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about
Reminiscent of jazz crossover pieces of the finest 1970s-era caliber, this song is completely on-point for the present times.
“No more soft-peddling, I want to be radical! Speaking from the front of the car, not the back-seat driving or skiving in my 9-5 late lunch latte long meetings”. On the page, it looks weird, but when Karen sings it with her eccentric phrasing and sarcastic passion, it sounds perfectly hard-hitting.
The middle crazy chorus section is a high point; envisage Patti Smith and early P.J. Harvey mixed in with Lottie Lenya (and maybe some Ethel Merman) – we get Brechtian existential avant-garde jazz-rock! BABAL outros to songs tend to be quite a trip in themselves, and “Radical” has a great one.
lyrics
Radical
Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year; how long do I have to sit here?
Are you happy sitting down there in your new shoes and your smart hat and your bag?
I don’t want to be like that; I want to be radical. When do you stop being radical?
Does it come with age? Are you born to be thinking a different way?
When will you get peace in your mind?
No more soft-peddling now; I want to be radical.
Speaking from the front of the car, not back seat driving, or skiving in my 9 to 5 late lunch latte long meetings and greetings.
The new investors who steal my vest, even when I do my best!
We want everything for less!
How can we cut, prune, get rid of too soon, the Natural Wastage, the sick and Aged….
Get gone, cut corners! Get gone, cut corners!
I wanna be radical! I wanna be radical!
I don’t want to trim the edges, hide behind Hedges of big-time profits, Big wave injections to curb the infections
But the deep-cut finish won’t win or diminish
I want to be radical! I want to be radical! I want to be radical; I want to be radical!
It’s too far gone; it’s too far gone….
It’s not a bomb, it’s not a bomb, or a man, an incendiary plan!
Change is coming! Change is coming!
See them all running, see them all running!
Doing their sums with their pants falling down, killing the crowd by being a clown, a clown, a clown, a clown with a switchblade under his coat; the clown with a switchblade next to your throat!
Radical, radical let’s be radical, radical, radical!
Before it’s just a tea towel, a garden trowel, a box of sweets, and frozen treats.
Radical clothes, radical shoes, radical stance with nothing to lose
Radical noises, radical songs, radical voting to right all the wrongs!
Radical is only the start; Radical just plays its’ part
I wanna be radical, I wanna be radical, I wanna be radical, I wanna be radical
Or maybe I’ll just be good and sit in a corner, drink my drink. Can you get me some peanuts? I’ll sit here, I won’t say a word; I’ll be a good girl, I’ll do my sums, I’ll do everything you ask me to; just make sure I know what I’m meant to be doing, because I’ve lost my reason to be sane, to be sane, to be sane, to be sane, to be sane, to be sane, to be sane………
I wanna be radical!!!!
Karen Langley
credits
released October 22, 2023
Karen Langley - vocals/arrangements
Rob Williams - guitars, guitar synth, programming
Jon Sharp - drums
Recorded at BABALKastel, Malvern, spring 2023
Produced by Rob Williams and Karen Langley
Engineered and mastered at the White House, Kewstoke, near Bristol by Martin Nichols
All music composed by Rob Williams
All lyrics and vocal arrangements by Karen Langley
Registered with the Performing Rights Society UK
One speaks and a thousand misunderstand
where millions are silent and a thunderous applause erupts
where chatter
overwhelms humility and gossip destroys worlds
the tongues wag, the ears flap, and the mind creates a wall
everything has been said but no one has understood
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