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UB40 (Unemployment Benefit Form 40, the form to fill out to get funds in case of unemployment in the UK at the end of the '70s) was a pop/reggae group I know very little about. And what I do know, I discovered yesterday. In 1989, they released their second album with covers, "Labour Of Love II", about which I can say a bit more.
It's not that I've analyzed it thoroughly or that I've been committed to the search for detailed information. When it comes to such essential pop, based on understated percussion, synth, and a street-smart voice lent to successful music, it bothers me to look for good intentions and wonders that ultimately aren't there. Because (also) this is music made specifically to be the soundtrack of specific moments of adolescence. You realize this when you're at sunset in a beach bar, sitting in front of what used to be your classmates, in a circle of glances that pierce the skin. You remember them all as younger, sitting more or less in the same positions. The setting is identical, except for a few more coats of paint. The stories change. But at that point, who cares. Because the music (specifically this album) helps to clear overthoughts and bring everyone on the same wavelength, while the water quietly laps on the shore nearby. The people in front of you talk, and a lot, but it doesn't take long to remember those two who are locking eyes and who are now married to different people. They made out fervently full of love when, on a summer night fifteen years earlier, during the school closing party, the song “Wedding Day” was playing. You can trace the indiscreet gaze of that other person always aimed at the top of the bikini of the group's pin-up who, despite the years, jiggles just like when dancing to “Groovin’” that same evening, where many saw the first joints of their lives come around. There are glances of understanding and toasts on the flowing notes of the CD that I brought to break the ice. The innocent and simple music (a great merit, if we consider what Bruno Munari – for example – said about simplicity) of a group whose members initially didn’t even know how to play and gradually learned the basics, after long sessions around small studios in their hometown. Birmingham.
The little musical skill is evident in songs without great pretensions, built on few notes, but aimed at that part of the gray matter that stores the information not to feed to oblivion. A reggae (I admit that I don’t like the genre at all in its most serious and meaningful manifestations) that's cheap but managed to sell millions of copies and place two singles (from this album) in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 of the time: “Here I Am (Come And Take Me)” – a song by gospel man Al Green – and “The Way You Do The Things You Do” – a piece by The Temptations, a band of black dancers and vocalists popular in the '60s. In short, white men seeking the black Afro magic, who hit the mark both when interpreting others' songs and when writing them themselves.
I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone except those few who have lived stories that today we would define as ambient of that time, or those who think that a couple of ice cubes in their memory could bring to light intense campfires of that part of life in crescendo, when you feel like God and have the strength to carry the fortunes of about thirty people around the birthplace and around the world, between trips and departures in small groups.
I too have a crossed glance, the kind that burns the hair. Even today, I wouldn't care about the nose that isn't the best considering the not-so-gentle bridge. But those eyes that reek of life preserver and the vivacity I would have married without a second thought lead me to lower my gaze and follow the line of the shoulder, then the arm, ending at the hand. Now holding another hand.
Oh Kingston Town / The place I long to be / If I had the whole world / I would give it away / Just to see / the girls at play / Ooh, ooh, ooh. There’s little left to dream, after the melancholy of Kingston Town (a great piece), with the flavor of sugar-free blackberry jam. Enough with the flights of fancy, back to reality. But some damn music, still has something truly good.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Here I Am (Come and Take Me) (04:00)
I can't believe that it's real
The way that you make me feel
A burning deep down inside
A love that I cannot hide
I know it's you and me babe
That makes this world go round
Ah keeping you in love with me baby
Laying all my troubles down
Here I am babe, come and take me
Here I am babe, come on and take me
Take me by the hand, ooh show me
Here I am babe, oooooaaah
It always ends up this way
Me begging you every day
A love that I cannot have
You broke my heart in two halves
Ooh I know it's you and me babe
That makes this world go round
Ah keeping you in love with me baby
Laying all my troubles down
Here I am babe, come and take me
Here I am babe, won't ya come and take me
Take me by the hand, ooh squeeze me
Here I am babe, oooooaaah
Here I am babe, come and take me
Here I am babe, won't ya come and take me
Take me by the hand, ooh show me
show me what you can
Here I am babe, upon to take me
take me by the hand, take me by the hand
ooohhhhh show me, show me what you can
Here I am babe, upon to take me
take me by the hand, take me while it can
Here I am babeeeeee
02 Tears From My Eyes (03:50)
Tears from my eyes keep on falling
cause you are leaving, leaving with another
Things that we've done together
I'll always remember though you're with another, baby.
Tears from my eyes keep on falling
cause you are leaving, leaving with another
Things that we've done together
I'll always remember though you're with another, baby.
I've done everything one man can do, girl
Said every word one man can say
The thing that we had has gone astray, girl
I'm missing you from day to day.
Tears from my eyes keep on falling
cause you are leaving, leaving with another
Things that we've done together
I'll always remember though you're with another, baby.
I've done everything one man can do, girl
Said every word one man can say
The thing that we had has gone astray, girl
I'm missing you from day to day.
Tears from my eyes keep on falling
cause you are leaving, leaving with another
Things that we've done together
I'll always remember though you're with another, baby.
Tears from my eyes keep on falling
cause you are leaving, leaving with another
Things that we've done together
I'll always remember though you're with another, baby.
Tears from my eyes keep on falling
cause you are leaving, leaving with another
Things that we've done together
I'll always remember though you're with another, baby.
