Graham Parker and the Rumour, “Long Emotional Ride” (2012): One Track Mind

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There’s a broken majesty, a scraggly hopefulness, surrounding “Long Emotional Ride” — like a rebirth after a lengthy time gone.

Graham Parker talks about the lessons learned, some of them hard ones. Yet the promise of home, like Gatsby’s shimmering light, remains. He’s back, however improbably, however long it’s taken, with the Rumour.

How long? Check out the new lyric video above, which finds Parker — about 2:30 minutes in — featured on a Shepard Fairey-style street poster, but instead of the familiar Barack Obama theme of “Hope,” the message is simply: LONG.

This track is part of Three Chords Good, Parker’s first collaboration with the Rumour since The Up Escalator, back in 1980, and illustrates the latent emotional power and very real musical affection that this relationship always possessed.

Thanks for this long-hoped-for reunion goes to director Judd Apatow, who wanted to include the band as themselves in the upcoming film “This is 40,” which opens on December 21, 2012. All of a sudden, something — something thought long gone — was rekindled.

“Long Emotional Ride,” in fact, turns on a telling phrase: “I realized I’ve been surrounded by friends, all of the time … all of the time.”

Parker and the Rumour are currently in the midst of a month-long tour, with a series of shows through December 19, 2012 at St. Paul, Minnesota.

Nick DeRiso