Vic Godard : Live & Rare Volume 3 ‘VICLEKA’
GNUINC0011 London 2015 All Rights Reserved
Vic Godard ‘Live & Rare Vol 3 - Vicleka’ is the latest in the Live & Rare series of CDs with cover art work by
Serbian artist and friend A.M. Leka. Volume 3 is a collection of live and rare versions of the twelve songs
featured in VicLeka, an exhibition of art works Vic has collaborated on with Leka and recorded over the years
with a cornucopia of line ups.
http://vicgodardandsubwaysect.blogspot.co.uk/p/vicleka.html
01. BACK IN THE COMMUNITY LIVE 2012
02. BORN TO BE A REBEL LIVE 2014
03. CHAIN SMOKING 2007
04. NOBODY’S SCARED 1978
05. EASTERN EUROPEANS 2007
06. MUSIC OF A WEREWOLF LIVE 2014
07. EMPTY SHELL 1980
08. OH ALRIGHT (GO ON THEN) LIVE 2014
09. SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD LIVE 2010
10. TAKE OVER LIVE 2010
11. WATCHING THE DEVIL LIVE 2012
12. ZERO TOLERANCE 1998
All songs by Vic Godard except:
Track 8 - Vic Godard/Mates Mates
Copyright Control
1. BACK IN THE COMMUNITY
b Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live
Voodoo Rooms Edinburgh. 24/03/2012
Vic Godard – Vocals/Guitar
Kevin Younger – Keyboards
Mark Braby – Guitar
Paul Cook – Drums
Paul Myers – Bass
Recorded by Lee McFadden
Spent too long in this office
Talk about human zoo!
I think I’m turning into one of these crazy people
Doctor doctor what’d’ya want me to do?
Get out that door and go
Back in the community and take
Lessons in humility
Father’s sayin’ these are the forces of nature
Its there for the takin’
Mother’s sayin’ the moral maze wasn’t
Made to be fair for you
Karma teaches you to make use of
The feast of mistakes you’ll be makin’
Karl Marx sayin’ you are the means
Of production you know what to do
Up off your knees and get
Back in the community and take
Lessons in humility
Class marked out in this hi-viz
Going nowhere by stealth
Must be too may lettuce seeds
Bad for the mental health
Blakey sayin’ this is the book
For the maps of the routes you’ll be takin’
This is the clipboard
It tells me what time you’re due
So out that canteen can’t you see
The complaints they’ll be makin’
Eeaarghh Get that bus out Butler
Or I’ll have you
Get out on the streets and get
Back in the Community and take
Lessons in humility
I’m goin’ back in the community
I’m takin’ lessons in humility
I’m back on the brink now
I’ve sacked the shrink but
At least I’m thinkin’ again
I’m jackin’ the juice now
I’m back on the loose with my pen
Back in the community
Lessons in humility
Back In The Community, Music Of A Werewolf,
Somewhere In The World and Take Over first came
in to the VG & SS live set while they were recording
‘We Come As Aliens’ and are all on the LP, released
in 2010, CD on Overground and limited edition vinyl
on GNU inc (sold out). You will notice that on this live
version of Back In The Community the lyrics vary from
the original. This was as a result of a hissy fit, a tussle
over some red wine, a walk out, a walk back in and a
making up, it all added a certain frisson to this Sound
in the Suburbs gig at the Voodoo Rooms Edinburgh.
2. BORN TO BE A REBEL
Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live
Green Door Store Brighton 09-10-2014
Vic Godard – Vocals
Kevin Younger – Keyboards
Mark Braby – Bass
Ian Holford – Drums
Yusuf B’Layachi – Guitar
Recorded by Lee McFadden
Not for the first time
Would I make a mess
And put my job on the line
But Robin Hood’s gone
In to the Blue Boar and
I’m not ready
Personality crises come
But slip my mind
My brain marries the best and worst of humankind
Cos I was always reading about a love struck LOVE
STRUCK
Romeo ROMEO
In some alcove drafting poems
That might have been about
Another being in another hell
It ain’t hard to tell Petrus Borel
BORN TO BE A REBEL BORN TO BE A REBEL
My tongue’s not bevelled
BORN TO BE A REBEL
Herculean designs to tame and civilise
Are going up in a puff of smoke before your eyes
It’s either back to front KRISS KROSS
Undone NOT TUCKED IN
Hanging out
You’d better believe that from my boot straps
Right up to my nap
Like people say I’m a funny chap
Repeat Chorus
Always a favourite in the set, recorded for the highly
acclaimed 1979 NOW! released on AED Records in
2014 to a great reception. Although assumed to have
been written at the same time as Vic’s other Northern
Soul songs in 1979, it wasn’t! It was written for 1979
NOW!
