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Here's a great album that has become a true icon of the gay world and beyond. Released in the mid-'80s, the album for the first time combined the carefree spirit of the '80s disco music with themes dear to that timid group (gay? perverts? queers? oh dear, what now?) that struggled so much to have their rights and proper freedom of expression recognized ("the age of consent," which the title refers to, was the legally established age for having the first sexual relations without legal repercussions in England!).
But the movement that Bronski Beat launched and reinforced, supported by the enterprising personality of Jimmy Sommerville, the true mastermind and icon/banner of the group, was expanding the themes not only to the homosexual sphere but also embracing pacifist movements (most notably with the splendid "No More War") and singing about dreams and desires that transcend to the youth of today just as it did then. A wave of novelty where the courage to come out and loudly claim one's gay pride served as an amplifier for the cultural currents of the time, significantly contributing to widen this base of human and civil consciousness to literature, cinema, theater, etc. All of this was seasoned with the lightness and rounded brightness of the music, intriguing and shamelessly danceable, that made the legs and heads of the early '80s youth whirl.
One of the truly cathartic and dazzling works of the London trio that disbanded after just a few rather insignificant albums. Sommerville tried his hand again with the Communards, placing some equally good tracks, then the desert. Last year, if I'm not mistaken, the now half-bald hairless singer released a CD that went completely unnoticed: a slow and inexorable parabola common to many bands that shine for the duration of a flash and then fade and end in oblivion. C'est la Vie, dear Jimmi...
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Why? (04:03)
Contempt in your eyes
As I turn to kiss his lips
Broken I lie
All my feelings denied
Blood on your fist
Can you tell me why?
You in your false securities
Tear up my life
Condemning me
Name me an illness
Call me a sin
Never feel guilty
Never give in
Tell me why?
You and me together
Fighting for our love
Can you tell me why
02 Ain't Necessarily So (04:43)
Da ra da am de ra am de
Ba ra ba am dee da am doo
Ba ra am de ba ra am de
Da ra doo dee
It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily so
The things that you're liable
To read in the Bible
It ain't necessarily so
David was small but oh my
David was small but oh my
He shot Goliath
Who lay down and dieth
David was small but oh my
David was small but oh my
Da ra da am de ra am de
Ba ra ba am dee da am doo
Ba ra am de ba ra am de
Da ra doo dee
Now Jonah he lived in a whale
Jonah he lived in a whale
He made his home in that fishes abdomen
Jonah he lived in a whale
Jonah he lived in a whale
Moses was found on a stream
Moses was found on a stream
Floated on water
Old Pharoah's daughter
Fished him she says from that stream
It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily so
The things that you're liable
To read in the Bible
It ain't necessarily so
Ain't necessarily
Ain't necessarily
Ain't necessarily
Ain't necessarily
Ain't necessarily
Ain't necessarily
Ain't necessarily so
They tell all your children
The devil he's a billain
It ain't necessarily so
Da ra da am de ra am de
Ba ra ba am dee da am doo
Ba ra am de ba ra am de
Da ra doo dee
It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily so
Things that you're liable
To read in that Bible
It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily
It ain't necessarily
It ain't necessarily
It ain't necessarily
It ain't necessarily
It ain't necessarily
It ain't necessarily so
imsite
03 Screaming (04:15)
My man love my first love
My closetness and pain
My lying my deceiving
My rivers keep on crying
My father my action man
My hiding in the crowd
My mother my sisters eyes
My seniors and their prying
My freedom my prison cell
My tempting to destroy
My fantasies my lost control
My confusion disillusion
My hero my schoolboy
My physical abuse
My loneliness my aching brain
My pounding in the head
Machismo my manhood
My wanting just to scream
Scream yeah yeah heah
04 No More War (03:55)
No more war please
No more destruction of innocent life
No more living in fear
No more on our bended knees
To live is our right
No more war
No more war please
It's got to stop oh we've got to make it stop
No more money for bombs
When the poor people hungry on the street
No more sending young men to fight
As they die for false glory and false pride (do or die)
No more war please
Who wants to die
No more war please
Who wants to die
No more war no more war no more
Who wants to die who wants to die
06 Smalltown Boy (05:02)
You leave in the morning
With everything you own
In a little black case
Alone on a platform
The wind and the rain
On a sad and lonely face
Mother will never understand
Why you had to leave
But the answers you seek
Will never be found at home
The love that you need
Will never be found at home
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.
Pushed around and kicked around
Always a lonely boy
You were the one
That they'd talk about around town
As they put you down
And as hard as they would try
They'd hurt to make you cry
But you never cried to them
Just to your soul
No you never cried to them
Just to your soul
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.
Cry , boy, cry...
You leave in the morning
With everything you own
In a little black case
Alone on a platform
The wind and the rain
On a sad and lonely face
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away.
07 Heatwave (02:40)
Hey we're headin' for a summer heatwave
Boys we're headin' for a summer heatwave
Summer he-e-e-e-e-eat wave yeah
Summer he-e-e-e-e-eat wave yeah
Tattoos and muscle passion and sweat
Summer he-e-e-e-e-eat wave
Yeah yeah
Dee dab dee ra dee dab dee dab doo yeah
Dee dab dee ra dee dab dee dab doo yeah
Dee dab dee ra dee dab dee dab doo yeah
Dee dab dee ra dee dab dee dab doo yeah
Summer heat save
Summer heat save
Summer heat save
Summer heat save
De ha ra doo yeah
08 Junk (04:17)
He can't take the street no more
Street too full full of junk
Thinks he'll hide in his room
Room too full full of junk
He turns to his T.V. T.V. full full of junk
Processed zombies pushing junk
Junk food junk clothes
Dressed in junk from head to toe
Eat what you're given
Eat what you get
Eat what you're given
Eat what you get
Eat what you're given
Eat what you get
Eat what you're given
And be thankful what you get
He screams for more
Hits the night life once again
Night life full full of junk
Junk is all he'll ever know
Junk music junk dance
Too many junkheads on the floor
(Repeat chorus to end)
09 Need a Man Blues (04:20)
The Age Of Consent (Somerville/Steinbachek/Bronski)
Need a man blues
He-e-hey!
I got those need a man blues
Driving me mad
I go those need a man blues
Hurting me bad
Sweet sweet sweet
Is the taste of a man
And sweeter still is the taste
Of his sweet tasting love
Evil, wicked or angel
Just give me a man
Evil, wicked or
Angel
Need a man blues
Need a man blues
Angel hurting me bad
Boys and heroes lovers and men
Turning me upside down
Again and again
Again and again
He-e-hey
I got those need a man blues
I got those need a man blues
Hurting me oh so bad
And the sweetest thing of all
Is men loving men loving men loving men
Is men loving men loving men loving men
I got those need a man blues
I got those need a man blues
Ne-he-he-he-he-he-he-ed a man blues
Ne-he-he-he-he-he-he-ed a man blues
Ne-he-he-he-he-he-he-ed a man blues
Ne-he-he-he-he-he-he-ed a man blues
Angel!
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