From ‘Deep in the Bosom of Suburbia’ Came ‘Ariel’ by Dean Friedman
- edgarstreetbooks
- Feb 24
- 2 min read
'200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs Vol. 2' Book Excerpt
Frank Mastropolo
“Ariel” was a №26 hit for Dean Friedman in 1977. It opens with the lyric, “Way on the other side of the Hudson / Deep in the bosom of suburbia.”
“I really think it was the opening line that launched the song,” Friedman explained in Songfacts. “I wrote it while I was living in the Bronx, but most of my family was in Paramus, New Jersey, and a lot of my friends still lived there. And so you’re conscious that there are two sides to the Hudson.
“I was also conscious that where I grew up was very much this side, supposedly idyllic suburbia, the home of shopping centers, the Garden State Plaza, and the Bergen Mall. The specific details were pretty common to life growing up in the bosom of suburbia. In terms of Ariel herself, it was really an amalgamation of all these cute teenage girls in peasant blouses I had a crush on growing up in Paramus.”
Friedman recorded “Ariel” for Lifesong, a small independent label. “They liked the song, but after I delivered it, I was called in for a very serious meeting where they warned me that stations in the South would not play it because of the line ‘She was a Jewish girl / I fell in love with her.’
“So when they released the single version they had me change that line. The replacement line was, ‘Her name was Ariel / I fell in love with her.’ It was my first single off my first album. I had no influence or leverage.
One regret I have is that I let them change the single. In any case, stations in the South refused to play the edited version and they played the full album cut with ‘Jewish girl’ in it.”
Friedman followed “Ariel” with “Lucky Stars,” a Top 10 hit in the UK that failed to chart in the US. “I am not a one-hit wonder,” said Friedman. “I’m proud of ‘Ariel.’ It’s a good song. But I did not stop writing in 1977.”
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs Vol. 2, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
Comments