The Continued Relevance Of 'Walls Come Tumbling Down'

A couple of years back it became apparent that, while adults are big consumers of music which in past decades would have remained the preserve of teenagers and even MPs felt obliged to list their favourite pop artists, there was a demand for pop music to be played that people in their late 30s, 40s and even 50s remembered from when they were that bit younger.  This was seen on television with the popularity of 'Top of the Pops 2' and on numerous radio stations with programmes, often on a Sunday, presumably to appeal to listeners in that age bracket at home with their families, featuring music from the punk era and the 1980s.  The persistent nostalgia for the 1980s and the parallels between the economic and political situations of that time (especially in the UK) and now have only contributed further to this trend. Of course, there are songs that have never really gone away, but with the extent of this programming on radio with numerous 'golden hour' or 'time tunnel' programmes too, many forgotten gems are being thrust back into our memories.

One song that I heard probably for the first time in 20 years was 'Walls Come Tumbling Down' (1985) by The Style Council.  The Style Council lasted 1983-9, having 16 Top 40 hits but no No.1s. Interestingly they combined a somewhat at times overly polished, self-consciously snappy image with songs that were either almost like easy-listening, notably, 'Long Hot Summer' (1983), almost 'power' pop songs like 'Shout To The Top' (1984) to those like 'Walls Come Tumbling Down' which were very political.  The most prominent member of the group was Paul Weller (1958-) who also wrote 'Walls Come Tumbling Down'.  By the time he did, he was already very successful from his career with The Jam (1972-82; recording from 1977; 18 Top 40 hits including No. 1s in the UK) who had had a Mod style with a support for Britishness but also often challenging lyrics to social and political issues.  The strength of many of their songs was carried on into some of The Style Council's work with almost classic styling that seemed to refer back to music of the 1960s referenced by The Jam's style.  Saying this, the 'Sound Affects' (1980) album had almost psychaedelic elements, almost as if, like The Beatles, The Jam had evolved into this phase.  The politics of The Style Council was far more apparent than even in songs like 'Eton Rifles' (1979) and 'Town Called Malice' (1982).  I have been tempted however, to write how relevant I feel those songs remain recalling 1980s problems now we face so many of them again in the 2010s.

Anyway, in The Style Council, Paul Weller's left-wing political stance, presumably shared with band members Mick Talbot (keyboard, co-founder), Dee C. Lee (vocals; Weller's wife 1988-94) and Steve White (drums), became more apparent.  Weller was involved with both The Council Collective in December 1984 a band which raised funds for the striking coal miners and then in Red Wedge (1985-90) an umbrella organisation led by Weller, Billy Bragg and Jimmy Sommerville which aimed to raise awareness and funds through concerts to help prevent the Conservatives winning their third consecutive election victory at the 1987 election, a task at which they failed.  Weller is rather resentful of this period feeling he concentrated too much on the politics rather than the music, possibly contributing to the decline in popularity of The Style Council, tensions with record companies and its break-up.  However, in my eyes and I am sure of many others who lived through the 1980s we were grateful that they put in the effort to produce something that challenged the enduring Thatcher regime and provided music which was more than simply consumerist, peddling and reinforcing the anti-social trends of the Thatcherite greed era.

Weller has continued to have a very successful musical career and though he may be uneasy with some of the activities he was involved with in the past, he retains immense credibility both musically and for his political record.  I would be very happy if someone re-released or covered this now.  Given the kind of semi-folk revival led by people like Mumford and Sons, perhaps there are groups/individuals out there who could release something like this.  I do not know enough about their politics to know if it would appeal and perhaps these days record companies are far too much part of the exploitative sector of society to even countenance allowing a song like this back to see the light of day.

Unlike some of the political tracks of the 1980s, this one is more timeless.  If you do not know 'Number 10' refers to 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the prime minister.  These days were are used to songs having expletives that have to be bleeped or tuned out, but for the opening line to feature the word 'crap' which was coming into usage in the UK (from the USA) at the time, it was a forceful startling opening.  I guess if you recorded it these days the references to 'colour TV' and 'video machine' and certainly to 'H.P.', i.e. hire purchase, a way of buying items on credit which was pretty dated even by the 1980s, would have to be revised, but I am sure you could get DVD, smart phone and credit card in there somewhere.  The sentiments about consumerism remain as valid, how it has become the 'opiate of the people' in the UK in particular.  The point about dangling jobs 'like a donkey's carrot' is certainly applicable in 2011 as is 'they take the profits/you take the blame': it could have been written specifically to refer to the banking crisis.  Similarly the attempts by government and employers to provoke division among ordinary people by designating some as 'undeserving' or 'scroungers' continues to be a policy.

The whole song certainly could be a rallying cry for those students who protested and those who rioted earlier this year.  I fear even more than in the 1980s when there were still memories of student protests of the 1960s and trade union ones of the 1970s, now people assume that protest is simply criminal, a perception almost the entire media and certainly all political parties put effort in portraying it as.  To adopt such a passive attitude is to let them abuse you without even a fight.  Anyway, for anyone who has never heard the lyrics of 'Walls Come Tumbling Down' or for those who like me, they had become a distant memory, here they are for perusal and discussion.  However, I do suggest that you listen to the original if not least to hear Paul Weller really belt it out ably assisted by Dee C. Lee.

'Walls Come Tumbling Down' - The Style Council
You don’t have to take this crap
You don’t have to sit back and relax
You can actually try changing it.
I know we’ve always been taught to rely
Upon those in authority -
But you never know, until you try,
How things just might be,
If we came together so strongly.

Are you going try to make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt?
You see things can change -
Yes and walls can come tumbling down!
Governments crack and systems fall
’cause unity is powerful -
Lights go out - walls come tumbling down!


The competition is a colour TV
We’re on still pause with the video machine
That keep you slave to the H.P.
Until the unity is threatend by
Those who have and who have not -
Those who are with and those who are without
And dangle jobs like a donkey’s carrot -
Until you don’t know where you are.
Are you going to realise
The class war’s real and not mythologized?
And like Jericho - you see, walls can come tumbling down!


Are you going to be threatened by
The public enemy at Number 10?
Those who play the power game:
They take the profits - you take the blame.
When they tell you there’s no rise in pay
Are you goning to try and make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt?
You see things can change -
Yes and walls can come tumbling down!

