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June
1978
BEING
BOILED b/w
Circus Of Death
7"
single, Fast Product FAST 4
reissued in August 1980 and January 1982 by EMI
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This
was The Human League's debut single, recorded in mono on a
Sony two-track tape recorder. The single was issued under
the title Electronically Yours and the original release
sold several thousand copies before being deleted. When re-issued
in January 1982 after the huge success of Don't You Want
Me, the single soared to Number Six in the UK charts,
spending nine weeks in the Top 75.
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Being
Boiled
was the first song Philip wrote with Ian and Martyn. Ian:
"We'd got the instrumental part and [Philip] came along
with these lyrics and just started singing them. So we had
vocals then. I thought the lyrics were just completely crazy."
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Philip:
"It was... er... I'd got some religions mixed up and
I thought that, like, Buddhism was the same as Hinduism, and
it was sort of a plea for vegetarianism really, against killing
the silkworms to make socks or something. I got really confused
about it."
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| Martyn
on the b-side, Circus Of Death:
"There was this film called Death Circus or something,
where you got the clowns going around and a psychopath with
an axe... and this is the same thing except the ringmaster is
a clown as well, and he distributes this drug - we wrote this
in about seven minutes, just reeling off the lines, incidentally
- and he distributes this fictitious drug to all his cronies,
and basically they go 'round killing people and then take over
the world." |
| Ian:
"Just a totally ludicrous lyric, but people can interpret
it however they want." |
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Despite
not selling in vast quantities, the single attracted plenty
of attention in the press and certain other musicians were
moved to comment on the record. Upon hearing Being Boiled,
none other than David Bowie declared it to be the sound of
the future of music. He attended the group's show at the Nashville
pub in West Kensington, and it was even rumoured that he had
expressed an interest in working with the League.
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the other hand, Public Image Limited vocalist John Lydon (formerly
Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) heard the record whilst reviewing
new singles for the New Musical Express and dismissed
the group as "trendy hippies"... |
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were possibly two pressings of the original mono edition, as
initial copies seem to have faded yellow newsprint labels, whereas
later mono editions have crisp black and white newsprint labels.
The run-out grooves on the single are inscribed 'insurgent pop'
and 'resistant product'. |
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single was later reissued by EMI in August 1980, using simulated
stereo mixes of the songs, and this was reissued a second time
in January 1982. These reissues are easily distinguished from
the original 1978 pressing as they have red labels, with a yellow
logo and white text, unlike the original. |
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| In
1988, Virgin reissued the record in Germany as a 12"
single (catalogue number 611908). This release included the
1980 re-recording of Being Boiled as an extra track
(see the label above), and both the Fast Product recordings
were presented in simulated stereo. The 12" single's
label neglects to credit John Leckie for his co-production
on the 1980 re-recording. |
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Both
tracks written by Oakey/Ware/Marsh
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Produced
by The Human League
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Single
available on: Reproduction
CD (Virgin CDV 2133)
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Next:
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The
'Human League cassette'
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