Lonesome Loser It's A Long Way There Little River Band

Lonesome Loser Album: First Under The Wire (1979)
It's A Long Way There Album: Little River Band (1975)
by the Little River Band

Perhaps you've heard about the lonesome loser. Unlucky at love, he keeps trying, but keeps getting the same results. What he really needs is a good, hard look at himself so he can see that a woman won't solve his problems. He needs to pull himself together before he has any chance of finding love.

Most LRB hits were written by founding members Graham Goble, Beeb Birtles or Glenn Shorrock, but "Lonesome Loser" was written by guitarist David Briggs, who joined in 1976 after the band's second album.

Little River Band are known for their vocal harmonies, which are front and center on this song. It opens with a distinctive a cappella intro by Goble, Birtles and Shorrock that makes the song pop when it comes on the radio or in a playlist. The chorus, which is where the harmonies take place, shows up four times in the song, including off the top. It's an effective hook that puts a distinctive stamp on Lonesome Loser.

Lonesome Loser uses a lot of gambling imagery to tell the story of the lonesome loser, who staked his heart and lost. His adversary is the "Queen of Hearts," who will always win this game of love. The same year this song was released (1979), Dave Edmunds had a UK hit with a song called "Queen of Hearts" that used the same metaphor. That song became an American hit when Juice Newton covered it in 1981.

Like "Reminiscing," Lonesome Loser was a huge hit in America, but far less successful in LRB's native Australia, where it peaked at #19.

When asked if there was concern about releasing a negative-sounding song as a single, Little River Band lead singer Glenn Shorrock replied: "It's something that I thought of, briefly. But it's such a strong song and it's about redemption, as well. That didn't really hinder that as the release of that as a single."

"It's a Long Way There" was released in August 1976 as the band's debut international single and in October 1976 as the third single from the group's self-titled studio album.

It's a Long Way There peaked at number 35 on the Australian Kent Music Report singles chart, and peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's first top 40 hit in the United States.

Written by Graeham Goble in 1972, It's a Long Way There was inspired by his regular trips from Melbourne to visit his family in Adelaide. The song was initially performed by Goble's earlier band Mississippi, which included three subsequent members of Little River band: Goble, Beeb Birtles and Derek Pellicci. Ric Formosa played lead guitar, Glenn Shorrock sang lead vocals, with Goble and Birtles providing harmonies.