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After Stan Ridgway left to do his solo stuff they still recorded some good stuff with a new vocalist.
Chorus
My room with a view
Views a room with a view
That views my room with a view
I say my room with a view
Views a room with a view
That views my room with a view
You look three stories up
See a patch of blue
Look across the airshaft
And look into
My room with a view
Views a room with a view
That views my room with a view
Clap hands
His telephone rings
I take a nap
He leaves his place
And I get back
He has a coughing fit
And I lose a shoe
He rubs his chest
And I read Camus
Has a friend
His name is Peter DePonce
Got a collect call from Peter once
But the operator must have got the name all screwed
Cause he just stood there saying "who?"
Chorus
He reads the funnies first
Just like me
I don't go to church
And neither does he
I get drunk sometimes
Sing old show tunes
He talks in his sleep and says
Blah..blah..blah
He's spraying roaches
I spray my hair
He whips his dog
When his girl ain't there
Mine beats me up
And he calls the cops
Pulls the shades
And I get popped
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Well, I been breakin' rocks
Up on coolie number three
I know it's been forever
Thought you'd never hear from me
The weather here is rotten
Rainin' granite all the time
And both moons are glowin' purple
And there is no sun to shine
I keep diggin' deep down in a tunnel that goes
Twenty miles down
And I know my life is cheap
When I hear that rumblin' sound
Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime
Oh, the overlords
No, they never make it rhyme
And there is somethin' in the air
That is burnin' in my throat
A big black cloud is passin'
Droppin' acid on my coat
Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime
It's been ten years and a day
After World War Nine
They pushed us to make meaning
And from the meaning was our crime
Last night I had a dream––
When the guards all fell asleep
Oh, I jumped a fence outside this pen
And then I hot wired up the warden's jeep
And then I took a walk...
Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime
Oh, the overlords
No, they never make it rhyme
I still remember all those nights
We had together up on Mars
We both stood in line to get some new tattoos
While the kids just cut some scars
When they check the beds tonight
I'll leave a note scratched in the pine:
"You now can seek me underground
Where I'll be monkey-wrenchin' all the time"
Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime
Oh, the overlords
No, they never make it rhyme
From a planet out in space
A signal you could trace
Controlling what you feel
But you never see their face
Oh, the overlords
Got me workin' overtime
Oh, the overlords
Oh, the overlords
Oh, the overlords
Oh, the overlords
Yeah, the overlords
Yeah, the overlords
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With “Mexican Radio” becoming a radio hit and its accompanying video being broadcast regularly on a new cable television station called MTV, Ridgway says the group started to spiral out of control.
“We were destroying ourselves,” he says. “We were all on drugs. We were rushing down the highway in our vans.”
Eventually, the situation came to a head when Wall of Voodoo performed at 1982’s US Festival, a huge concert organized by Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak in San Bernandino that featured bands like The Police and the Talking Heads. Following their performance, Ridgway says he left the group when one of his bandmates freaked out and squashed a bowl of potato salad on a scantily clad female’s head backstage.
“I was pretty much having a walking nervous breakdown as well as everyone else,” he says of the experience.
After Wall of Voodoo, Ridgway embarked on a solo career, which started to take off when the single “Camouflage” became a hit in Europe. Despite having an ‘80s keyboard dominated sound, the number was a story about a dead soldier that unfolded more like an old blues number or the kind of story song done by country artists like Johnny Cash.
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I was standin' in line, I was bidin' my time
I was watchin' a clock on the wall
And it was two minutes ‘til lunch
So I got good and ready
Just then I heard the telephone call
It was she
She told me not to worry
She told me, take life a little more in stride
Remember the books I bought ya, but ya
Never really read 'em
You just don't remember much inside anymore
I was standin' in line, I was bidin' my time
I was watchin' a clock on the wall
And it was two minutes 'til lunch
So I got good and ready
Just then I heard my foreman call
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Nick Feldman and Jack Hues of Wang Chung were in a earlier group titled "57 men"
and also included Glenn Gregory lead singer of Heaven 17 and also later worked with the band ABC.
Some ABC (which we've posted before no Glenn Gregory involvement)
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That brief newspaper headline "British Electric Foundation crashes" at the start of the Heaven 17 video is a reference to B.E.F. which, well just read it.
That ABC album was produced by Trevor Horn and was far better than their later stuff.
And now one from the second Ultravox album, the last one with John Foxx as lead. You can hear a lot of this sound in one of his solo albums The Garden, a track of which I linked a few posts up. The Garden actually has a track called Systems of Romance.
The less said about post-Foxx Ultravox, the better.
Unfortunately with each passing birthday this song becomes more and more relevant....
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