Brilliant art work by Andrew Paul Shaw.
http://www.vicgodard.co.uk/1979_reviews/1979_reviews.html
http://www.aedrecords.com/collections/new-releases/
products/vic-godard-subway-sect-1979-now
3. CHAIN SMOKING
Subway Sect ‘1978 Now’
Original CD release on Overground Records 2007
Vic Godard – Vocals/Guitar
Paul Williams – Bass
Mark Laff – Drums
Leigh Curtis – Guitar
Recorded at K2 Studios Kingston Surrey by Paul
Dowsett
Produced by Vic Godard
It’s chainsmokin’
Life is chainsmokin’
He told me once or twice
That it’s already planned
The things you can do with the human hand
When I was more concerned with the human brain
All he told me was life is a chain
It’s chainsmokin’
Life is chainsmokin’
And if there’s something you want
You will surely get it
Forces operate and won’t let you forget it
And if this all seems a little pessimistic
You should go thither and play the mystic
But it’s chainsmokin’
Life is chainsmokin’
Oh won’t you take me off this case God, or who
I don’t conceive the same as you
I can’t take any more concatenation
What’s the use in will concentration
It’s chainsmokin’
Life is chainsmokin
Life is chainsmokin’
Life is chainsmokin’
Life is chainsmokin’
Chain
Chain Smoking and Eastern Europeans (Track 5) were
tracks recorded for Subway Sect’s debut album thirty
odd years ago in a Gerrard Street basement, called
Gooseberry Studios. Later re-recorded for 1978 NOW,
a faithful recreation of the early Subway Sect sound
with Mark Laff back on drums.
4. NOBODY’S SCARED
Subway Sect first 7” released 1978 (Braik Records)
Produced by George Alexander
Vic Godard – Vocals/Guitar
Rob Symmons – Guitar
Paul Myers – Bass
Bob Ward – Drums
Everyone is a prostitute
Singing a song in prison
Moral standards the wallpaper
The wall is a bad religion
Media teach me what to speak take my decisions
Its how to find your inner-self time on the television
No-one knows what they’re for
No-one even cares
We shout publicity hand-outs
Nobody’s scared
The language we use is it what we want?
Does it not project the false?
The subject to object journeys mean
That a word loses course
We’re talking in cliches
Betraying ourselves for money
Having is more than being now
Nobody’s sorry
No-one knows what they’re for
No one even cares
We shout publicity handouts
Nobody’s scared.
Subway Sect’s first single.
5. EASTERN EUROPEANS
Subway Sect ‘1978 Now’ 2007
I take no acceptance of the hoardings I see
When I come along down that street
See I’d prefer not to take it
I’d rather have quotes directed at me
USA cigarettes they’re looking at me
They sell the American dream
When all I see is a nightmare fallen apart at the seams
And we’re afraid of the Eastern Europeans
Conglomerates tell you what to think
Role models peddle fizzy drinks
The little kids know their future stinks
You’re pushing the world right to the brink
USA Pacific islander stitching jeans
For the American dream
When what we see is a nightmare
Falling apart at the seams
And we’re afraid of Eastern Europeans
Government inspector is due in your sector
If he don’t get satisfaction
People will demand action now!
Parasites earn astronomical sums
Workers they sweat and slave in the slums
Repeat chorus
See Track 3 box for details
6. MUSIC OF A WEREWOLF
Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live
The Flapper Birmingham (04-10-2014)
Vic Godard – Vocals
Kevin Younger – Keyboards
Mark Braby – Guitar
Ian Holford – Drums
Yusuf B’Layachi – Bass
Recorded by Lee McFadden
Redact and pour.
