Thursday 26 April 2012

Marching on, now



For some strange reason (I have no idea why), my thoughts today turned to this thirty-two-year-old song.

Back in 1981/82 when I was a budding regular at the "Bowie/Roxy" nights at our local nightclub Lazers in Newport, Wales, I Travel by Simple Minds was always on the playlist (alongside Kraftwerk, Ultravox - the original group with John Foxx of course - Classix Nouveaux, Gina X, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode and the rest), and I loved it then as I do now!


Such a shame Simple Minds went on to become the pompous "stadium band" the world remembers them for today...

Cities, buildings falling down
Ideal homes falling down
These pictures I see on the wall
Timeless leaders stand so tall
Assassin in a hit and run
Asia steals a new born son
Evacuees and refugees
Presidents and monarchies

Travel round
I travel round
Decadence and pleasure towns
Tragedies, luxuries, statues, parks and galleries

Europe has a language problem
Talk, talk, talk, talk, talking on
In central Europe
Men are marching
Marching on and marching on
Love songs playing in the restaurants
Airports playing Brian Eno

Travel round
I travel round
Decadence and pleasure towns
Tragedies,luxuries,statues,parks and galleries

Europe has a language problem

And in central Europe
Men are marching


Simple Minds UK site

2 comments:

  1. Don't even get me started!

    I moved to Chicago in 1981, and immediately hit the clubs...I think you and I did some parallel partying, my friend! Of course all those great tunes from the UK took a bit longer to get here, but we definitely shared a similar soundtrack and aesthetic. Which is undoubtedly why we get along so well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sisters under the skin! (Sisters of Mercy? Sister Ray? Swing Out Sister? Or just the Dolly Sisters?)

      Jx

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