P.P.
I must say I am sometimes heartened by what I can find on the internet.  Surprisingly I have found the lyrics to 'Soul Deep' the only single released by The Council Collective, you can even find footage of their performance of it on 'Top of the Pops' which seems pretty incredible now given how the striking miners were being condemned as the 'enemy within' at the times and civil liberties were being flouted in an attempt to break the strike.  I include it here for interest's sake.  I do wonder if you would ever see anything similar performed on a television pop show (not that there are many left) these days; certainly I doubt it would ever appear on SkyTV given the Murdoch connection.  The reference to death I presume, refers to expenditure at the time on cruise and trident nuclear missiles.  The TUC is the Trades Union Congress, the umbrella body for British trade unions which was ambivalent towards the strike given that an official secret ballot for strike action had never been held.  It is as critical of the Labour Movement as it is of the Conservative government.  There is also reference to the North-South Divide in British society, more apparent than ever in the 1980s.  The reference to oppression by employers

'Soul Deep' - The Council Collective
Getcha mining soul deep - with a lesson in history
There's people fighting for their communities
Don't say this struggle - does not involve you.
If you're from the working class, this is your struggle too.
If they spent more on life as they do on death,
We might find the money to make industry progress.
There's mud in the waters - there's lies upon the page;
There's blood on the hillsides and they're not getting paid.
There's brother 'gainst brother - there's fathers against sons
But as for solidarity, I don't see none.
(Let's change that - let's fight back)

Going on 10 months now - will it take another 10?
Living on the breadline - with what some people send.
Just where is the backing from the TUC?
If we aren't united there can only be defeat.
Think of all those brave men - women and children alike,
Who built the unions so others might survive
In better conditions - than abject misery
Not supporting the miners - betrays that legacy
There's brother 'gainst brother - there's fathers against sons:
Let's change that - let's fight back!

Up North the temperature's rising;
Down South she's wine and dining.
We can't afford to let the government win:
It means death to the trade unions
And the cash it costs to close 'em
Is better spent trying to keep 'em open.
Try to feel the pain in those seeds planted
Now are the things that we take for granted
Like the power to strike if we don't agree
With the bosses that make those policies
That keep us down and keep us dumb
So don't settle for less than the Number One!

The Most Dystopian Pop Song

Last month I was walking around a large branch of Marks & Spencer, the clothing retailer which for many years has also sold housewares and food.  The customer profile of the store is predominantly people aged 55-75, so born sometime between 1936-1956, and in their twenties 1956-1985.  Thus, I guess that it was unsurprising that the music playing in the store was from the late 1960s which falls pretty much in the period when the bulk of the customers were aware of the popular music scene or those songs were still lingering on radio play lists.  Currently it seems to fit with the styles in the store.  Much of the women's wear is based on 1970s styles, making the wearers resemble the character of Margot from 'The Good Life' (1975-8) but in homewares a lot of crockery has a more style and especially iconography of the mid-1960s, with lots of emphasis on London, the kind of thing you might expect to see in Mrs. Peel's flat in 'The Avengers' (1961-9; Peel era: 1965-8). Of course, not everyone in there was over 55, but interestingly there is a lot of cross-generational shopping groups, notably mothers shopping with daughters and quite often with grandchild too.

Anyway, I was walking around browsing to the sounds of 'Waterloo Sunset' (1967) by The Kinks and then 'In The Year 2525' (1968; though it did not chart until 1969/70) by Zager and Evans, a real oddity of 1960s pop music which rather jarred with the jolly crockery and summer shades of clothing.  However, I guess it is supposed to be background music rather than you actually paying attention to it.  It is interesting how the record has endured despite its very bleak message.  The record was produced by Denny Zager and Rick Evans from Nebraska along with Dave Trupp and Mark Dalton, collectively known as Zager and Evans.  It was written in 1964 and recorded in 1968 but it took over a year to get into the charts, but reach number 1 in the USA and the UK.  By 1970 the single had sold over 4 million copies and to date it has sold 10 million.  It effectively became a 'one-hit wonder' as the follow-up single, 'Mr. Turnkey' was too bleak for customers to stomach being about about a rapist who nails his own wrists to a prison cell wall.

I accept that 'In The Year 2525' probably fitted in with the futuristic feel of the period, it reached the top of the US charts at the time the manned mission arrived on the Moon.  However, it is a bleak pondering of the future of mankind, and, as one might expect from two men who met at the Nebraska Wesleyan University, it actually has religious aspects to it.  I doubt that many listeners actually considered the lyrics very deeply and that like 'Spirit In The Sky' (1969) by Norman Greenbaum with its clearly Christian message and 'My Sweet Lord' (1970), the George Harrison version, the only Hare Krishna focused song ever to enter the charts (to my knowledge) the distinctiveness of the music simply carries the listerner along.

'In The Year 2525' is an example of how to draw the listener in.  It starts very slowly with the vocalist's voice dominant: 'In the year 2525/ if man is still alive / and if woman can survive / they may find ...'  (the year is said as 'twenty-five, twenty-five'), then for the rest of the song until the conclusion, it moves through at a break-neck speed, jumping from century to century pondering all the problems that man is likely to bring down on himself.  Given that it was written in 1964, it is pretty much ahead of its time.  I have read magazines from 1964 in which the damage to the ozone layer from CFCs in aerosols was warned about but it was 5-10 years before environmental concerns. 

It is not unusual for heavy metal and goth bands to record bleak songs, it is far more atypical for a pretty mainstream (though to the fringes of this, I accept) rock band to go with such a song.  It has been re-recorded by artists such as gothic Fields of the Nephilim, industrial Laibach, techno new romantics Visage, German electronic Project Pitchfork and kind of indie Ian Brown.  I do wonder what those versions sound like.  It would be interesting to find out as a different arrangement may not work because it lacked the operatic-style fast-paced drive of the original.

It is probably easiest if I lay out the entire lyrics and then comment on parts in turn.

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find...
In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, and say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing chew
Nobody's gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs not got nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then
Maybe he'll look around himself and say
'Guess it's time for the Judgement day'In the year 8510
God is gonna shake his mighty head
He'll either say 'I'm pleased where man has been'
Or tear it down and start again

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wondering if man is gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing

Now it's been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through the eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do or say
Is in the pill you took today ... [fade]

The song was written by Evans.  Many of the concerns are ones that we can identify as being part of 20th century science fiction.  The idea of a pill to give you your opinions is pretty much like 'better a gram than a damn' from 'Brave New World' (1932) by Aldous Huxley which is set in the year 2540.  Similarly that novel features children being grown in test tubes such as in the 'long glass tube' mentioned for 6565.  Commentators note that such concepts were not commonly discussed among the public at the time.  However, the book had sold well internationally and had been dramatised on CBS radio in the USA in 1956.  In addition, remember that Evans and Zager were university students in the early 1960s so would have been exposed, like many US teenagers and students to the extensive range of 'pulp' science fiction magazines of the time and science fiction novels and short stories.  The belief that, in the future that robots would take over so many chores was one that endured right through the 1960s and 1970s, so the sense of us becoming limp as robots did everything for us was again, a not overly-challenging suggestion. 

What is interesting is how already, in Zager and Evans's lifetimes so many of these things have become true.  If we think of Prozac and how many people have been prescribed it in the USA a country long obsessed with correcting the mental health of people.  Test-tube babies became a reality by the late 1970s and now we are even cloning sheep.  These things have been happening decades rather than centuries after the song.  Whilst household robots have not appeared, the 'limpness' of the human body is with us, notably in the USA where in 2009 all states had between 19-30% of their populations deemed to be obese, rather than simply overweight.  On average this means about something like 75 million Americans are obese.  The general comment about man taking out of the Earth and not putting back in, touches on the kind of environmental damage we have been witnessing for centuries, but notably through the late 19th century and the 20th century and is still continuing as flooding, global warming and acid rain show.

