyhole
If it takes all that be just who I am
Well I vow to be a blue collar, gotta be a blue collar,
Gonna be a Blue collar man.
Believe it.
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7) Queen of Spades - Now here's something you don't hear me say often, but this song is a rocker by Dennis DeYoung. Yes, I said DDY. Think along the lines of maybe "Suite Madame Blue" and you get the idea. I always thought he should have done more songs like this before losing his mind in the "Barry Manilow territory". Oh well, enjoy it while you can.
Day into night she's with me
How sweet is her warm embrace
Safe in the scent of jasmine
So safe in her gold and lace
Mornings I find, she's left me
So cold so alone, but aware
I try to escape, she finds me
Oh run though I may, she's there, there, there, there, there...
Luck is a lady whose smile is as cold as a stone
She'll bring you things, many things you might never have known
But when your die is cast she'll have the final laugh at you
She'll lock you in a duel, where you come out the fool
Beware of the Queen of Spades
Her black widow's curse might find you yet
Beware of a love that you will regret
Her love means only your death
Day into night she's with me
Turn of a card, she's there
The first time is free, you know
But from now on, pay me, me, me, me, me...
Beware of the Queen of Spades
Her black widow's curse might find you yet
Beware of a love that you will regret
Her love means only your death
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8) Renegade - Seriously, the most bad-ass song Tommy has ever wrote. It lulls you in with those opening vocals, then kicks you right in the teeth. It was the third (!) single released from the album and reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Some pressings of the single were made with translucent, red vinyl. Years after its release it remains a staple on classic rock radio playlists, and is usually the final song Styx plays at its concerts.The song is a first-person narrative of an outlaw, captured for a bounty, who recognizes that he is about to be executed for his criminal activities. The execution will be by hanging, as the outlaw laments, "Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long."
Since 2001, the song has become a de facto theme song for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. The song is frequently played on the Heinz Field jumbotron, accompanied by a video featuring members of the defense. According to lore, during the 2008 season that saw the Steelers win Super Bowl XLIII, the defense was able to keep the opposing team from scoring nine times out of the ten times the song was played. On Sunday, January 11, 2009 Styx performed the national anthem and sang the introduction to "Renegade" before the Steelers-San Diego Chargers playoff game. They also performed the song in between the 2nd and 3rd period of the 2011 Winter Classic.
Oh, Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Law man has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home
Oh, Mama I can hear you a-cryin', you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is comin' down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up, the noose is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This will be the end today of the wanted man
Oh, Mama, I've been years on the lam and had a high price on my head
Lawman said, 'Get him dead or alive.' Now it's for sure he'll see me dead
Dear Mama, I can hear you cryin', you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is comin' down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up, the noose is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
The judge will have revenge today on the wanted man
Oh, Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Hangman is comin' down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up, the noose is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This will be the end today of the wanted man
The wanted man
And I don't wanna go, oh, no
Oh, Mama, don't let them take me
No, no, no, I can't go
Hey, hey
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9) Pieces of Eight - Title track obviously with DDY singing on piano. This is a great song and almost like the "Come Sail Away" of this album from the song structure. Never released as a single, but I always felt it was one of the better songs on the album.
It's six o'clock
Good morning sounds are everywhere
The warmth of spring, a gentle breeze blows through my hair
I hurry through my life never stopping to see
How beautiful it was meant to be
I'm just a prisoner in a king's disguise
Broken dreams as we shuffle by
It's six o'clock it's quitting time I'm done for the day
Out on the streets I overheard a lady say
We now have everything or so people say
But now this emptiness haunts me every day
We seek the lion's share never knowing why
Come alive spread your wings and fly
Pieces of eight
The search for the money tree
Don't cash your freedoms in for gold
Pieces of eight
Can't buy you everything
Don't let it turn your heart to stone
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10) Aku-Aku - This is a mostly instrumental piece, which serves as a postlude for the previous song. Most of the videos I found had the last two songs combined. The only lyrics are the words "aku aku" whispered at certain times and it leaves you with an eerie feeling as the album closes.
This explains the title of the last track, along with the images used on the album cover.
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Pieces of Eight reached #6 on the Billboard Pop Album chart, and had three hit singles (all sung by Tommy Shaw I might add). It was the band's second consecutive triple platinum selling album.
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