MEGATOP PHOENIX
A.K.A. The "E" album, a product of the
Madchester/Summer of Love movement of
'89.
B.A.D.'s densest album in sound, with songs bridging
together via murky, samples and incidental bits of music. The
"phoenix" in the title no doubt alludes to Mick Jones' own return
from near-death; "Megatop" is, well, "Megatop"! Mick's mate
Pete Wylie is credited in the sleeve notes as
"Megatop Phoenix" - either a nickname or the
source for the album title one assumes...
Special thanks to Toni in London.
START
"This is the universe...big, isn't it?"
David Niven, from the film A Matter of Life and Death.
REWIND
"Just like General Custer / There's Indians all
around" = reference to brazen US General George Armstrong Custer, who was
killed along with his entire regiment by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at the
Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana, 1876.
"Ring the alarm..." is a line of lyric from
"Ring The Alarm" by Tenor Saw.
ALL MINK & NO MANNERS
Towards the end, the girl humming "boom diddy
boom.." is Sophia Loren; "I like it..." is Peter Sellers. From
"Goodness Gracious Me!" by Peter Sellers, and possibly the Italian TV
special With Love, Sophia (1967) on which Sellers guest-starred.
UNION, JACK
Sample of "Rule Britannica" at the beginning
of the song.
Cowbell and drum loop from "Honky Tonk
Women" by The Rolling Stones.
football = soccer!
"...this green and pleasant land..." =
popular descriptive reference to England
"the (above) sample is actually from a public
information advert shown in the u.k. which told people not to throw litter
about. So now you know!" - Andrew Wormleighton
“'(clapping)...England!' sample is a chant sung by
football fans from the terraces at England matches." - Toni
"There's a chant that goes. ''.tch, tch.....tch,
tch, tch.....tch, tch, tch, tch.......England.' This is from the British
classic movie, The Italian Job. It's in the prison sequence when Noel Coward is
walking down the staircase. It has become a favourite chant for the football
fans supporting the National side." - Simon Leung
"This royal throne of kings...this realm, this
England..." >From William Shakespeare's play "Richard II";
Maurice Evans as Richard II in Richard II (1954)?????
"(The) movie called 'The Ruling Class"
starring Peter O'Toole...at the beginning of the film there is a toast made
that goes something like..."to England this precious stone set in a silver
sea" not directly quoted but this appears at the end of Union Jack. I
think you have it credited to Henry the 7th but this is positivly from this
movie." - Whack Attack
"We are here today...">From a speech by
Queen Elizabeth II.
Song title is a play on "Union Jack", the
nickname of the flag of the United Kingdom.
"On Megatop, there's a bunch of talking in one
track "god bless this ship and all who sail in it and I'm in labour"
etc... Quite a few of those bits are from a film called The Knack (and how to
get it) starring Rita Tushingham, Michael Crawford and Ray Brooks. A great film
if you get a chance to see it." - El Buccanero
CONTACT
Features sample of "I Can't Explain" by The
Who (1965).
DRAGON TOWN
"Mister Wu no longer has a laundry / Sad to say
the business was a flop..." George Formby
Gerrard Street is in the heart of London's Chinatown,
near Soho. Populated by many Chinese restaurants, hence 'takeaway'; 'fire
crack' refers to the fireworks display held at Chinese New Year in Chinatown.
IS YOURS WORKING YET?
"How do you do, ladies and gentlemen...I trust
everyone is enjoying the music..."Alfred Hitchcock
AROUND THE GIRL IN 80 WAYS
Title is a play on the book/film title "Around
the World in 80 Days".
"and so we..had a cup of tea" is taken from
"Right Said Fred" by Bernard Cribbens (see "Mick's A Hippie
Burning").
JAMES BROWN
James Brown, "The Hardest Working Man In Show
Business", American soul singer.
