Bad Old Man
Released April 27th 1998
Tracks
1.Bad Old Man (4.34)
2.Hospital (4.51) (+, #, @, ¤)
3.Fuklov (3.34) (+) (¤)
4.All I Know ( 3.42) (*, ¤)
5.Comeback Scumbag (7.31) (*, ¤)
Catalogue numbers:
Echocd1: ecscd60 (+)
Echocd2: ecscx60 (*)
Echomc: ecsmc60 (#)
Echo7” : ecs60 (@)
Echo Promo (1 Track Picture CD)
EU CD: umd80505 (Universal/BMG/Echo) (¤)
Selected tracks
“I’m not using the images in Bad Old Man lightly, to shock people. That song came from watching a lot of satellite TV in recording studios — in particular, talk shows with people such as Jerry Springer and Geraldo. You sit there waiting for a guest to get shot, that’s the only way it can get more extreme than it already is — to have someone executed. The song is just trying to find a way to say that maybe we need to think about the implications and effects of these things before we sanction them.”
- Stephen Jones, The Sunday Times, 26th April 1998
Note:
’There’s Something Going On’ probably spawned some of the best singles, and this one is the first in a series of three after an eleven months break after the release of ‘Cornershop’.
’Bad Old Man’ was not really a comeback as much as an ettempt to slip out of the wake of the You’re Gorgeous chart succes. As a pop tune it is extremely edgy both in musical delivery and lyrical content
‘Bad Old Man’ might have disappointed a few by its release (including myself at the time), but hopefully it also opened the ears of those who had not yet experienced the many layers of Jones’ talent (including myself!). Eventually, however, it turned into a grower and today ranks as one of my personal favorites.
The other songs on the single are also distinguishably true to the nature of ‘Bad Old Man’ with a constant emphasis on drum loops, minimal melodies and sometimes pretty vicious grooves. Fukluv, Hospital and Comeback Scumbag’, which borrows its title from a line in ‘Not about a Girl’, are no less than half-forgotten Babybird epics.
In conclusion, this is a perfect companion to ‘There’s something Going On’ and, don’t forget, the first in a series of three very great singles.
Lyrics
He had a bad old man who beat him
put a hammer to his knees just to please him.
Now hes 35 and half alive.
He’s an open mouth in a beehive.
He’s gonna smile and be happy,
let everyone know that he’s happy.
Put his smiling face on a billboard,
kiss from your car, he’s happy,
He’s not happy.
With his swollen lips round his early teens,
in his dress he can’t believe its in his genes.
Some days he’s half man and then he’s half god,
but on his blue days he wouldn’t touch his greens.
He’s gonna make you smile and be happy,
make everyone know that hes happy.
Put his smiling face on the TV.
Kiss him from your chair make him happy.
He drowned his stepson in the duck pond,
let the wife-beater out to make a pop song,
put razor blades in the ice-cream,
shot a paedophile in a wet dream.
He’s got a young man who feeds him,
whispers sweet nothings just to please him,
he makes him cool for the TV,
makes half the man he is a celebrity.
With his swollen lips around his early teens
in his dress he cant believe its in his genes
He’s half a man and half a god,
One half bitch one half dog.
He drowned his stepson in the duck pond,
let the wife-beater out to make a pop song,
put razor blades in the ice-cream,
made nobody famous on the big screen.
Put the whole wide world on remote control,
he put a five times rapist on his tv show,
on every single channel in every single home,
you can even hear his voice on the telephone.
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