I wish I were better at coming up with titles. There’s few things more satisfying than a great title for an album, a movie or a book, something that immediately grabs attention and is smart and memorable enough that it engenders goodwill right off the bat. There’s some added pressure with a song, of course, because the hope and expectation is that the cleverness of the title will fully and cleanly carry over to the track, especially if the title is actually used in the song. It’s easy enough to pile up an assemblage of clever words if they don’t necessarily need to correspond to any of the lyrics. It’s far more impressive if the witty title is also the hook of the song, and if that hook is crazy catchy, all the better.

All of this is preface to celebrating the musical highpoint of Australia’s Mental As Anything. “If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?” was a single released by the band back in 1981, just a couple years after they burst onto the scene in their homeland with a song that, perhaps appropriately for the country’s reputation, celebrated drinking while also offering a hint of the risqué. As seems to be practically required for Australian band’s for this era, “If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?” is smart, spirited, witty and ridiculously infectious. It’s the sort of song that makes crafting rock-solid pop gems seem simultaneously effortless and like one of the greatest endeavors a soul can take on. It’s warmly humorous, but ably avoid being the sort of joke that will wear out its welcome.

Mental As Anything never really got much of a foothold in the States, although college radio did make a little room for them and our modest station in central Wisconsin was especially susceptible to their charms. I liked a lot of their music, but it was hard to deny that the best any of those other songs were ever going to achieve was runner-up status. This song was always going to be the favorite, no matter how many times I played it.

Mental As Anything, “If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?”

(Disclaimer: After already writing all this out, I discovered that you can properly purchase a copy of this song at your favorite local, independently-owned record store, all long as they have access to pricey imports. For all I know, it could be on all sorts of obscurity-laden compilations too. The point it: I didn’t confirm the non-availability of this track as well as is the norm around here. Hopefully, my effusive praise of the song will help make up for the transgression. If anyone with due authority to request its removal contacts me with such a request, I will gladly and promptly comply.)