The song slows down for what is the final verse before the reprise.  It suggests that man will eliminate himself as the 'reigning' species.  It leaves it open whether God will clear it away instead.  From 7510 onwards God is shown considering whether to have judgement day.  It is interesting he ponders this for anothet two centuries, though I guess if you are eternal this is not very long.  I tend to envisage this rather than the Second Coming, something more like the Flood.  God promised humans that he would not repeat this, but the suggestion in the song is that humankind has so wasted the gift of Earth that it all needs to be cleaned out like a sewer.

I know this is only a pop song and not a philosophical consideration of the future of humankind.  However, it fascinates me that a song which rather than portraying fun or love but rather questions consumerism and technology and how this interacts with religion could be chart-topping.  It also seems a very ironic song to be playing in a shop which is pandering to consumerism, trying to get people to buy more and more.  I know Marks & Spencer tries to avoid exploitative production of its items and waste of the World's resources, but it is part of a consumerist system which actually is rapidly draining out so much.  I do wonder, sometimes if we will survive to 2125 let alone the year 2525.

The Most Contorted Lyrics in a Pop Song

This is one of these postings to which you quite legitimately say 'why did he suddenly start going on about that'. Well, the whole point of this blog was to extract the odd things that had been floating around in my brain and get them out of my system like the tablets of lead with curses or prayers that Romans would throw into sacred pools. Some of these things have been in my head only a short time and some, like today's have been there for many years.

I was driving across southern Hampshire yesterday lunchtime tuned to a local radio station and they had a feature in which they play three songs in a row by the same group or artist. The performers and the tunes selected are picked by listeners. Yesterday someone selected Toto as one member was performing locally this week. Someone once described the band to me as a 'super-group', i.e. not a spectactularly successful band but one that was made up of performers who had established careers of their own or in other groups. Toto was formed in 1977 of session musicians and peaked in success in the 1980s before breaking up in 2008. At various times there were 12 official band members and a further 27 musicians and vocalists performed with them at various times on tour. They performed what has been termed 'adult-orientated rock' and sometimes 'soft rock' or even 'progressive rock' though I imagine if they did the latter that must appear on their albums rather than their successful singles. The three singles selected yesterday were their most successful, certainly in the UK: 'Hold the Line' (1978), 'Rosanna' (1982) and 'Africa' (1982).

Now, it is about that third single, 'Africa' that I want to comment. I was reminded of it recently through working with a white and a mixed-race South African who spoke of their affinity for Africa, when as someone who had been a member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement I found and still do find, it difficult to feel that white people in Africa are at all right, or at best they should feel themselves at best guests and in most cases intruders. I was angered by a white composer of (appalling) Classical music I heard speaking some years ago who talked about how him growing up in Africa had influenced his music. I felt he was stealing from the continent in the way colonists stole people and resources. I was reminded of this too watching the movie 'The Saint' (2003) which is one I enjoy thoroughly, but Val Kilmer playing Simon Templar disguises himself as a white South African (apparently a resident of Cape Town), Thomas More in order to seduce Dr. Emma Russell (played by Elizabeth Shue) he refers to his home in Africa.


Anyway, because of those references and how my odd mind works the song was in my thinking even before I heard it yesterday. It reached Number 1 in the USA in February 1983 but had almost been left off their album imaginatively called 'Toto IV' in 1982 because band members felt it was out of step with other things they were producing. Apparently they were very tired of it by the time it was put on the album. It does seem like an overchewed piece all round. I have now found out that the fact that I cringe every time I hear it is something that I share with other people as it was voted containing the 6th worst set of lyrics in a BBC poll a few years ago.

The music itself is fine. It is a typical rock arrangement with references as the performers have noted, to the kind of music used in documentaries about Africa. The key problem which makes me shudder whenever the tune comes on is the lyrics. What David Paich and Jeff Porcaro were thinking when they wrote the lyrics I am not sure. It was inspired by Paich's reflections on someone who had never visited Africa envisaging it. However, the 'story' with the reference of the young man wandering around seeking inspiration seems to be about someone in Africa, awaiting a woman coming on an aeroplane. Why they had to jam so much into a number of the lines is beyond me, it is almost comical how they try to stretch the words across the music and stunning that such a song could be so successful.
The particularly bad bits are: 'The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation' which is allowed as long in the song as the preceding line; 'She's coming in: twelve thiry flight'. Further in the same verse you get 'I stopped and old man on the way' which is fine, but the next line is twice the length squeezed painfully into the space: 'Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies', something like 'Hoping to some rare melody' would have been more than enough.

In the second verse overlong lyrics ruin the impact of the song which at other times is punchy. 'The wild dogs cry out in the night' that is fine but when followed up by 'As they grow restless longing for some solitary company' it weakens it entirely. Something along the lines of 'Remind me of how I am solitary'. I am not a lyricist, but trying to squeeze the far longer line in is painful. What is 'solitary company' anyway? You did not need the additional two or three syllables of the contradictory word, there is enough in the line already. Then comes the piece de resistance the line which received the high ranking in the BBC poll. 'I know that I must do what's right' - yes, great, nice and forceful, decisive the kind of thing you need in a rock song, but then it is doused by the poll-rated lyric: 'Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti'. Now why do you need Olympus in there? Below are photos of the two mountains. Yes, they have snow on top and they are mountains, but that is where the similarity ends. I imagine there should be some punctuation in the lyrics otherwise it is entirely wrong as Olympus does not rise above the Serengeti. Using Kilimanjaro was always going to be difficult let alone when you have Serengeti in the line. Keep it simple 'As sure as the Sun rises over Serengeti' would have been more than enough or 'As sure as Kilimajaro rises into the sky'.

I can understand why it needed a lot of production just to stop the song breaking down. Steve Lukather, one of the leading members of Toto, said in 2003 that 'I didn't think it was any good' and he was right, though clearly the record-buying public disagree. I have been accused of paying too much attention to lyrics and it seems that many people pay little attention to anything beyond the chorus of a song. I was told yesterday by someone that they had not known that the song 'All Together Now' (1990) by The Farm contained any references to the First World War. This is despite the lyrics saying: 'Remember boy that your forefathers died/ Lost in millions for a country's pride/ But they never mention the trenches of Belgium/ When they stopped fighting and they were one/ A spirit stronger than war was at work that night/ December 1914 cold, clear and bright/ Countries' borders were right out of sight/ When they joined together and decided not to fight' which cannot be mistaken for anything else.

I suppose Toto's example of the most contorted pop lyrics in existence is more about the force of record companies and an undiscerning consuming public making something that sounds as if it was written by an over-eager 13 year old back from visiting his grandparents in Johannesburg into a best-selling record still being played on prime-time radio 27 years after it was released. It has not got to the stage as it has with some pop songs that I loathe them so much that I will turn them off when they come on, mainly because I wait for some different version to come on with the vocalist going 'I can't sing this, let's try something a bit more rational' and but always painfully stretching the words over the necessary number of bars so that the song does not entirely collapse.