Lyrics make reference to a highly-publicized domestic
incident between Brown and his wife in the late 1980s that involved a
high-speed car chase, and eventually, Brown going to prison. Also many lyrical
references to Brown lyrics and song titles ("I'm Superbad",
"Living In America", "It's A Man's Man's World", "Hot
Pants", "Papa Don't Take No Mess" etc.).
"Now I can't say exactly what did happen. You
just don't understand unless you been through it..."
James Brown in an episode of the American cop show
"Miami Vice" (mid-1980s).
"Dress got holes..." = During the
aforementioned incident, Brown reportedly shot holes into his wife's fur coat.
"Car chase boogaloo - FBI, CIA, and the Russians
too..." = reference to Brown's paranoid hallucinations caused by PCP use
"Life can be bright in America...if you're
all-white in America!">From "America", written by Leonard
Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim, from the film West Side Story (1957).
"Get out of the car! Drop to your knees! Drop to
the ground..." Police officer in The Terminator (1984).
"I'm sorry." James Brown in an episode of
the American cop show "Miami Vice" (mid-1980s).
MICK'S A HIPPIE BURNING
Song title is a play on the film title
"Mississippi Burning".
"Don't dig there, dig it elsewhere / You're
digging it round and it ought to be square... / The shape of it's wrong, it's
much too long and / you can't put a hole where a hole don't belong... / I ask
you - what a liberty, eh? Nearly bashed him right in the bowler.">From
"Right Said Fred" by Bernard Cribbens.
There I was, a-digging this hole, hole in the ground,
so big and sort of round it was and there was I, digging it deep - it was flat
at the bottom and the sides were steep - when along comes this bloke in a
bowler which he lifted and scratched his head. Woh, he looked down the hole,
poor demented
soul, and he said <do you mind if I make a
suggestion?>...
Don't dig there, dig it elsewhere. You're digging it
round and it ought to be square. The shape of it's wrong, it's much too long
and you can't put a hole where a hole don't belong.
Thanks to Mute and Ian Collier
HOUSE ARREST
Title refers to house music, one of the musical
progenitors of acid house and the "Madchester" scene.
"I entered Jeckyll / And came out Hyde" -
reference to Robert Louis Stevenson's
novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and to the mood-altering
effects of clubland drugs.
"Mr Chevignon's inside..." - is a reference
to a menswear label favoured by 'casuals' in the late 1980's. Around this time
many casuals abandoned the football terraces in favour of the raves. Many got
into drug-dealing where lucrative profits could be made, hence...
"Let me take you down cos I'm going to..."
is a line of lyric from "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles.
"I Wish U Heaven" refers to the Prince song
of the same name (from Lovesexy).
The lyric 'Smiley moves in for the kill' refers to the
yellow 'Smiley' logo, associated with the Acid House scene in the late 1980s.
Could also refer to 'Ecstasy' related deaths at clubs, synonymous with this
scene.
THE GREEN LADY
This song refers to a picture whose prints were mass
produced in the UK in the 1970s. It proved very popular and undoubtedly adorned
the walls of many flats in 'concrete Council Tower Blocks' (like the one called
Wilmcote House, where Mick lived with his Gran during his youth).
Source - NME interview with Mick Jones.
LONDON BRIDGE
'lovely...lovely...lovely' sample at the beginning of
this song is from 'Wouldn't it be lovely' mimed by Audrey Hepburn in the film
'My Fair Lady'
'..those Ealing comedies' lyric refers to a series of
British movies which were filmed at Ealing film studios in West London (e.g.
The Lavender Hill Mob; Passport To Pimlico; The Ladykillers etc.). Quite a few
samples from these films are used in various BAD songs.
STALAG 123
Stalag = German WWII military camp
"There will be no escape from this camp..."
and "one man has made 17 attempted escapes...captain, this is close to
insanity..." >From The Great Escape (1963).
The basement studio was indeed flooded, covering
everything with mud...
END
>From a UK evening children's show...