Redact and pour
Music, music Repeat
Getting in a tiz and blundering, wondering whether
there’s a pen or pad about
Make a mental list of all those crazy little things that
we was mad about
Always getting music losing it day in day out though
My latest brainwave being tape it figured fate may
favour us
But if you think I stepped down off that
craft, call me daft
Or see me clinging to Gericault’s raft, call
me daft
Curriculum vitae rusty? Then it must be
music, music
Ivory tower turned to dust? It must be music
Music of a werewolf
Nil desperandam of Horace more of us on
chorus than in front of us
Then telling sorry stories of some half forgot­ten glories
on a mini bus
Always getting music only to confuse its outcome
So rarely do we use it deign to let the words make plays
for us
So if you see me step down off that craft
Call me daft
Or see me clinging on Gericault’s raft
Call me daft
Repeat chorus
07. EMPTY SHELL
Vic Godard ‘What’s The Matter Boy’ LP MCA 1980
Vic Godard – Vocals
Terry Chimes – Drums
Paul Chimes – Bass
Session Musicians – Guitar and Keyboard
Recorded in Stamford Hill
Produced by Bernard Rhodes with Mickey Foote
You begin to talk there’s no one there
Did you ever see so many empty spaces?
I came across you on a rustic bench
You used to be seen in important places
Where do I go when the light grows dim?
Down the road on a stick?
What will I do when the pen runs out?
I make a start the dogs they bark
I wait and I wait and I wait and I wait
Empty shell I put another log on the fire its no fuel for
you
The battle is done you’ve lost and won
Now you look so pale and eerie
Counting the hills till sunset comes
Looking out on to Cervione
I see the slope steeped with gully marks
And I erode within
An old man sits there tear in his eyes
He found his soul but lost his heart
I wait and I wait and I wait and I wait
Empty Shell
I put another log on the fire its no fuel for you
8. OH ALL RIGHT (GO ON THEN)
Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live
Voodoo Rooms Edinburgh 15-11-2014
Vic Godard – Vocals
Kevin Younger – Guitar
Mark Braby – Bass
Ian Holford – Drums
Yusuf B’Layachi – Guitar
Recorded by Lee McFadden
Got to love the way you do it
When you don’t know what you’re doin’ tonight
And you’re not afraid of playing and you know it don’t need to be
tight
And you wade through muddy fields
With the shield sinking deeper and deeper
And a damned expensive habit
Never having had funds to feed her
(Oh all right) go on then
Coming from class clown ending up in the new museum
Throwing off another round when you’re young and Eastern European
Sing it softer for me love while I yearn for sound of silence
In a mythical fairyland where there ain’t no place for violence
(Oh all right) go on then
Middle 8- Reme - Estadi - Els Caputxins Sera Sant-Ferm - Vic Dos - El Sucre - La
Guia - Montrodon
And you don’t know what it is but this hill’s
getting steeper and steeper
Writing stuff down on the paper getting looks
like Tom the Peeper
Do you like lounging in the dark in a car,
parking pen to paper
And then driving across the town to put it
down only two hours later?
(Oh all right) go on then
Vic wrote and recorded Oh Alright (Go On
Then) with Catalan group Mates Mates at
a farmhouse in Vic. It was released in 2013
by Famèlic Records Barcelona on the single
‘Vic to Vic’ with Les Parts del Cos or ‘
Castaslasnas’, lyrics/ music by Mates Mates
and Whip Rules another song Vic wrote in
Vic with Mates Mates.
