Forgotten Songs of the '80s: XTC
Forgotten Songs of the ‘80s: XTC
When it comes to XTC, mostly everyone talks about “Dear God” and that seems to be about it and it’s absolutely unreal that a song like “The Mayor of Simpleton” is rarely mentioned. It is without a doubt one of the best pop songs of the eighties and it is undoubtedly a high watermark in a career littered with them.
The song starts out like a typical XTC song, folky but with an edge and then Andy Partridge’s voice comes in and right away, one gets the feeling that this will be a different type of XTC song and that’s exactly what happens. With a mixture of folk, pop and Motown-like backing vocals, the song becomes otherworldly.
As you continue to get into the song, you quickly realize the lyrics are typical Partridge but that doesn’t matter. Speaking as one of the world’s dumbest and most perplexed men, Partridge sings about a girl who’s in love with him despite his total lack of knowledge about how the world works. But that’s the thing about XTC that’s so easy to love; because they talk about universal things in an intellectual way but everything’s always easy to understand.
When the song begins to conclude, the voices of Andy, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory begin to harmonize in a way that should make the listener realize that XTC truly were one of the most underrated rock groups not only of the eighties but of all time. So take a listen to “The Mayor of Simpleton” and start thinking about how great a group XTC were and then think about how their aren’t any other bands like that around today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Da9sc6YDBo
When it comes to XTC, mostly everyone talks about “Dear God” and that seems to be about it and it’s absolutely unreal that a song like “The Mayor of Simpleton” is rarely mentioned. It is without a doubt one of the best pop songs of the eighties and it is undoubtedly a high watermark in a career littered with them.
The song starts out like a typical XTC song, folky but with an edge and then Andy Partridge’s voice comes in and right away, one gets the feeling that this will be a different type of XTC song and that’s exactly what happens. With a mixture of folk, pop and Motown-like backing vocals, the song becomes otherworldly.
As you continue to get into the song, you quickly realize the lyrics are typical Partridge but that doesn’t matter. Speaking as one of the world’s dumbest and most perplexed men, Partridge sings about a girl who’s in love with him despite his total lack of knowledge about how the world works. But that’s the thing about XTC that’s so easy to love; because they talk about universal things in an intellectual way but everything’s always easy to understand.
When the song begins to conclude, the voices of Andy, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory begin to harmonize in a way that should make the listener realize that XTC truly were one of the most underrated rock groups not only of the eighties but of all time. So take a listen to “The Mayor of Simpleton” and start thinking about how great a group XTC were and then think about how their aren’t any other bands like that around today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Da9sc6YDBo
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