Retro Pop Yourself

I have noted on this blog over the past couple of years how we have seen a tendency by many pop artists to go back to 1960s influences for their current releases. We have seen the enduring career of Amy Winehouse with a very soul/mowtown approach and then Duffy with her kind of Sandie Shaw/Dusty Springfield British 1960s flavour. Duffy seems to be releasing almost everything off her album and it all has that sound, very nostalgic to those who know the originals, but clearly appealing to younger people too. It was also interesting to note that Sharleen Spiteri's solo album, 'Melody' which was released in July also has very much a 1960s feel which is apparent if you look at the cover with her dressed in that smart, almost cute, black dress with the white piping. Her singles, 'All the Times I Cried' and 'Stop I Don't Love You Any More' mix together 1960s influences from both the USA and UK with the quite highly orchestrated, complex instrumentation with a force behind it that underlies lyrics which are belted out and are highly emotional. This pattern can be seen in Duffy's work too. Winehouse has overlaps with this style but also tinged with a bluesy flavour coming through the mowtown approach. Even performers who you would anticipate as being deep in a 2000s approach, notably the group, Girls Aloud (formed in 2002 for the TV show 'Pop Stars: The Rivals') who have just become the most successful female group in British history (19 consecutive Top 10 hits) and yet have joined the bandwagon of retro pop. This is most apparent in their current single 'The Promise'.

Not only does the video show them at a drive-in watching themselves dressed in outfits The Supremes would have worn, but the lyrics betray some of the submissive female lines that I had detected before especially in Duffy's early releases (though I am glad to say things like 'Warwick Avenue' are more ballsy). The opening lines from Girls Aloud's song that go: 'Everything he does, is better than anything ordinary/ Everything he wants he gets, cause everything he does is kinda necessary' really hammer home that the 'heroine' of the song judges her needs as being subservient to those of the man, not just because they are 'better' but because even though she cannot rationalise it, his self-importance asserts itself over anything she needs. This could almost be a Doris Day song and I think The Supremes themselves would have jarred a little at its sentiments. Despite the success of this song, I hope that young women do not think they have to subvert their goals to those of a man because he says it is necessary. Interestingly this submissive approach of the white female performers is in direct counterpoint to the songs that seemed to condemn men as unfeeling and selfish, notably, Beyonce's 'If I Was a Boy', Alesha Dixon's 'The Boy Does Nothing' ('boy' seems to becoming the derogatory term for men, though of course for American blacks it is a very loaded term for applying to men), Jennifer Hudson's 'Spotlight', Rihanna's 'Take a Bow' (which itself seems to be inspired by Beyonce's earlier single 'Irreplaceable' (2006)) and of course the ever-reliable white exception, Pink with 'So What' (though given the split from her husband there were clear motives for that one). This trend is going to the extent of Leona Lewis's 'Forgive Me' in which the woman she sings about feels that even though the man she is with had 'love that always passed the test', she feels 'I had to go and look somewhere else'. I suppose this is turning gender dynamics on its head with the woman setting very high standards for me, criticising them for failing to meet them, and thus feeling free to conduct affairs.

To some extent these singles are taking extremes on both sides. As a man I feel terribly uneasy that all men seemed to be being condemned as unfaithful and useless by influential female singers. I am sure it is doubly offensive to black American men at whom these songs seem aimed, surely there are positive examples out there who treat their wives/girlfriends decently, though this is certainly not the image received from Beyonce who portrays anyone who is 'just a boy' as incapable of any emotional attachment to their partners. Such songs do shape attitudes, as Blue's disgraceful 'All Rise' (2001) encouraged boyfriends to throw away all their girlfriend's possessions if she was not sufficiently forthcoming in information about her activities when away from him. The influx of 1960s sentiments through using 1960s stylings further complicates the battle of gender politics of the 2000s that seems to have been going on in the charts.

The most interesting entry in the current retro pop wave is Sir Tom Jones (1940-). What makes this so interesting is that Jones was an original 1960s recording artist anyway. He released his first single in 1965 and has sold 100 millon records since. He has always been hard to define as he has had one foot in the pop area and one in the more 'crooner', lounge singer area. Jones has constantly re-invented himself, first notably by covering 'Kiss' with the Art of Noise in 1988 and then performing with other pop acts, EMF and particularly 1999-2000 with The Cardigans, Cerys Matthews, The Pretenders, Mousse T, The Stereophonics and Robbie Williams. With the success of Tony Christie's 'Is This The Way to Amarillo?' re-released in 2005, maybe he has been tempted more back to the crooner side. The first single off his new album, '24 Hours', 'If He Sould Ever Leave You' is very much a song Jones could have released successfully in 1967 with lines such as 'He should be inclined to keep you close' and references to 'your captivating eyes' would not be out of place sitting alongside his 1960s hits such as 'It's Not Unusual' (1965), 'Help Yourself' (1968), '(It Looks Like) I'll Never Fall In Love Again' (1969) and 'She's A Lady' (1971). I suppose that given his success with this style he must be delighted he can continue to produce records in this style and have them still selling forty years on. I suppose it is what you say with all fashions if you stay still long enough with a style it will all come round again. Jones has had the best of both worlds, success with adapting his style and success with remaining with his original approach too. I wonder who will be next to benefit from the retro pop wave of the moment.

P.P. 11/01/2009 The Christmas period seemed no cease in the retro style pop songs coming from younger performers. Notable were Boyzone with 'Better' (2008) which could easily have been a Roy Orbison (1936-88) track, especially with the guitar and drums marking time, it was very remiscent of so much Orbison material. The group even tried his spread across the octaves though even using two lead vocals they cannot attain his two-and-a-half octave baritone stretch. The other was Gabriella Chilme being the Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love or some similar mowtown style performers with her 'Warm This Winter' (2008) with the wall of sound and brass, it could have been write off the Phil Spector's 'A Christmas Gift To You' (1963; re-released in 1972). Perhaps she is seeking longevity as tracks from that album are still played on the radio today.

Two Pop Songs That Annoy Me Due to One Lyric in Each

Hearing two particular pop songs two days ago, very close to each other while driving in southern England reminded me how much they irk me. I had forgotten about both of them. The reason why each of them irritates me differs greatly but they both riled me and hearing them so soon one after the other led me to turn my radio off. Let me explain. The two songs were 'One of Us' by Joan Osborne (1995) and 'Little Red Corvette' by Prince (1983).

Now, I imagine the Osborne song was quite controversial because it likens God to a slob. It is also pretty dreary anyway. Neither of these things are what irritate me. It is the lines 'seeing meant that you had to believe in things like Heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets?'. Of course meeting God does not mean you have to believe in any of those other things. One may accept that God can only live in Heaven, but people were believing in God before Jesus even turned up. Muslims believe in God and accept Jesus as one of the prophets but not God's son, so they believe in him but not the way Osborne implies it. Jews also believe in God but most of them do not believe Jesus was his son either, though they accept he was alive. As for the saints many Protestants do not believe in them or that they were anything more special than good people. Few people have much problem with the prophets. However, Osborne's implication is that you have to accept this whole, pretty much Roman Catholic package or nothing at all. This is reinforced by the final line about ''cept for the Pope in Rome'. That both implies that the Pope has a particular connection to God lacking for other Christian leaders and he is the only one who tries to get in touch with God. Of course millions of Christians, Jews and Muslims communicate with God daily, the Pope certainly has no monopoly on this. I have no problem with Roman Catholics, but I was irritated by this song which raised the question of meeting God in such a one-dimensional way, assuming all the listeners are Roman Catholic (even though the USA where Osborne is from is predominantly Protestant) and these issues could not be addressed by people of other denominations or by non-Christians.

