A few English Tunes

¤  Dido  ⇓  ‘Thank You’   ←[«No Angel»_1999]

Her biggest break arrived in 2000, when rap superstar Eminem sampled this track for the chorus of his hit single «Stan».

My tea’s gone cold, I’m wondering why I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window and I can’t see at all
And even if I could it’d all be grey, but your picture on my wall
it reminds me that it’s not so bad – it’s not so bad

I drank too much last night, got bills to pay – my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there’ll be hell today – I’m late for work again
and even if I’m there, they’ll all imply that I might not last the day
and then you call me and it’s not so bad – it’s not so bad and
I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life

Push the door, I’m home at last and I’m soaking through and through
then you handed me a towel and all I see is you
and even if my house falls down now, I wouldn’t have a clue
because you’re near me and
I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life …

¤  ‘Weapon of Choice’  [2001]

Christopher Walken dances to the beats of Fat Boy Slim ↓ This clip took home several MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy for Best Short Form Video.

Break, eject, eject, eject . . .  Break, eject, eject, eject . . .

Don’t be shocked by the tone of my voice – Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Don’t be shocked by the tone of my voice – Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice, yeah

Listen to the sound of my voice – You can check it on out, it’s the weapon of choice, yeah

You can blow with this or you can blow with that . . .
Or you can blow with this or you can blow with that
Or you can blow with us

You can blow with this or you can blow with that . . .
Or you can blow with

Walk without rhythm, it won’t attract the worm
Walk without rhythm and it won’t attract the worm . . .
If you walk without rhythm, you never learn, yeah

You can blow with this or you can blow with that . . .
Or you can blow with this or you can blow with that
Or you can blow with us

You can blow with this or you can blow with that . . .
Or you can blow with

Organically grown through the hemisphere I roam
To make love to the angels of light, yeah
And my girl, I guess you just don’t understand
It’s gone beyond bein’ a man

As I drift off into the night, I’m in flight

¤  ‘Confusion The Waitress’

from  «Second Toughest In The Infants«,  the fourth album by  UNDERWORLD   (1996)

she said

you can do anything you want

she said

you can be with anyone

she said

you can go anywhere you want

she said

she said you can say anything you need

she said you can be anywhere you feel

she said just pick up the phone

(???)

(confusion the waitress)

she said dont go dark on me again

she said

she said the silence in the silence

I see you my confidence

she said

she said loophole how are you

she said oh no once again the superstar

she said he loves you but can you name me his children

she said oh the god you lost again

she said the colour of your boyfriend

she said get out of bed and answer the phone

she said in the belly of st pauls again

she said goodyear rubber man

she said im smiling with the sun

she said two years is a small price

she said loophole how are you

she said once again the superstar

she said look at the size of it

she said

she said you can do anything you want

she said you can be with anyone

she said you can go anywhere you want

she said

she said you can say anything you need

she said you can be anywhere you feel

she said just pick up the phone

¤  The video for The Chemical Brothers’, «Do It Again» takes place in Morocco and is centered around a little boy and his older brother. The younger boy has a tooth ache and must have his tooth removed but he escapes with his brother, whom he begs not to let anyone take his tooth away. Whilst walking through the desert, a cassette tape falls from the sky. It is noteworthy that the writing on the tape is «Chemical Brothers» in Arabic, although the translation is not quite accurate. The brothers get a tape player and once they hit play, the music causes them to dance uncontrollably. As they bring it back home, they see that anyone who hears the music starts dancing too. By hitching rides on cars, motorcycles and on top of buses, they travel to a larger city into a market where they use the hypnotic music to help them acquire money to get the boy’s tooth fixed!

‘Do It Again’  ↓  [«We Are The Night»_2007]

[Repeat: x4]
I’ve seen this pumped thing electric,

[Repeat: x4]
Do it again,

[Chorus: x4]
Oh my God what have I done,
(Do it again),
All I wanted was a little fun,
(Do it again),
Got a brain like bubblegum,
(Do it again),
Blowing up my cranium,
(Do it again).

Turn off my robotic brain,
All my thoughts are all the same,
(All insane).

[Repeat: x4]
Do it again,

Paint my face and bang my drum,
Hold my bone up to the sun,
Bang my drum and paint my face,
On my plane to hyperspace.

