TIGHTEN UP VOL. 88

ROCK NON STOP

"And now our feature presentation..." and organ fanfare >From Monty Python's Flying Circus.

"I've known about this for a few years, finally i can tell it to someone who might give a crap! in Rock Non Stop from Tighten Up Volume 88, during the synthesizer solo, there is a sample of a side-splitting laugh that sounds like a chipmunk. The laugh itself is from the 1981 movie 'Arthur' with Dudley Moore. It's speeded up a bit. Early in the movie when the drunk Arthur picks up the prostitute in the limo and takes her to the exclusive restaurant, as he's getting out of the limo, he falls onto the pavement and bursts into the laughter you hear in Rock Non Stop. Trust me, I'm right on this one..."

(I lost the name of the submittor of this one, but thank you!)

OTHER 99

"You asked me to make a record of my voice...well, here it is." Richard "Dickie" Attenborough from the 1947 film Brighton Rock.

APPLECART

"Don't rock the boat / upset the applecart" = popular idioms for "don't cause trouble"

ESQUERITA

The following explanation originally appeared on the B.A.D. Pirate Page - thanks to El Buccanero...

"Most of you will have heard the song by BAD on Tighten Up Vol. '88 but you may not have heard actually heard Esquerita. I think Mick must have got the album Vintage Voola, read the sleeve notes then written the song around these. Everything's there - playing at the Dew Drop Inn, his healthy rivalry with Little Richard (the Georgia Peach) and even bashing his girl up with the metal tube from a vacuum cleaner! ("...beat up on his woman with a

vacuum cleaner...") Gene Vincent was the one that gave Esquerita "some of his old clothes", which were given to (Vincent) by Little Richard...His real name was indeed S.Q. Reeder and he died of AIDS (related whatever) in 1987."

The song samples "Sweet Skinny Jenny" and "Rockin' The Joint" by Esquerita from the Vintage Voola LP.

CHAMPAGNE

In the song "Champagne", during the outro there is a sample from the Powell-Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven in the US). The sample is taken from the scene when David Niven is talking to his friend June (played by Kim Hunter) and a doctor. The doctor excuses himself from the conversation complaining he get's his tea at 4:30 and then a cart crashes through the door: TEA BREAK! (cheers) and June replies "HERE YOU GET IT AT FIVE! When I was watching the film I literally jumped out of my seat yelling "Where is that from?" Thank god I found it. - Russ Pollard

MR WALKER SAID

Mr. Walker = Patrick Walker, horoscope writer for the London Evening Standard

tarot cards = method of fortunetelling

"Some people read the stars..." = astrology

"I think I'll write my own..." = taking control of one's own destiny

"I'm a Capricorn..." = a sign of the Zodiac (Mick is actually a Cancer...)

"He knows...he knows the moon etc." >From the film The Right Stuff.

"You are one...under the stars!" Nicol Williamson as Merlin in Excalibur (1981)???

"And everything he sees is beamed in from the Med..." = reference to Walker writing and submitting his astrological profiles in advance from his home in the Mediterranean

THE BATTLE OF ALL SAINTS ROAD

Violin from "The Battle of New Orleans" (traditional American folk song). Banjos from"Dueling Banjos" (featured as the soundtrack to the film Deliverance).

I happened to come across this reference while reading a book about Bob Marley called, "Catch A Fire" by Timothy White. At the beginning of the "Battle of All Saints Road," Don Letts let's out the call of: "Nuh matter wha a people say. Dese sounds lead the way. It's the order of the day. from yar the boss dj!" In Jamaica, in the 1950s, DJ's would travel to different towns with big rigs called Sound Systems to play dances. Two of the more famous DJs were King Sporty and King Stitt and they would start their shows by revving up the crowd with the above little ditty. Nice tribute Don. - Scott

"No matter what the people say..." etc. - "Fire Corner" by King Stitt (available on Don Letts Presents The Mighty Trojan Sound compilation

dreads = Rastafarians, or anyone with hair worn in dreadlocks

"A skinny white dude came in and took a chair..."; "the rocker..." = Mick Jones

Ladbroke Grove, Pimlico = areas of London

Red Stripe = Jamaican brand of beer

"Lost my wallet and my mind at the Carnival..."; "Once a year at Carnival we're having us a ball..." = reference to the Notting Hill Carnival, an annual street fair

Reference to American franchises moving into Britain: 7-11 = American convenience store chain

McDonalds = American fast food chain

HoJo's = Howard Johnson's, American hotel/restaurant chain

2000 SHOES

Title and lyrics in reference to Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Phillippines, and her sizeable shoe collection.

Qadahafi = Dictator of Libya and Marcos' houseguest

George Hamilton = perma-tanned American actor and Marcos party guest

"Mao Tse-Tung and disco lights..." = noting the irony between the Marcos' hardline politics (reference to Communist Chinese leader) and their swank parties

TIGHTEN UP VOL. '88

Song and album title pay homage to a series of '70s reggae compilations.

"Natives, blacks & werewolves..." = reference to London's racial/cultural mix and possibly "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon / the film An American Werewolf In London

Brixton = area of South London

Horn fanfare is sampled from "The Guns of Navarone" by the Skatalites.

"Guess who's coming to dinner...natty dread..." "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" by Black Uhuru (1980).

"Get aboard the last train to Skaville..." >From "Last Train To Skaville" by the Soul Brothers.

JUST PLAY MUSIC!

"Now the intro goes something like this: ba-di-da ba-di-da da-da - boom-boom..."

"Let me tell you something: you'll be top of the pops in no time...smart alecks..."

"I'll tell you one thing the people go mad for these days, that's your pop stars..."

"This could be a minor sensation..." etc.

>From the film Privilege (1967).

Tin Pan Alley = nickname given to 28th Street in New York, "music publishing capital of the world"; also an area in London - Denmark Street W1.