The lyrics:

If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with Him in all His glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?

Chorus:
And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin' to make his way home?
If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see if, seeing meant
That you would have to believe in things like Heaven
And in Jesus and the saints, and all the prophets?

Chorus

Back up to Heaven all alone
No, nobody calling on the phone
No, just tryin' to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
'Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome


From one extreme to the other. I have no problem with 'Little Red Corvette' being an analogy for a woman's genitals, whether it is her vulva, clitoris or whatever. Likening cars and driving them to sexual activity is fine. There are also horse racing analogies too. The story of the song is interesting about a man feeling uncertain about having sexual relations with a clearly promiscuous woman who flaunts how many sexual partners she has had and is even taunting of the narrator 'Baby have you got enough gas?'. Given Prince's very sexual identity it is interesting that this song which is credited with breaking him through into the big time is about a man plagued with uncertainty in a sexual situation and about a woman who is clearly far more confident, assertive, even in this context. The narrator is warning the woman, not so much about the dangers of risky sex, it is clear she uses condoms (Trojans) so this is not like 'Sign o' the Times' (1987) with 'a big disease with a little name', it seems to be more a warning about the emotional impact of continued promiscuity. Anyway, all that aside the one line in this song which makes me want to vomit is 'you had a pocket full of horses, Trojan, and some of them used'. Now what woman even a promiscuous one carries around used condoms? If any of us encountered a woman like that you would have major doubts about her. What was she doing, keeping them as trophies? She already has photographs of her conquests. Is she trying to collect sperm samples? Clearly she does not want to get pregnant otherwise she would get her sexual partners to use condoms. This woman is clearly seriously screwed up. The main thing it reminded me of was an elderly gay man I encountered in East London in the late 1990s who used to go around Victoria Park collecting used condoms apparently for some vicarious pleasure at this evidence of sex because his days of such activity seemed to be over. Well, that would hardly apply to the woman in this song who is clearly getting more than enough sex. So my advice to the narrator would be 'walk away, this woman is not simply promiscuous, she is screwed up and that is a real risk'. Due to that line this is actually a very unnerving song.

The lyrics:

I guess I shoulda known by the way you parked your car sideways
That it wouldn't last
See you're the kinda person that believes in makin' out once
Love 'em and leave 'em fast
I guess I must be dumb
'Cuz you had a pocket full of horses
Trojan and some of them used
But it was Saturday night, I guess that makes it all right
And you say what have I got to lose?
And honey I say

Little red corvette
Baby you're much too fast
Little red corvette
You need a love that's gonna last

I guess I shoulda closed my eyes
When you drove me to the place where your horses run free
'Cuz I felt a little ill
When I saw all the pictures
Of the jockeys that were there before me
Believe it or notI started to worry
I wondered if I had enough class
But it was Saturday night, I guess that makes it all right
And you say, "Baby, have you got enough gas?"
Oh yeah

Little red corvette
Baby you're much too fast, yes your Little red corvette
You need to find a love that's gonna last, oh-oh

A body like yours
Oughta be in jail
'Cuz it's on the verge of bein' obscene
Move over baby, gimme the keys
I'm gonna try to tame your little red love machine

Little red corvette
Baby you're much to fast
Little red corvette
You need to find a love that's gonna last
Little red corvette
Honey you got to slow down
Little red corvette'
Cuz if you don't your gonna run little red corvette right in the ground
Honey you got to slow down
You, you, you got to slow down
You're movin' much to fast
You need to find a love that's gonna last

Girl, you got an ass like I never seen
And the ride... I say the ride is so smooth
you must be a limousine

Baby you're much too fast
Little red corvette
You need a love,
You need a love that's, that's gonna last, oh oh
You got to slow down
Little red corvette
'Cuz if you don't, 'cuz if you don't,
You gonna run your body right into the ground
Right into the ground
Right into the ground
Little red corvette, baby, oh

Pop Songs and the Spanish Civil War

Like many of my postings on pop music, this is going to sound a bit obscure, but there are many thoughts I have carried around with me often over a number of years as with the one about out-of-date technology in songs. I forget about them for ages then I hear a particular song on the radio and it sparks off the memory. Anyway, I suppose this is what this blog is about, casting out all those fragments of thoughts, little issues that I get momentarily het up about. I must have a lot of them because this is my 195th posting since last May. Of course new things come up all the time, shorter-term annoyance like all the house moving and the holiday and so on, but this blog has been wonderful at clearing out all the debris of stuff floating in my mind with benefit in terms of being able to get on with writing fiction and such like.

Now this one goes back to the 1970s. In 1976 ABBA then at the height of their success released 'Fernando' which reached number 1 in 12 countries, including the UK. A version with different lyrics (in Swedish) had been released by band member Anni-Frid Lyngstad in 1975. It was a romantic song whereas the re-written one was more about veterans from a conflict reminiscing about the events. The composers Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Stig Anderson claim it did not refer to any specific conflict or time period. The thing that annoyed me and continues to do so whenever it is dug out is that people say it is about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and in particular the International Brigades (foreigner volunteers who fought for the Spanish Republic). I observe, though, that the Wikipedia entry on the song is more accurate and it is actually about the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) which as they note began in November 1910 when Francisco Madero led revolutionaries from Texas in the USA across its border with Mexico, the Rio Grande river as in the song the lyric goes 'that fateful night we crossed the Rio Grande'. Maybe it is the fact that to European audiences the Mexican Revolution is not an event in history that people are taught about or generally have even heard of.

Possibly this element was played down a bit for American audiences as the USA (where the song reached number 13) was never really happy having a revolutionary government on its southern border. The party that ran Mexico 1929-1946 was the National Revolutionary Party and it then became the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI); the concept of institutional and revolutionary seems contradictory. The PRI remained in power until 2000. Thus, avoiding reference to this element of history and instead focusing on the better known Spanish Civil War might have made it more acceptable in some circumstances. It also may have had something to do with the timing of the release of the single because in November 1975 General Francisco Franco, who had been dictator of Spain since 1939, died.

Out of all of this, though, it is intriguing that I can think of no other number 1 song in the Western world which had the theme of revolutionary conflict at its core and to some degree it was out of step with the more romantic songs that were the staple of ABBA's output, but I guess it successfully substituted nostalgia for romance, or maybe it mixed them. One aspect which is appealing is that it is sung by a woman and there is an implicit suggestion that the singer and this Fernando sacrificed a chance of romance and a normal life in the cause of revolution which is a common theme in romantic fiction. The reference to them 'losing' in the song might be seen to suggest that possibly they were not on the winning side of the revolution, though the revolutionaries did win so, maybe, in fact, the loss is about the loss to their lives in terms of 'normality' and what seems to be a love unrequited due to the focus on revolution.

