Deep Purple | Take It Easy

This week, Song Lyric Sunday‘s theme is right up my street. As Jim tells us in his post Swinging London we are invited to play a song that was played on the UK shows Top Of The Pops (TOTP) or Ready Steady Go! (RSG) as suggested by Willow of willowdot21. Her blog is always interesting and worth a follow: like me, she plays a lot of music, most of which is to my taste – she knows who we differ on! These two shows both started back in the days when the UK only had two tv channels – BBC and ITV – and whilst TOTP was required viewing in our house I don’t recall watching RSG. I can only guess that it might have clashed with something my parents watched on BBC at the same time, and it only ran for three years anyway. So I’m going with TOTP for my choices today. The show first aired on 1 January 1964 and ran for 2,272 episodes until it stopped being a weekly event, on 30 July 2006. I had long since given up watching it by then, though my daughters still enjoyed it. At an average of around 8 or 9 songs a week that gave me a lot of choice, but I’ve managed to select three to play today. I saw all of these broadcasts, from the days when Thursday viewing wouldn’t have been the same without it.

What would you do for TOTP if your band had just got to #1 for the first time, taking over from an act that had been at the top for seven weeks, having been there earlier in the year for nine weeks with another song, both from the Grease movie? Taking the piss out of them seems a good option:

Although it is shown on the video as being from the later version – TOTP2, which shared clips from yesteryear – that is the performance that the Boomtown Rats gave of Rat Trap when it reached #1. Its lyrics tell a story, as their best songs did, and they get brownie points for mentioning TOTP. They are long, but I’m quoting them all so you get the idea:

There was a lot of rocking going on that nightCruising time for the young bright lightsJust down past the gasworks, by the meat factory doorThe five lamp boys were coming on strong

The Saturday night city beat had already startedAnd the, the pulse of the corner boys just sprang into actionAnd young Billy watched it all under the yellow street lightAnd said “tonight of all nights, there’s gonna be a fight”

Billy don’t like it living here in this townHe says the traps have been sprung long before he was bornHe says “hope bites the dust behind all the closed doors”And pus and grime ooze from its scab crusted sores

There’s screaming and crying in the high-rise blocks”It’s a rat trap Billy, but you’re already caughtAnd you can make it if you wanna or you need it bad enoughYou’re young and good-looking and you’re acting kind of tough

Anyway it’s Saturday night time to see what’s going downPut on the bright suit Billy, head for the right side of townIt’s only 8 o’clock but you’re already boredYou don’t know what it is but, there’s got to be moreYou’d better find a way out, hey kick down that doorIt’s a rat trap and you’ve been caught

In this town Billy says “everybody’s trying to tell you what to do”In this town Billy says “everybody says you gotta follow rules”You walk up to those traffic lightsYou switch from your left to rightYou push in that button and that button comes alight And hits you

“Walk, don’t walkWalk, don’t walkTalk, don’t talkTalk, don’t talk”

Hey Billy take a walk, take a walk, take a walkBilly take a walk, take a walk, take a walkBilly take a walk, take a walk, take a walkHey Billy, take a walk with me

Take a walk that leads to meSweet high school blues

Oh little Judy’s trying to watch “top of the pops”But mum and dad are fighting don’t they ever stopShe takes off her coat and walks down into the streetIt’s cold on that road, but it’s got that home beatDeep down in her pockets she finds 50pHey is that any way for a young girl to be?I’m gonna get out of school work in some factoryWork all the hours God gave me get myself a little easy moneyNow, now, now na na

Her mind’s made up, she walks down the roadHer hands in her pockets, coat buttoned ‘gainst the coldShe finds Billy down at the Italian cafeAnd when he’s drunk it’s hard to understand what Billy saysBut then he mumbles in his coffee and he suddenly roars“It’s a rat trap Judy; and we’ve been caught”

Rat trap, you’ve been caughtIn a rat trap, you’ve been caughtIn a rat trap, you’ve been caught…

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bob Geldof

Rat Trap reached #1 on the UK Singles chart in November 1978: the band were classed as either punk or new wave, and this was the first time either of those genres made the top here. The song also made #2 in Ireland, where the band came from, but wasn’t a hit in the US – their only chart entry there was the follow up, I Don’t Like Mondays, another song that told a story and got to #1 in the UK, making #73 in the US. I didn’t buy Rat Trap as a single, as I had the album for which it was the closing track – A Tonic For The Troops – which peaked at #8 in the UK and #112 in the US. The single went Gold in the UK, and the album went Platinum. You may have noticed Bob Geldof miming the sax part on a candelabra. He has said that it was on the piano and he found a mouthpiece to attach in order to ‘play’ it. He wasn’t allowed to play sax on the show as he didn’t on the record: the sax part had been played by Alan Holmes, who was a session musician, a member of Sounds Incorporated, and a music teacher, and had also played on a couple of Beatles albums: you can hear him on Good Morning, Good Morning on Sgt Pepper. (I’ve just realised that next week’s theme is to play a song featuring a sax, and I’ve rather blown it with this one – bugger.)

This week’s second tune came from ten years earlier. It is a real toe tapper and the video is fun in seeing the band’s enjoyment:

The Equals were, as you can see, a multiracial band at a time when this was far from common. They comprised Eddy Grant, born in Guyana, brothers Derv and Lincoln Gordon, from Jamaica, and Pat Lloyd and John Hall from London. They grew up together on a council estate in North London, out of which they formed the band. Baby Come Back was originally released as a B-side in 1966 but did little, but after it became a sleeper hit in Germany it was re-released in the UK in May 1968, and spent three weeks at #1 here in July of that year – very much the sound of that summer. It also reached #32 in the US, their only chart hit over there. The song was written by Eddy Grant, who as you probably know went on to have a successful solo career which took in a trip to Electric Avenue along the way. Lead vocals here are by Derv Gordon, though. I bought the single at the time and played it to bits, and still enjoy hearing it now: it brings back some great memories. The brief glimpse at the beginning was of the DJ – Simon Dee – who introduced the show that week. I’m not sure that some of those camera angles would be permitted today though!

Today’s final tune is another belter, of similar vintage – this time, from 1970:

As the video showed, that was Deep Purple with Black Night. This was released as a non-album single in June 1970, and entered the UK chart in mid-August. After a ten week climb it eventually peaked in October at #2, where it stayed for two weeks – in total it spent 21 weeks in our top fifty, going right up until the first chart listing of 1971. It also made #66 in the US. This was another for which I bought the single, much to my Mum’s disgust – if she hated a song I knew I was doing ok! It wasn’t included on an album until the twentieth anniversary re-release of Deep Purple In Rock, which had also come out in June 1970.

That’s my lot for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the nostalgia trip and some British (and Irish) music. I’m looking forward to seeing what the American bloggers I follow make of this one – a rough guess will be that some of them find a few of the many American acts who appeared on the show, as I did in reverse for last week’s theme.

See you again for Tuesday Tunes 😊