[Repeat: x4]
Do it again

[Chorus]

Turn off my robotic brain,
All my thoughts are all the same,
(All insane)

¤  ‘Original’ ↓ A song by Leftfield, released  in 1995 and featuring Toni Halliday on vocals.

Sonically we’re in control
We’re the diamond in your soul
Images come thick and fast
From the future, from the past

The film starts, the film ends,
Nothing is said in between.
Just sudden moments from someone else’s story,
Will it ever be the same again?
Hours filled with conversation, no attention paid.
Too distracting convention, no need for friends.
Will it ever be the same again?
Will it ever be the same again?

You’re original, with your own path
You’re original, got your own way (x2)

Will it ever be the same again? (x2)
I need to hear that again
Because a dream starts, and a dream must end.

My mother told me, don’t ever change
You’re original, in your own way
My mother told me, don’t ever change
You’re original, got your own path

You’re original (x2)
Will it ever be the same again? (x2)
I need to hear that again
Because a dream starts, and a dream must end.

You’re original  . . .

 

¤ The THE  ↓  »Slow Emotion Replay’  [«Dusk»_1992]

The THE are an English musical and multimedia group that have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer/songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. Matt Johnson was born in London’s East End in 1961. At age 17,  he formed The The by placing a «musicians wanted» ad in England’s New Musical Express. From the release of their first singles — on 4AD and Some Bizzare — Johnson’s passionate intelligence coupled with an accessible experimentalism marked out The The as something special, periodically refreshed by a judicious change of personnel.

The more I see, The less I know

About all the things I thought were wrong or right & carved in stone

So, don’t ask me about War, Religion, or God Love, Sex, or Death

Because…. Everybody knows what’s going wrong with the world

But I don’t even know what’s going on in myself. . .

 

You’ve gotta work out your own salvation.

With no explanation to this Earth we fall – On hands & knees we crawl

And we look up to the stars and we reach out & pray

To a deaf, dumb & blind God who never explains.

Every body knows what’s going wrong with the world

I don’t even know what’s going on in myself . . .

 

Lord, I’ve been here for so long I can feel it coming down on me

I’m just a slow emotion replay of somebody I used to be . . .

•→ I’ve been waiting for tomorrow (all my life)

¤  «Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll» was a single by Ian Dury, originally released in 1977 with «Razzle In My Pocket» as the flip-side.

In my yellow jersey, I went out on the nick.
South Street Romford, shopping arcade
Got a Razzle magazine, I never paid
Inside my jacket and away double quick.
Good sense told me, once was enough
But I had a cocky eye on more of this stuff
With the Razzle in my pocket, back to have another peek

Instead of being sneeky I strolled inside,
I put my thieving hand on something rude
I walked right out with a silhouette of nudes
‘Hold on sonny’ said a voice at my side
‘I think you’ve taken one of my books’
Passers-by gave me dirty looks
‘Not me mister’ I bravely lied
We stopped by the window of a jeweller’s shop
‘If it’s money for your lunch, I’d have given you a loan
Have you got any form, were you on your own?
Round to the station and we’ll tell the cops’
‘I’m ever so ashamed, it was wicked and rash
Here’s the book back, and here’s the cash
I never stole before, I promise I’ll stop’

‘Crime doesn’t pay, you’ve got honest eyes
If we go to the law another thief is born
And I’ll get the book back, creased and torn
So return what you’ve taken and apologise’
I gave him back his nudie book
I said I was sorry, I slung my hook
With the Razzle in my pocket as the second prize

↑  The Jam  /   Paul Weller & Noel Gallagher  ↓

A police car and a screamin’ siren
Pneumatic drill and ripped-up concrete
A baby wailing, a stray dog howling
The screech of brakes and lamplight blinking

That’s entertainment … That’s entertainment

A smash of glass and the rumble of boots
An electric train and a ripped-up phone booth
Paint-splattered walls and the cry of a tomcat
Lights going out and a kick in the balls

I say that’s entertainment … That’s entertainment
La la la la la, ah … La la la la la, ah

Days of speed and slow-time Mondays
Pissing down with rain on a boring Wednesday
Watching the news and not eating your tea
A freezing cold flat with damp on the walls