In contrast to the rather mis-attributed background of 'Fernando' is 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' released by the Manic Street Preachers in 1998. This came from the album 'This is My Truth Tell Me Yours'; the title itself quotes Aneuran Bevan the Welsh Labour politician. The Manic Street Preachers clearly were in a political phase and one of long titles, 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' is recorded as the longest single title without brackets. The title comes from a Spanish Republic poster of the war and lines such as 'If I can shoot rabbits/then I can shoot Fascists' comes from 'Miners Against Fascism: Wales and the Spanish Civil War' by Dr. Hywel Francis (1984) also a Labour MP. The song went straight to number 1 in the UK but was less successful elsewhere. The single cover used a photograph of International Brigade soldiers from the war.

Nicky Wire (aka Nick Jones) who wrote the lyrics also stated that he was influenced by the song 'Spanish Bombs' released as a track on the album 'London Calling' by The Clash in 1979. The Clash were a similarly left-wing leaning pop group who were pretty successful in the UK charts despite the political focus of many of their songs. The UK seems able to tolerate one such group at a time and I imagine they still sell well to students looking for something different to the highly commercialised, sanitised, even music of the charts of these days. The song interesting contrasts the terrorism of ETA, the Basque separatist movement active in the 1970s and 1980s with the fight for freedom of the Republicans in the 1930s. It also slips in a reference to Ireland, possibly seeking to similarly contrast with the IRA of the past with the Provisional IRA of the 1970s and their violence. The song by referencing red and black flags also speaks about the Anarchists who made up part of the Republican side along side Socialists and Communists. Of course anarchism had had a burst of popularity during the punk era of the late 1970s (notably 'Anarchy in the U.K.' released by the Sex Pistols in November 1976) It is fascinating that you can buy 'Spanish Bombs' as a ringtone, though without the lyrics it means little and to some extent has been overtaken by events in Spain and Ireland.

Is it wrong to use the history of such conflicts to sell records? Well, they do not sell millions, they are not commercially there week after week. The motives of ABBA probably differed greatly from Manic Street Preachers and The Clash who did take a political angle on things. Their songs also contain real messages for today when there are lots of dictatorships and oppression going on no different to the Fascist Nationalist takeover of Spain 1936-9. People still die for what they believe in, notably at the moment in Tibet, but so many of us in the West just sit comfortably at home or walking around the shops with no concept of such sacrifice or that if we are complacent our freedoms will be snuffed out just as easily.

For reference:

'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' by Manic Street Preachers (1996)
The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
So if I can shoot rabbits
Then I can shoot Fascists

Bullets for your brain today
But we'll forget it all again
Monuments put from pen to paper
Turns me into a gutless wonder

And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next

Gravity keeps my head down
Or is it maybe shame
At being so young and being so vain
Holes in your head today

But I'm a pacifist
I've walked La Ramblas
But not with real intent

And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next

And on the street tonight an old man plays
With newspaper cuttings of his glory days

And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next

'Spanish Bombs' by The Clash (1979)
Spanish songs in Andalucia,
the shooting sites in the days of ’39.
Oh, please leave, the VENTANA open.
Federico Lorca is dead and gone:
bullet holes in the cemetery walls,
the black cars of the Guardia Civil.

Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica -
I’m flying on in a DC-10 tonight.
Spanish bombs; yo te quiero infinito.
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón.
Spanish bombs; yo te quiero infinito.
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón.

Spanish weeks in my disco casino;
the freedom fighters died upon the hill.
They sang the red flag,
they wore the black one -
but after they died,
it was Mockingbird Hill.

Back home, the buses went up in flashes,
the Irish tomb was drenched in blood.
Spanish bombs shatter the hotels.
My señorita’s rose was nipped in the bud.

Spanish bombs; yo te quiero infinito.
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón.
Spanish bombs; yo te quiero infinito.
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón.

The hillsides ring with 'free the people' -
or can I hear the echo from the days of ’39
with trenches full of poets,
the ragged army, fixing bayonets to fight the other line?

Spanish bombs rock the province;
I’m hearing music from another time.
Spanish bombs on the Costa Brava;
I’m flying in on a DC-10 tonight.

Spanish bombs; yo te quiero infinito.
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón.
Spanish bombs; yo te quiero infinito.
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón,
oh mi corazón,
oh mi corazón.

Spanish songs in Andalucia:
mandolina, oh mi corazón.
Spanish songs in Granada,
oh mi corazón,
oh mi corazón,
oh mi corazón,
oh mi corazón.


'Fernando' by ABBA (1976)
Can you hear the drums Fernando?
I remember long ago another starry night like this
In the firelight Fernando
You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar
I could hear the distant drums
And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar
They were closer now Fernando
Every hour every minute seemed to last eternally
I was so afraid Fernando
We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die
And I'm not ashamed to say
The roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

Now we're old and grey Fernando
And since many years I havent seen a rifle in your hand
Can you hear the drums Fernando?
Do you still recall the fateful night we crossed the Rio Grande?
I can see it in your eyes
How proud you were to fight for freedom in this land

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando
Yes, if I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando...


P.P. 30/03/2009 - Over the weekend I read with a mixture of amusement and alarm that 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' has been put on a BNP (British National Party - a Fascist political party) website by a supporter of the party. The party removed it pretty quickly, partly because they were violating copyright. They dismissed it saying 'you can interpret the lyrics anyway you want', but it is clear that their supporter simply read the title and was trying to use it as a scare tactic about what these racists see as the consequences of immigration. However, the use of this song simply reinforces how ignorant BNP supporters are. Of course, most BNP supporters probably think 'Fascism' is a republic in Central Asia and will be campaigning to stop the immigration of Fascists into the UK. As we know with the case of General Galtieri, former dictator of Chile, the UK actually welcomes Fascists with horrific records.

When Songs' Technical References Become Out-Of-Date

Like many of my comments on pop music my thoughts on this one have been bubbling around in my head for a while, so it is probably a good time to flush them out. In March 1985 when Dead Or Alive sung 'You spin me right round, baby/Right round like a record, baby/Right round, round, round/You spin me right round, baby/Right round like a record, baby/Right round, round, round' in their Number 1 hit 'Spin Me Round' (23 weeks in the UK charts with 2 at Number 1) they could have no fear that any listener would not understand what 'like a record' meant. 

I was rather surprised in 2004 when Kyle Minogue sang 'Can't focus I can't stop/You got me spinning round, round, round, round (like a record)' on 'Red Blooded Woman'. I understand people often sing along with lyrics which they do not understand, but how many 14-year old pop fans have actually seen a record actually playing? Even 'round like a CD' would seem a little outdated now, more like 'spinning around like the patterns on my PC when I download a track' would have been more appropriate. I know it takes a while for songs to be written and get to the charts and maybe Kylie was trying to appeal to an older demographic, but she could update herself a bit. 

Another similar anachronism was in the single by The Cardigans of 1998, 'Erase-Rewind'. (It was most successful in the UK reaching Number 7). This one goes 'I've changed my mind/I take it back/Erase and rewind/'cause I've been changing my mind/Erase and rewind/'cause I've been changing my mind/Erase and rewind' and so on (it mentions 'erase and rewind' 8 times in the song). Now I know cassettes and video cassettes were still around in 1998 but the whole concept of erasing and rewinding has long gone and to hear it now seems pretty archaic. This began me thinking about others and I must confess there are not a great deal.