http://famelic.com/en/
9. SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD
Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live
The Silver Bullet 09-12-2010
Vic Godard – Vocals/Guitar
Mark Braby - Drums
Dan Ashkenazy – Bass
Kevin Younger – Guitar
Recorded by Lee McFadden
Mister Sam Beasley, the Master Sergeant
Lined us up in little rows like cabbage
You would suffer glad
Or they would deem you mad
Invite you to recite their adage,
Tea-leaf Keith sneaked
Gate full of teeth
Looking to all the world, a savage
The Post took him on
Regretting it from then on
Mail’s piling up inside
His garage – still
Somewhere in the world a body
Could be rockin’ to my vibrations
Somewhere in the world and that’s what made it
all alright
Palladium stage there, Sammy Davis on it
In a suit made out of tonic
Round about the time Distel and them are flyin’
Up high above supersonic
The double-edged sword was
No one could afford to scramble
Up aboard the fashion
But they know how to make do
And know how to fake too
Brung up in a time of ration still
Repeat Chorus
The first time you get it together
Is the best time. the first time
Repeat chorus
Don’t look but there’s a ceiling up there
And it ain’t made out of papier mache
Just keep going son- you never know
You’ve only got to look at Bassey
Don’t shake a fuss then we can save for us
A genius that would never hack it
I know he’s got the sauce but if he had a horse
I’d be the last one to back it
But still
Chorus
10. TAKE OVER
Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live
The Silver Bullet 09-12-2010
Vic Godard – Vocals/Guitar
Mark Braby - Drums
Dan Ashkenazy – Bass
Kevin Younger – Guitar
System failure all but complete
Boarded up stores on the high street
Time for you humble living souls
To firmly grasp your beggin’ bowls
Economy sinkin’, need new thinkin’
Lets take over together people now
Answer stares you right in the face
Still you won’t pull out of the race
Time for you diamonds in the rough
To come out front and strut your stuff
No point in skulkin’ in doorways sulkin’
Lets take over together people now
Panic on old Threadneedle Street
It seems our pockets weren’t so deep
While number crunchers fix the sums
We’re out there scavengin’ for crumbs
Got tough choices for such young voices
Lets takeover together people now
11. WATCHING THE DEVIL
Vic Godard & Subway Sect Live
The Accies Club Glasgow 24-03-2012
Vic Godard – Vocals/Guitar
Mark Braby - Drums
Dan Ashkenazy – Bass
Kevin Younger –Keyboard
Recorded by Murray Robertson
When all around me cooks
Pretend I’m readin’ books
Tryin’ to earn a medal
Then things pile up on me
I fly away to sea
Press every pedal
The strangers I could make
Would fill my life’s estate
And push me off the level
Beat them at their own game
Is buzzin’ in my brain
Until I think ‘the devil with my pleas my needs my greed’
‘The devil with my pleas my needs my greed’
Now I’m surveying things and re-arrangin’ things
I go lookin’ for another scheme of levels
Entertain some crooks and get some funny looks
I go back and start pressin’ the pedals
I’m not watchin’ the devil,I’m not watchin’ the devil
I’m not watchin the devil
I’m just like anyone with a simple scheme of levels
I move from town to town and I’m
Not watchin’ the devil
Then I began to see
They held no use to me
These public devils
A clutch of that I took
A clutch of this I shook
Pressed no more pedals
Until I lost command
Looked in a mirror and
Pinned on a medal
Now I’m in sympathy
With I monotony
Until I think ‘the devil with my pleas my needs my
greed’
‘The devil with my pleas my needs my greed’................
Watching The Devil was first recorded for a Peel Session and then rerecorded for What’s The Matter Boy
with Bob Ward on drums, the only track on the LP he
played on. Terry Chimes played drums on the other
tracks including Empty Shell.
12. ZERO TOLERANCE
Vic Godard ‘ Long Term Side Effect’
Original CD release on Tugboat Records 1998
Recorded at West Heath Studios London
Produced by Edwyn Collins
Vic Godard – Vocals/Harmonica
Edwyn Collins – Moog/Guitar
Dave Morgan – Drums
Martin Pines – Percussion
Clare Kenny – Bass
Pete Saunders – Piano
When you’re tired and you feel sad
Knowing it ain’t the best
Just the best you can get
Do you slide or just fall down
Cause them’s the only choices you get
All of a sudden the rug’s taken
From under your arse
It’s a shame it’s that way
And you’re silently lonesome
Nothing sounds so soothing as death
So sublime to be self made
But what do you do with that sorry bunch here
Would you smile down upon us
Point us to the cake shop window
Wish I had a great mirror
Show you what you look like
With that scowl on your face
When you look over this way to me
Hiding behind your pretty lace
Repeat Chorus
The music for this was inspired by a 1960s/70s soap
opera and the words were inspired by a speech from
a newly elected New Labour politician.
Yeah that Zero Tolerance shit
Yeah that Zero Tolerance shit
What’s the plan?
We’ll just throw out shit
And anyone it hits’ll fit
All lyrics by Vic Godard Copyright Control
Full biog, discography, interviews, photographs, videos, reviews and more at: www.vicgodard.co.uk