All You Pretty Girls
"All You Pretty Girls" | ||||
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Single by XTC | ||||
from the album The Big Express | ||||
Released | 3 September 1984 (1984-09-03) | |||
Recorded | 1984 | |||
Length | 3:56 | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Songwriter(s) | Andy Partridge | |||
Producer(s) | David Lord, XTC | |||
XTC singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
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"All You Pretty Girls" is a song written by Andy Partridge of the English rock band XTC, released on their 1984 album The Big Express. It peaked at number 55 on the UK Singles Chart, and its music video cost £33,000 to make.[1] Partridge remembers that song came about while he was "dicking around, playing some Hendrix. ... I was just playing this little two-note, quasi-Hendrix thing, and I liked the inherent melody in it."[2]
With the exception of the opening, all the drum sounds in the recording were made with a LinnDrum. The choir sounds were a Mellotron sample played out of a speaker inside a fire bucket.[2]
Song style and content
The song's lyrics tell the story of a sailor asking a shipmate to — if the sailor should die — write a note and throw it overboard, with a message thanking all the women who wait at the docks for the sailor's return. The song's chorus, listing the types of women waiting, is deliberately performed in the style of a sea shanty, which turns into a hornpipe-styled coda utilising a complex harmonic counterpoint of non-lexical vocables which also suggest a nautical work song.
Music video
The song was accompanied by a video which depicted the band in period costume as singers in a traditional music hall or theatrical production, dressed as sailors. By the end of the video, they are shown being press-ganged into service in the navy.
Personnel
XTC
- Dave Gregory – keyboards,[2] backing vocals
- Colin Moulding — bass, backing vocals
- Andy Partridge — guitar, lead and backing vocals
Additional personnel
- Pete Phipps – drums[2]
Charts
Chart (1984) | Peak position |
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Australia (Kent Music Report)[3] | 76 |
UK Singles (OCC)[4] | 55 |
References
- ^ Ingham, Chris (March 1999). "XTC - 'Til Death Do Us Part". Mojo.
- ^ a b c d Bernhardt, Todd (4 March 2007). "Andy discusses 'All You Pretty Girls'". Chalkhills.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 344. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
External links
- "All You Pretty Girls" on Chalkhills
- v
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- e
- Andy Partridge
- Colin Moulding
- Terry Chambers
- Barry Andrews
- Dave Gregory
- White Music
- Go 2
- Drums and Wires
- Black Sea
- English Settlement
- Mummer
- The Big Express
- 25 O'Clock
- Skylarking
- Psonic Psunspot
- Oranges & Lemons
- Nonsuch
- Apple Venus Volume 1
- Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)
- Waxworks: Some Singles 1977–1982
- Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977–1982
- The Compact XTC
- Chips from the Chocolate Fireball
- Explode Together: The Dub Experiments 78-80
- Rag and Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers
- Drums and Wireless: BBC Radio Sessions 77–89
- Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977–92
- Upsy Daisy Assortment
- Transistor Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions
- Coat of Many Cupboards
- Apple Box
- Psurroundabout Ride
- "Statue of Liberty"
- "This Is Pop?"
- "Life Begins at the Hop"
- "Making Plans for Nigel"
- "Generals and Majors"
- "Towers of London"
- "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)"
- "Respectable Street"
- "Senses Working Overtime"
- "Ball and Chain"
- "Wonderland"
- "Love on a Farmboy's Wages"
- "Thanks for Christmas"
- "All You Pretty Girls"
- "This World Over"
- "Wake Up"
- "Grass"
- "The Meeting Place"
- "Dear God"
- "Mayor of Simpleton"
- "King for a Day"
- "The Disappointed"
- "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead"
- "Easter Theatre"
- A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC
- Fuzzy Warbles
- Great Aspirations
- Homespun
- Homegrown
- Take Away / The Lure of Salvage
- Waspstrumental
- XTC: This Is Pop
- Planet England
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