I suppose many classic songs represent a time when the public telephone was more common and there were no mobiles. You have to find some less obvious examples '5.7.0.5.' by City Boy released in 1976 which it talks about 'but there's no reply', these days you would get an answering service I am sure, and the other thing is no-one now puts their number on the wall, they enter it into the memory of their mobile at least. 

References to 'the operator' began to lead me down the hellish path into more naff 1970s tunes, 'Sylvia's Mother' by Doctor Hook (1971) has a chorus, 'And the operator says "40 cents more for the next 3 minutes"' (though actually the song only lasts 3 minutes it is to get the sense of desperation across). The sense of an operator interfering with a call and you having to slot in more coins again seems very strange in the 2000s. 

Blondie were a bit better off with 'Hanging on the Telephone' in 1978 with 'I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall/If you don't answer, I'll just ring it off the wall'. These days, even in student halls, I doubt you would find a phone box inside a residential building. Even in 1975 when Manhattan Transfer released 'Operator' with the immortal lines 'Oh, operator, information/Give me Jesus on the line/Oooohhhh, operator, information/I'd like to speak to a friend of mine' and more of that ilk (I forgot this when talking about gospel crossovers in the UK) it was pretty rare to be unable to connect direct dial with who you were calling, though I accept William Spivery had written it in the 1950s and it was 20 years before it became a hit in the UK. 

Maybe naff songs are aimed at older people than better quality pop songs and it is referring to their nostalgia. In these cases the change of technology would remove the tension of the circumstances. Imagine the difference if they simply got the dialling tone or the engaged signal, it would leave little to sing about. The Rah Band with their 'Clouds Across the Moon' (1986) may have foreseen the future with calls into space: 'I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but we are experiencing violent storm conditions in the asteroid belt at this time. We may lose this valuable deep space communication link. Please, be as brief as possible. Thank you. BRIDGE'/ 'or it's...or it's...Hello? Hello operator?'/' Yes, we've lost the connection!'/' Could you try again please?'/ 'I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we've lost contact with Mars 2-4-7 at this time.'/ 'Ok. Thank you very much...I'll...I'll try again next year...next year...next year...next year...' Yet, even here they have to have the 'galactic operator' get in on the act to provide the tension in the song.

Some may come back to life as technology moves on, Elvis Presley's 'Return To Sender' (1962) with the lyric 'Return to Sender, Address Unknown' could be brought up-to-date for the email generation. To date, the only pop song that I have heard which seems to mention the kind of communication technology is 'Horny' by Mousse T released in 1998 (so the same year as The Cardigans 'Erase - Rewind') with the lines: 'I tried to call you but I can't find the telephone/I sent a message through the internet but it rejected' suggesting she has lost her mobile and the email system is screwed. Hopefully more tracks will actually embrace the kind of technology we now use rather than things like records which are soooo 20th century! 

P.P. Whilst researching this posting, I also found out that misheard lyrics are termed 'mondegreens'. Since posting this I heard 'Get The Party Started' by Pink (2001) and in that there are the lines: 'I'm your operator/You can call anytime/I'll be your connection/To the party line' which is referencing technology which was around before Pink was probably even born. Most young listeners or anyone not versed in 1950s-60s technology would probably assume 'party line' is something like a premium call service, but in fact more than forty years ago it was when there was only a single line going to two or more flats so that you had to wait until the other people, i.e. the other 'party' was off the line before you could make your call. This kind of technology offered the opportunity for difficulties that formed the basis of humour in things like Doris Day movies of the early 1960s. Thus, the lyrics have taken on a new meaning because they actually refer to well out-of-date technology.

Was 'Uninvited' the Covert Crossover Goth Hit of 2007?

Despite the fact, that somewhere in the bags of CDs and even cassettes (remember them?) that lurk in corners of my house because I have moved so often there is a copy of 'Jagged Little Pill' by Alanis Morisette (1995) and the builders working opposite the last house I lived in played it repeatedly (I will say nothing bad about builders, but their musical tastes were a little suprising), somehow I had not managed to encounter the track, 'Uninvited' which was released by Morisette in 1998. It was on her fourth album, 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie' (1998) which seems to have been far less successful than its predecessor. Maybe it was too long coming and Alanis's window had closed. Maybe I did encounter single and perhaps it just made no lasting impression. She gets a lot of radio coverage still, but this one does not seem to crop up wherever I drive. Thus, when I heard the cover by The Freemasons released in 2007, it was as if I was coming to the track for the first time. It was sung by Bailey Tzuke, probably haunted by the fact that everyone says she is daughter of 1970s ballard singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke (who had a wonderful voice and amazing big hair and may still have, but I have not heard or seen her since a greatest hits collection in the late 1980s). Her voice is similarly suited for wistful tracks as her mother's was, though maybe with maturity (she is only 20) it will gain Judie's strength.

The Freemasons' original cover version was cut down to 3.08 minutes, perfect for radio and yet so edited that it seems to be a natural length. Despite the electro/house backbeat, it is a ballard with the woman concerned analysing the romantic interest of the 'uninvited' person and gradually her feelings towards them, (I assume it is a him), altering from suspicion to consideration. It is nice that it does not move to consummation, but in the space of three minutes with quite a lot of lyrics for a house track, has shown a development in a relationship. The reason that I view it as a crossover Goth hit, is that aside from one track from Evanesence, in the UK nothing from the Goth scene has managed to peak into the mainstream charts even now they have mutated with the impact of downloads allowing album tracks and oldies to come back into the ratings. It managed to reach Number 8 in the UK charts.

Why do I view it as a Goth track? Well, a number of reasons. Goth music tends to be put in the rock category but there is a clear electro/house/dance sub-category of it anyway. Soaring, passionate, female-voiced lyrics with a tendency for introspection but also strength is a basis of a lot of Goth music. This song has that. In addition, the supernatural is a bread-and-butter theme in Goth songs and the 'uninvited' reminds you of a haunting or even vampires who supposedly cannot enter a house uninvited. The lyrics (see below) give a sense of someone from a different culture speaking about love and the 'love like mine before' suggests a timeless or enduring nature of whoever she is addressing, again fitting the ghost/vampire explanation. The words 'stoic' and 'unworthy' hint at the literate language used by Goths with Victorian overtones. Goth songs also are about love and passion in both a physical and a mental/emotional way and this tune emphasises the latter. The story is unresolved by the end of the song, allowing the listener to write their own, probably positive ending, but not doing all the work for you. So, on these bases whether Morisette or the Freemasons envisaged it, they have created a good Goth song that I am pleased to hear and we could do more with.

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
And like any hot-blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave

But you, you're not allowed
You're uninvited

An unfortunate slight
Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat heartening
To watch shepherd meet shepherd

But you you're not allowed
You're uninvited

An unfortunate slight
Like any uncharted territory
I must seem greatly intriguing
You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before

But this is not allowed
You're uninvited

An unfortunate slight
I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate

Was 'Never Be The Same Again' a Lesbian Anthem?

