Note: I removed "Ships Don't Disappear in the Night", because of its filthy, disgusting lyrics, so I cleaned it up by changing it to "4% of Something" where it said:
4% Of Something' (B-side to 'Johnny Don't Do It') is a repetitive blues song based around a fierce relentless guitar riff with some basic Eric Stewart lyrics over the top. Perhaps reflecting on his Mindbenders years, Eric moans about having to lower his horizons and being trapped by management because '4% of something' that will be released is better than '10% of nothing'. A strong guitar solo is the highlight of a simple song that would have made a companion to 'The Wall Street Shuffle', although 10cc's 'un-written rule' that the pair who didn't write an A-side would write the B-side put paid to that.
Here is the story of an original song, "Ships Don't Disappear in the Night"I am not happy with:
My other favorite song on the album is the truly oddball [25] ‘Ships Don’t Just Disappear In The Night (Do They?!?!?)’, a second ever Stewart-Gouldman song which sounds quite unlike any other in the history of music (and one which surely puts paid to the idea that only Godley-Creme were writing the bonkers material). This homage to horror movies everywhere has the narrator trying to comfort himself that these tales are only fiction – only for his imagination to get the better of him as he vows he ‘gotta be nice to Vincent Price!’ The song’s big memorable hook is a rumbling catchy guitar riff that starts off quite jolly and then gets ‘eaten’ by a simple piano lick that seems to close in on the song and taunts it throughout, as if chasing down its prey, just out of shot so that the two never meet. It’s the perfect accompaniment for a song about expecting the unexpected, always knocking us off-balance every time we think we’ve worked out where it’s going. Gouldman’s bass is also inventive throughout this song, pouncing suddenly when we are least expecting it and successfully conjuring up a musical sound of ghouls passing through closed doors and grabbing at us from the shadows. The words, too, aren’t your typical horror spoof, but a truly weird collection of thoughts ranging from the idea that we don’t like to think about the unknown except as a ‘game’ because it scares us and the rather more comforting thought that even if we do see something out of the unknown that scares us, it can’t actually harm us so it’s stupid to be scared of them (‘they can’t do nothing to yer – they just keep walking through yer’ as the chorus memorably has it). As well as old Vincent the song namechecks ‘Boris and Bella’ – the generic name for a weirdo vampire butler and for a vampiress (they should have used this song on the ‘Twilight’ soundtrack). This song would be just too weird and strange to pull off in lesser hands, but 10cc are masterpieces at tying their complex songs with production magic and the whole band excel themselves here, especially Eric’s bawling narrator who sounds both arrogant and scared all at the same time while there are major parts for all three of his colleagues with Kev’s ghostly harmonies mixed low, Lol’s urgent harmony and Graham’s deep growl making for a most memorable monster mis-mash. The wordless middle eight, which is truly creepy thanks to some multi-layered treated harmonies and otherworldly whistling, sounds like it’s come straight out of a horror film and is one of the most interesting and original passages on the whole record. Above all, though, this song rocks – yes, it’s a novelty song but, like ‘Rubber Bullets’, you can also enjoy this without the words as a fine piece of rocking pop. Critics had their knives out into 10cc records later in the decade for being wishy washy and too full of ballads – something I heavily dispute as you’ll know if you’ve read my other 10cc reviews – but here is perhaps the best rocker of the whole 10cc canon. And remember, you’ve gotta be nice to Vincent Price, who is surely wreaking revenge beyond the grave for seeing Christopher Lee make it to the Band on The Run cover instead of him...
lyrics
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
Well I don't like the way you work
It's all I can do
Working on a number
My fingers to the bone on my guitar
Working on a number
My fingers to the bone on my piano
All I got the end of the day
Is a message from the King
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
Well I don't like the way you work
It's all I can do
I'm trying to scratch a living
But, all this man is giving me is the blues
I'm trying to scratch a living
But, all the man is giving me is the blues
I've got to find a way to make my music play
Or I'm gonna lose my mind
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
Well I don't like the way you work
It's all I can do
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
Well I don't like the way you work
It's all I can do
4% of something's
Better than 10% of nothing blue
This is a musical tribute to 10cc, both originals and remakes. Here is the story about the original line-up from the
original band: 10cc are an English rock band founded in Stockport, England, who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians – Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme....more
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