The Story Behind One of Blondie's Iconic Songs

We can never have a complete discussion of rock without bringing up a few of rock's notable women. Blondie's Debborah "Debbie" Harry is one of the most significant.
Blondie1977.jpg

Before all else, what's in the name?

 Many fans thought that the name Blondie was simply a name Stein and Harry coined together in 1974, but the truth is that the name from freight truck drivers who discovered her and started saying "Hey, Blonde!" every time they saw her.

After a slow start the band achieved international attention with their third LP, Parallel Lines (1978, pictured below). The album became known for its string of singles including the worldwide number 1 hit, Heart of Glass.
Blondie - Parallel Lines.jpg
The album's title is the title of a discarded song written by Harry, but that song, nor the whole album, is not the subject of this post...

One Way or Another

 The fourth and final single from the record, the song's subject was long questioned. However, in an Entertainment Weekly interview, Harry explained that the genesis behind the song came from a stalk from one of her exes some time after they broke up. Harry told Entertainment Weekly (and I quote)."I was actually stalked by a nutjob so it came out of a not-so-friendly personal event. But I tried to inject a little bit of levity into it to make it more lighthearted. I think in a way that's a normal kind of survival mechanism. You know, just shake it off, say one way or another, and get on with your life. Everyone can relate to that and I think that's the beauty of it."

The song reached #23 in the US as well as being a top download in 2013 in the UK despite never being issued as a single there.

Other versions

 The song appeard on the US version of their 1999 live album Live as a version without the audience sound. This version became used in the movie Scoops. The very live album was issued on the opposite side of the pond as Livid and features the actual live recording.

As well, the song also made the cut on many greatest hit packages, and gets (light) rotation on classic rock.

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