This is another pop music question from my dusty bag of old tracks. The song 'Never Be The Same Again' was released in March 2000 and was the third track off former-Spice Girl, Melanie C(hisolm)'s solo album 'Northern Lights', one of the most successful of the albums released by The Spice Girls members after they broke up and this single reached number 1 in the UK charts.

It was co-written and co-performed by Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes one third of US female r&b trio TLC probably most famed for their 'Waterfalls' (1995). Lopes died in a car accident in 2002 aged only 30. She was a feisty character often in dispute with her fellow TLC members and had served 5 years on probation for burning down the house of her fiance after arguing with him.


Mel C, as she is commonly known, holds the record for reaching number one in the UK as part of a quintet and quartet (The Spice Girls before and after the departure of Geri Halliwell) as a duet and as a solo artist. She has sold 4 million albums on her own and was part of the sales of 55 million albums by The Spice Girls. Mel C was known as 'Sporty' Spice as she tended to adopt tomboyish sports kit dress and was heavily tattooed. There has not been much active speculation about her sexuality, but she certainly has appeared to be less girly than the others in The Spice Girls and if you have ever encountered female football teams you will find that the bulk of them are lesbians. There was speculation over her sexuality in 2000 when she shared a room with a female assistant. Revelations of this were reported to have led her into depression, something which it is good to see she has more than bounced back from.

Some of all of this, I suspect, was intentional packaging of Chisholm by their record company when they manufactured The Spice Girls so that everyone in the audience would have a particular woman in the line-up that they felt they could associate with. Mel C has stated very categorically that she is straight and I think that is more than enough assurance for anyone, and anyway it is her own business. I like her because, as early as 1997, she told 'Melody Maker' - 'New Labour is just Old Conservatives isn't it?' and coming from Liverpool has a clear old Socialist perspective on things, despite her respect for Margaret Thatcher's strength.

Now you might ask, why should I, who sees almost everyone as sitting on continuum of sexuality rather than being wholly in one camp or the other, be wittering on about this song and what relevance it has to lesbians. Well, it is, basically, that when it came out I said 'oh it's good to hear a lesbian song once in a while'. These days, in the wake of the axis of Marc Almond, Erasure, Bronski Beat, The Communards and Jimmy Sommerville, you can release songs in the UK with lyrics about gay men and no-one will raise an eyebrow, they will judge the song on its quality. However, I cannot remember one song in the UK which featured lesbian lyrics. Given that lesbians make up 5% of the UK population, so, around 3+ million women, it seems surprising.

Then I heard 'Never Be The Same Again' and thought, 'ah, there, that balances things up a little'. It is a rather wordy song but it is not bad, straddling the rock of Mel C and the r&b/rapping of Lisa Lopes. I even heard it in a Belgian lesbian club I was in; it was the only song played twice in the course of the evening.  You may wonder what I was doing in a Belgian lesbian club in a medium-sized town, well it had been hired out by two straight people, one a woman, one a man for a private party I was attending there and as part of the package they had employed the club's usual DJ. However, aside from this DJ, no-one I know seemed to accept that this song was a lesbian anthem, even one friend of mine who is very keen on media analysis. So, this posting is just trying to put the case for this song being properly considered.

I am not arguing at all that either Mel C or Lisa Lopes are/were lesbians; I think there is no evidence for this. People can often sing songs from a focus which is not their own gender or sexuality. However, it is interesting that two women were selected to sing this song and these two women were picked. Again, though, I suspect it was the record companies seeking to push their products into every corner. They knew that whatever Mel C's own sexuality, she had a strong lesbian following so it was like throwing those fans a little something. I imagine TLC might have had a lesbian following too as some of their songs do have a strong feminist take on things, as some areas of r&b do. Given the success of this record it had to sell to a lot of heterosexuals too and its quality probably shone through even if people paid little attention to the lyrics, as is often the case. By the way the lyrics are:


Sung:
"Come on. Ooh, yeah./ Never be the same again./ I call you up whenever things go wrong./ You're always there./ You are my shoulder to cry on./ I can't believe it took me quite so long./To take the forbidden step./ Is this something that I might regret?/
(Come on, come on)/ Nothing ventured nothing gained./ (You are the one)/ A lonely heart that can't be tamed./ (Come on, come on)/ I'm hoping that you feel the same./

This is something that I can't forget./ I thought that we would just be friends./ Things will never be the same again./ It's just the beginning it's not the end./ Things will never be the same again./ It's not a secret anymore./ Now we've opened up the door./ Starting tonight and from now on./ We'll never, never be the same again./ Never be the same again./


Now I know that we were close before./ I'm glad I realised I need you so much more./ And I don't care what everyone will say./ It's about you and me./ And we'll never be the same again.I thought that we would just be friends (oh yeah)./ Things will never be the same again./ (Never be the same again)/ It's just the beginning it's not the end./ (We've only just begun)/ Things will never be the same again./ It's not a secret anymore./ Now we've opened up the door./ (Opened up the door)/ Starting tonight and from now on./ We'll never, never be the same again./ Never be the same again.


Rap:
Night and day./ Black beach sand to red clay./ The US to UK, NYC to LA./ From sidewalks to highways./ See it'll never be the same again./ What I'm sayin'/ My mind frame never changed 'til you came rearranged./ But sometimes it seems completely forbidden./ To discover those feelings that we kept so well hidden.Where there's no competition.And you render my condition./ Though improbable it's not impossible./ For a love that could be unstoppable./ But wait./ A fine line's between fate and destiny./ Do you believe in the things that were just meant to be?/ When you tell me the stories of your quest for me./ Picturesque is the picture you paint effortlessly./ And as our energies mix and begin to multiply./ Everyday situations, they start to simplify./ So things will never be the same between you and I./ We intertwined our life forces and now we're unified./


Sung:
I thought that we would just be friends./ Things will never be the same again./ It's just the beginning it's not the end./ Things will never be the same again./ It's not a secret anymore./ Now we've opened up the door./ Starting tonight and from now on./We'll never, never be the same again./ (Come on, come on)/ Things will never be the same again./ (You are the one)Never be the same again./ It's not a secret anymore./ We'll never be the same again./ It's not a secret anymore./ We'll never be the same again./ Never be the same again./ Never be the same again./ Never be the same again./ Never be the same again."

As I said, rather wordy for a pop song, but, now, tell me that is not a song about two female friends discovering they want a sexual relationship with each other. I acknowledge it could be about a man and a woman being friends and then finding a love, but then they should have got a man to sing one part. In addition, the reference to being a confidante and a shoulder to cry on is more characteristic of female friends than a man and a woman as friends. In addition the reference to a 'secret' and 'opening the door' e.g. of a closet, seem only necessary for a relationship which still might provoke comment as same-sex ones do even in the liberal UK, let alone the USA, where outside a few cities, such things are still viewed with askance.

So, chalk this up as the first, probably most successful, pop lesbian love song and let us hope that for the balance of the world we get to hear a few more. Do not let us straights and all the gay men steal all the fun and cultural references. Everyone needs something suitable to play when they propose and with civil partnerships becoming more common that means for lesbians too. Good on you Mel and Lisa for having the courage to produce this record.