I say that’s entertainment … That’s entertainment
La la la la la … La la la la la

Waking up at 6 A.M. on a cool warm morning
Opening the windows and breathing in petrol
An amateur band rehearsing in a nearby yard
Watching the telly and thinking ‘bout your holidays

That’s entertainment … That’s entertainment
La la la la la, ah . . .  La la la la la

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume
A hot summer’s day and sticky black tarmac
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

That’s entertainment … That’s entertainment

Two lovers kissing masks a scream of midnight
Two lovers missing the tranquility of solitude
Getting a cab and travelling on buses
Reading the grafitti about slashed-seat affairs

I say that’s entertainment … That’s entertainment
La la la la la, ah

♦  SNAKEFINGER  ↓  ‘I’m Living In Vain’

I’m living in vain
I’m just watching the rain
I wanna get out
But I just don’t know how

I used to have a girlfriend
Who gave me a valentine
At first it made me nervous
But then I think it made me fine

Because I’m living in vain
I’m just watching the rain
I wanna get out
But I just don’t know how

I used to have a grandma
She always called me «dear»
I never knew her purpose
I only knew her atmosphere

Because I’m living in vain
I’m just watching the rain
I wanna get out
But I just don’t know how

◊  The Durutti Column     (sic)

←’Party’

Dreams burnt out forever – Dreams burnt out forever

This is a party –How did I get here
This is a party – How did I get here
Always left lying slumped in a chair
Wondering why the room’s so bare
Unable to leave – Unable to stay
Turn off the light – Turn off the glare

The girl I came with – Lying drunk on the floor
I don’t remember her name 

It doesn’t matter anymore

Still got her shoes on – She’s covered in her coat

Dreams burnt out forever – Dreams burnt out forever
Abandoned to a silence 

Screaming out of passion and pain
The sense of my loss – Again and again
Abandoned to a silence 

Screaming out of passion and pain
The sense of my loss – Again and again
This is a party – How did I get here …

♦   Syd Barrett  ↓ ‘Effervescing Elephant’

An Effervescing Elephant  with tiny eyes and great big trunk
once whispered to the tiny ear – the ear of one inferior
that by next June he’d die, oh yeah!
because the tiger would roam.
The little one said: «Oh my goodness I must stay at home!
and every time I hear a growl
I’ll know the tiger‘s on the prowl
and I’ll be really safe, you know
the elephant he told me so.»
Everyone was nervy, oh yeah!

and the message was spread
to zebra, mongoose, and the dirty hippopotamus
who wallowed in the mud and chewed
his spicy hippo-plankton food
and tended to ignore the word
preferring to survey a herd
of stupid water bison, oh yeah!
And all the jungle took fright,
and ran around for all the day and the night
but all in vain, because, you see,
the tiger came and said: «Who me?!
You know, I wouldn’t hurt not one of you.
I’d much prefer something to chew
and you’re all to scant.» oh yeah!
He ate the Elephant

 

¤   Chris Rea ⇒ ‘The Road to Hell’   ↓

Stood still on a highway, I saw a woman by the side of the road
With a face that I knew like my own, reflected in my window
Well, she walked up to my quarterlight and she bent down real slow
A fearful pressure paralysed me in my shadow

She said «Son, what are you doing here?
My fear for you has turned me in my grave»
I said «Mama, I come to the valley of the rich myself to sell»
She said «Son, this is the road to Hell»

On your journey ‘cross the wilderness from the desert to the well
You have strayed upon the motorway to Hell

Well I’m standing by a river
But the water doesn’t flow
It boils with every poison you can think of
And I’m underneath the streetlights
But the light of joy I know
Scared beyond belief way down in the shadows
And the perverted fear of violence
Chokes a smile on every face
And common sense is ringing out the bells
This ain’t no technological breakdown
Oh no, this is the road to Hell

And all the roads jam up with credit
And there’s nothing you can do
It’s all just bits of paper  flying away from you
Look out world take a good look
What comes down here
You must learn this lesson fast
And learn it well
This ain’t no upwardly mobile freeway
Oh no, this is the road to Hell 

¤   Squeeze: ‘Cool for Cats’  [1979]→