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This album is the account and collection of four sessions that Adam Ant, with and without his band the Ants, held for the BBC. Three of these - the first two in '78 and the third in '79 - were performed under the auspices of the renowned John Peel, while the remaining one dates back to 1995, the year of the release of "Wonderful," his last work of unreleased material, featuring acoustic and vocal versions of two fresh singles and a past hit.
The Ants were a punk band in the '70s; practically it was only Marco Pirroni on guitars for a short period (after the release of the first album, between the '70s and '80s); they were therefore a brigade of big-wigs, today pirates and tomorrow swordsmen... In the biennium '78-'79, like all seventies, the Ants were a pure and wild punk band at the service of an absolute stage animal, a combo that, along with its leader, would tour Europe setting its youth on fire, and that would never release anything until the end of the decade... The line-up, therefore, would leave Adam all alone, biting into the promises of glory by the punk's father-master, Mr. McLaren, joining him to create Bow Wow Wow.
This collection aims precisely to shed more light on that "dark" period of performances without records, in which Adam and (un)faithful companions would perform on the same stage as the Sex Pistols and associates, and in which, above all, they were in hopeful anticipation of that kind of media exposure and success (which, however, under McLaren's will, would never come).
The Adam Ant that emerges from the songs of that period is the most light-hearted punkster of his generation, he's funnier, less political, and more (a lot more) erotic. After all, the guy is quite good-looking, not at all vulgar, quite a bit androgynous, moreover, very interested in the imagery (suspectedly not only the imagery) of sadomasochism.
"Hard," but certainly not vulgar, Adam devoted himself to themes that projected him into a context with very little political anarchy or anarchic politics: Adam Ant's anarchy is internal, it’s in his lower abdomen, it’s in his deviant mind, it’s in that good and handsome working-class man without manifest pretensions who at 18 marries a "knockout blonde" but then, slowly, secretly, begins to deviate towards a depraved world, idolizing perversion, leading him to reject the home-wife-working class reality, and thus to anorexia, suicide attempts, until reaching the final metamorphosis, the explosion of that cocoon, from which emerged... not a butterfly, but an ant!
In the early years of his career, regarding musical choices, he relied on the taste of the time, a perfect box to contain all forms of youthful rebellion, merely adding some original ideas. Thus, the beautiful tango-punk of "Deutscher Girls" was born, and similarly, very delightful (and purer) punk songs such as "Puerto-Rican" and "It Doesn't Matter" developed, while Adam allowed the famous punk-icon Jordan - his friend/manager/union representative in front of Commander McLaren - to ravage the wild "Lou."
Given that the tracklist is arranged according to the chronological order of the sessions, it's easy to notice the changes in his compositional style: from recording to recording, there is a transition from pure punk to the "future garage glam" of "You're So Physical" and "Cleopatra", as well as to the "future power glam" of "Zerox." I say "future" because, from the way they were performed, it seemed that Adam and company, while certainly recognizing the structural difference from pure punk, had not yet figured out what direction to take with their music, how much to accelerate "Zerox," how much to exaggerate "You're So Physical"...
In the third batch, the following year, another step was ascended: the tracks sound very similar to the pop-beat-punk-glam hodgepodge unstressed and remounted at random, present in the brilliant debut "Dirk Wears White Sox." Thus, the way of playing changes, but also the way of composing. This will be the first landing for Ant, as well as the waiting room for his Antmusic. From there, it’s known (and also written) about the directions (or drifts) he undertook (or arrived at), the successes and failures that came. But undoubtedly, the punk and post-punk periods arouse the most curiosity, the years when London burned, the years of which, regarding his performances, there is almost no memory left here with us.