03 Groovin' (03:49)
I get my kicks from watching people
Running too and fro
And if you ask them where they`re going
Half of the don`t know
Let the world to think I`m crazy
But they don`t realize
(Chorus)
That I'm just groovin, ooh groovin
Grooving out on life
I'm just groovin and I can't stop moving...
Groovin till I die...
I see a river flowing by me
Heading for the sea
I get a feeling deep inside me
It`s so good to be free
I`ve got sunshine in the daytime
And moonlight every night
That I'm just groovin, ooh groovin
Grooving out on life
I'm just groovin and I can't stop moving...
Groovin till I die...
I see a river flowing by me
Heading for the sea
I get a feeling deep inside me
It`s so good to be free
I`ve got sunshine in the daytime
And moonlight every night
That I'm just groovin,groovin
Grooving out on life
I'm just groovin and I can't stop moving...
Groovin till I die...
04 The Way You Do the Things You Do (03:02)
You've got a smile so bright
You know you could have been a candle
I'm holding you so tight
You know you could have been a handle
The way you swept me off my feet
You know you could have been a broom
And babe, you smell so sweet
You know you could have been some perfume
Well, you could have been anything that you wanted to
I can tell, the way you do the things you do
Alright, the way you do the things you do
As pretty as you are
You know you could have been a flower
If good looks were a minute,
You know you could have been an hour
The way you stole my heart
You know you could have been a crook
And baby you're so smart
You know you could have been a school book
Well, you could have been anything that you wanted to
I can tell, the way you do the things you do
Alright, the way you do the things you do
You make my life so rich
You know you could have been some money
Baby you're so sweet
You know you could have been some honey
Well, you could have been anything that you wanted to
I can tell, the way you do the things you do
Alright, the way you do the things you do
As pretty as you are
You know you could have been a flower
If good looks were a minute,
You know you could have been an hour
The way you stole my heart
You know you could have been a crook
And baby you're so smart
You know you could have been a school book
Well, you could have been anything that you wanted to
I can tell, the way you do the things you do
Alright, the way you do the things you do
The way you do the things you do
Alright, the way you do the things you do
The way you do the things you do
Alright, the way you do the things you do
The way you do the things you do
Alright, the way you do the things you do
You make my life so sweet
Alright, the way you do the things you do
You make my life so sweet
Alright, the way you do the things you do
You make my life so sweet
Alright, the way you do the things you do
05 Kingston Town (03:48)
The night seems to fade, but the moonlight lingers on.
There are wonders for everyone.
The stars shine so bright,
but they're fading after dawn.
There's magic in Kingston Town.
Oh Kingston Town, the place I long to be.
If I had the whole world I would give it away
just to see the girls at play.
When I am king surely I would need a queen.
And a palace and everything, yeah.
And now, I am king and my queen will come at dawn
she'll be waiting in Kingston Town.
(repeat last two refrains till end)
08 Wear You to the Ball (03:31)
I'm gonna wear you to the ball tonight
Put on your best dress tonight
Did you hear what the man said baby
Well be your best 'cause this
gonna be a musical test
So come to school, and I take up the musical rule
Give me soul brothers and give me soul sisters
Come To I and maybe you can make it if you try
So be wise and be changing, put on your best
Because I got your musical key
Rub it baby, I said scrub it, yeah.
Cause I'm tougher than tough
And that ain't no bluff
Maybe it's because I've got the musical stuff
I'm gonna make you the talk of the town
No use wearing a frown
Though those other guys may put you down
I'm gonna let you wear my crown
Though those other guys may put you down
You'll wear my crown
Wow ! Chick-a-bow, chick-a-bow,
chick-a-bow, chick-a-bow wow wow
Give me soul brothers and give me soul sisters
Don't beg for no mercy
Move it up, break it up!
Tell you bout it, it's good
Wow! she's got it, she's got it,
she's got it, she's got it
Though those other guys may put you down
I'm gonna let you wear my crown
And we are going to have a musical ball
So get on the ball and don't stall,
I beg you baby
Wow! Tell you about it, it's good
I'm gonna wear you to the ball tonight
Put on your best dress tonight
That's for sure
Play brand new musical discs from
the flick of my wrist, baby
Wow! Tell you about it, she's got it
She's got it, she's got it Chick-a-bow,
chick-a-bow, chick-a-bow, chick-a-bow wow wow
I'm gonna wear you to the ball tonight
Put on your best dress tonight
I'm gonna make you the talk of the town
No use wearing a frown
09 Homely Girl (03:24)
It must have broke your poor little heart
When the boys used to say,
you looked better in the dark.
But now they'd give all they learnt in school
To be somewhere in the dark with you
The teacher would ask the questions
And you, would always raise your hand
But somehow you never got your turn
And my eyes would fill with water, inside I'd burn
CHORUS
Homely girl, you used to be so lonely
You're a beautiful woman oh homely girl
Homely girl you used to be so lonely
You're a beautiful woman oh homely girl
There was a boy who used to sit beside you
Who'd like to hold that place his whole life through
Oooh you were beautiful to me
You had a heart no one could ever see, oh yes you did
Homely girl, you used to be so lonely
You're a beautiful woman oh homely girl
I was the only one who offered
To carry your books
Took all the stares and laughter
And the dirty looks
Cause I saw then what they see now
They all want to ask you for a date
They don't know how, they don't know how
CHORUS
You used to be so lonely
You're a beautiful woman oh homely girl
You used to be so lonely
You're a beautiful woman oh homely girl
(repeat until faded)
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