One of the most incredible and complex bass parts ever constructed for a Pop song. It drives the counterpoint for the whole song! Absolutely incredible!
@@danbrockettDOP I've also heard that Colin added to it - that Andy wrote the primary bass riff that you first hear in the song (and which repeats,) but he didn't write the rest. Though really, I don't know for sure.
@@101Volts andy wrote it, dave gregory played this song with his band tin spirts and said andy wrote it "you can tell it wasn't written by a bass player".
@@lewisb85 Colin Moulding has proven beyond any doubt that he is an outstanding singer, songwriter, and bass player. Dave Gregory doesn't hold a candle to Colin's talent, his goofy miming to vocals he doesn't sing says it all.
In 1980 I was 12yo and a drummer. But my set sucked. When my mom said no to a $200 20" Zildjian ride cymbal (probably more now), she said yes to a much less expensive bass guitar kit, a Fender Squire P-Bass plus 40watt Peavey amp....so I learned bass, and 9 years later, burned out on Rush, Zeppelin, etc., who are all great bands btw, but when this song came out, I had to effing learn it. I banded up with some chums and we used to laugh and cry about the energy this song exuded...choice of notes both instrumentally and vocally. The harmony of the vocals, and music, and the harmonies within harmonies....we analyzed it, note for note...I would suggest everyone do the same, it is mind boggling mathematical, symmetrical, linearly precise. These guys are more than musicians, they are mathematical musicians.
@@James-if3kc I get the impression that you're desperate for someone to care, to notice you, even to try and understand you. There's help out there; start by contacting your GP s/he will listen and be able to find the people who can try and help. Good luck.
Absolutely beautiful song, played this to death in 89 when I was 19. The song is obviously smash you over the head amazing but goodness me, the bass player, absolutely utterly killing
This was the song that reignited my interest in XTC. It came on a video jukebox in a pub one rainy Saturday afternoon back in 1990. I had stopped listening at English Settlement, but went out and explored their subsequent albums and have been 're-hooked' ever since. Thanks to whoever put this song on the jukebox that day :-)
One of the things I love about XTC is their hugely innovative approach to diatonic harmony. Sorry if this gets a bit bookish, but I'm a retired music lecturer so maybe you'll indulge me for a moment. This song could so easily have been conceived as an easily accessible money-spinner but the harmony is, as ever with XTC, quirky. "Please" of "Please be upstanding etc." is sung on the 9th dissonant note of the scale - later the melody comes in canon (further unsettling the stability of the tonic chord). This superimposition of conflicting diatonic harmonies is called pandiatonicism (and is usually associated with composers like Stravinsky and Milhaud). It's amazing and thrilling that exotic complexities of this kind snuck their way so naturally into British pop. XTC's 'That's Really Super, Supergirl' is another example where the verse-melody starts on the leading 7th degree of the diatonic scale. The sonic montage at the end of 'Chalkhills and Children' is both radical and beautiful; there's not much in contemporary pop about which you can say that!
Indeed; which gets us into the world of Messiaen, Debussy and Mussorgsky. I'm fond of Shakatak too, who also have a sophisticated sense of harmonic freedom. What tickles me particularly about XTC is their frequent experiments in chromatic saturation (not a million miles from Charles Ives' astonishing harmonic palette - do you know the 2nd movement of his 4th symphony? Amazingly composed as early as 1912) @Mr._Bassman97
The beauty of this band is genius. Forget about the rock and roll hall of fame rubbish, and appreciate three amazing musicians who have made more classics than most of those bands put together.
I remember this song as one of the first bands my dad introduced me to. It's even on one of my family's home video tapes. Thanks dad for introducing me to good music
Super top draw, very underrated band XTC. Thankfully we have the luxury of being able to see these great video's and listen to some of their back catalogue on RU-vid. A great band! 😊😊
"....But he made too many enemies Of the people who would keep us on our knees Hooray for Peter Pumpkin Hooray for Peter Pumpkinhead...." Remind you of anyone?..... Say... somebody with orange hair?
Was driving around in my college town the first time I heard this. I remember the turn I was making in 1989. Yes, I was completely enamoured of it. Bought the cassette and played it that whole summer.
Another of the many original tunes from that period.....must have been something in the water....They all now sound fresher than they did back then...its amazing.
I grew up with this and remember it when I was 5. One of the best songs ever made. Im now the sad one who can't share this sort of stuff with people as they don't get it. Its genius
