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Songbook
Alternatives To War And Violence - Your basic punk verse chorus verse chorus structure dealing with boredom and the results of boredom. Encompassed the group motto: Doing something, anything, was better than doing nothing. Would have been the title track of the first studio album.....
Automobile Epitaph - 'Climb up a hill of 1 in 5, then come down the other side, see your crony your intimate friend, foot on the gas and drive him round the bend'
Bus Conductor - Rather risque lyrics written by Cary, later incorporated into "Poser Without U".
Cause Heat - Debut song at debut gig. Went 'The Friction cause heat, The Friction cause heat, The Friction cause heat, The Friction cause heat' ad nauseam. Played once only.
Christmas 1978 - Perhaps the most popular, and the most poppy, of the earlier stuff. Would have made a cracking single.
CIA Man - A song about paranoia. Are they after me? Don't be so stupid!
Clockwatcher - Hypnotic, reminiscent of the Banshees "Switch". Perfected in rehearsal but never played live.
Commando - Ramones classic. Used it to warm up in rehearsals and played at the first couple of gigs.
Concorde - The first song, written while still at school. Cary's lyrics: 'We paid a lot of money for a lump of flying shit, it costs so much we can't afford to even fly in it!' Dropped after second gig, but a favourite in rehearsals.
Fear Of Fears - Adapted from the basic strucure of "Poser Without U", and used towards the end. It's about when you get to the old age of 19 and you know life has passed you by.....
I Saw The Dead Man - Another latter day song, about the second coming. Did The Friction get religion? Did they hell! Let's Dance - Yes, that "Let's Dance". A live favourite, it's lyrics were directly stolen from the Hitchin group the Bleach Boys version.
Murder - The single. You haven't heard it? Where you been? Still working on the video.....
November Car Crash - Used the same bassline as "Murder", and succeeded it live. A song about being run over. What is it with Luton and the car fixation?
Paranoid - Black Sabbath thrash. We only knew the first bit and warmed up with it in rehearsals.
Pigs - Another cover version, the original being by the 49 Americans. Suprisingly it's about plastic pigs.
Poser Without U - By 1979 we were all getting fed up with the stereotypical "punk" image, weren't we. Weren't we?
Psychedelic Seaside - A time filler at the 'Fear' sessions, but with it's use of sound effects (sampling I believe it's called nowadays) and drum machine, a pointer to the future perhaps.
Satisfriction - "The ultimate destruction of the sixties". This version owed more to Devo than the Rolling Stones.
Send For Q Squad - A latter day set opener with air raid sirens and violent drum machine rhythms. 'Churchill and Hitler talk over afternoon tea about the fun of being fascist'. Too long for Crass's Bullshit Detector, but loved by John Peel, who wanted a decently recorded version to play. Never got round to it.
60p An Hour - Wasting your Saturday working at the Teddy Boy stall in Luton Market for a paltry wage, when you'd rather be at Kenilworth Road watching Ricky Hill.
The Death Dance - Debuted at the Plastic Records audition night, it was a move away from basic thrash to a more early grunge type thing, 'cept grunge didn't exist then. Did it?
The Only Solution - 'A note is a brick, a brick in the wall, the only solution, is to knock down that wall'. Mark's rallying call to break away from restrictions.
Waiting For Harold Lloyd - The last song. Should have been called 'Waiting For Some Good News', but Harold Lloyd was on telly at the time..... |
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