History
The album is mostly a collection of tracks originally intended for release in 1977 under the title Commercial Breaks. The original 1977 release was held back because of disputes between Harper and EMI over funding and content and resultantly, it was not until the release of Loony on the Bus in 1988 that most of the tracks became publicly available.
Seven songs are taken from the original track listing for Commercial Breaks (tracks: 1,2,3,6,9,10,& 11), two songs still remain exclusive to this release (tracks 5 & 8), and two tracks (4 & 7) though exclusive at the time of release, would later be released as bonus tracks on the eventual 1994 CD release of Commercial Breaks.
The albums title was inspired by a review of one of Harper's earlier albums in a women's magazine. The reviewer stated that Harper reminded her of "...the loony on the bus".
Read more about this topic: Loony On The Bus
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman.”
—Josephine K. Henry, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)