The years when Ant wrote tons of songs, some of which saw the light thanks to collections like this or regal triple boxes et similia. And who knows how much stuff is still unpublished, buried for decades.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Deutscher Girls (02:38)
We'll do the tango
We'll try the foxtrot
I'll eat a mango
You'll drink a straight scotch
You know I told you
You could be classy
So why did you have to be so nasty
Remember the curls
Of the Deutscher girls
Lover of mine
From down the Rhine
I'll fill your bath with
The finest champagne
I'll lick your skin dry
I cherish your name
The stakes get higher
As your dress sparsely
So why did you have to be so nasty
Remember the curls
Of the Deutscher girls
Lover of mine
From down the Rhine
I love your blonde hair
I kiss your pigtails
And I could not share
The scratch of your nails
And though you mock me
Your eyes so glassy
Oh why did you have to be so nasty
I said remember the curls
Of the Deutscher girls
Lover of mine from down the Rhine
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
06 Antmusic (03:28)
Well I'm standing here looking at you
What do I see?
I'm looking straight through
It's so sad
When you're young
To be told
You're having fun
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
well I'm standing here what do I see?
a big nothing
threatening me
it's so sad
when you're young
to be told
you're having fun
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
(guitarsolo)
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
Don't tread on an ant he's done nothing to you
There might come a day
When he's treading on you
Don't tread on an ant you'll end up black and blue
You cut off his head
Legs come looking for you
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
So unplug the jukebox
And do us all a favour
That music's lost its taste
So try another flavour -
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
'Antmusic' 'Antmusic'
('til fade)
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
12 Cleopatra (03:27)
Cle-o-pa-tra!
C-Cleopatra did a ten-thousand
In her lifetime
Now that's a wide mouth
C-Cleopatra gave a service
With a smile-oh
She was a wide mouthed girl
A wide mouthed girl
C-Cleopatra did a hundred (1-0-0)
Roman centurion
For after dinner mints
C-Cleopatra used a suction
Oh so unheard of
She was a wide mouthed girl
A wide mouthed girl (believe it)
Show me a bigger mouth
Show me a bigger mouth
Show me a bigger mouth
Show me a bigger mouth (yeah)
What a weak distorted image
Elizabeth and Richard gave upon the screen
Of that wide mouthed girl
Wide mouthed girl (oh yeah)
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
14 Zerox (03:19)
Lock up your brain
'Cos I'm here again
I'm never bored
I'll steal your chords
Ooh-ooh Zerøx Machine
Ooh-ooh Zerøx Machine
Give me a line
Or a middle eight
I've got the best
So I want the rest
Ooh-ooh Zerøx Machine
Ooh-ooh Zerøx Machine
Let's get together
Before its too late
Collect up the ideas
And duplicate
Filling up the forms
Send them off tonight
And you'll be the owner
Of the copyright
Of the copyright
Of the copyright
Times of the essence
Get your ears to the ground
However else
Can the hits be found?
I may look happy, healthy and clean
A dark brown voice and suit pristine
But behind the smile there is a
Zerøx Machine
(I'm a) Zerøx Machine
(repeat 'til end)
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
This page is part of the Prince Charming Lyrics Site
15 Tabletalk (05:05)
Don't like your stare
Don't like the arm in the air
Your style is so brash
And that silly moustache
But it was
Tabletalk
Evil I see
Sends bad vibrations through me
And oh what a square
With your diagonal hair
But it was
Tabletalk
Oh I said to Geli
"How do you do
Tabletalk?"
Oh I said to Geli
"How do you do
Tabletalk?"
And this is what she said;
"Love love love love yeah..."
"Love love love love yeah..."
"Love love love love yeah..."
The love of his life
Too close to become a wife
And the death of this girl
Came close to saving the world
From his
Tabletalk
Oh I said to Geli
"How do you do
Tabletalk?"
Oh I said to Geli
"'How do you do
Tabletalk?"
And this is what she said;
"Love love love love yeah..."
"Love love love love yeah..."
"Love love love love yeah..."
"Love love love love yeah..."
"Love love love love yeah..."
"Love love love love yeah..."
© BMG Music Publishing Limited
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