Gary Numan: Dance vs. I, Assassin, Part 2 – the songs (Dance)

Really cool song here (that is, if you’re into that 80’s sound) – it’s “She’s Got Claws”. Great saxophone “riff” throughout the song, and the funky, fretless bass weaves its way throughout the song to great effect – both of these sorta give it a jazzy tone to me. The drums sound like they could be drum machines, and if so, I’ve heard far worse sounding drum machines. The piano that follows the sax lines adds a nice touch, and the synths are used sparingly but do spruce up the sound of the song. The lyrics are sung in the typical Gary Numan style, though I feel he does give his all on this one vocally, and lyrically the song is about a girl that ripped him off (by selling the story about dating him to the tabloids, but I only know of that through liner notes); tends to sound a bit anxious here, but that’s nothing unusual. The video demonstrates this betrayal on Numan through a woman that metamorphoses into a black panther (thus the girl with claws), love the background in the video reflecting the look of the 1930s. Love the line of “I don’t like guys”, heh – is it that bad that he has to defend his sexuality so openly like that? Is it just me or does it seem like the video for The Stranglers’ “European Female” is a bit of a rip off of this video (this one probably came out first – Dance was released in 1981, The Stranglers Feline, which “European Female” is off of, was released in 1982).

Too bad there wasn’t a video made for this song, “A Subway Called ‘You’ “.  Nice fretless bass opening with atmospheric synths open this song up, gives this song a dark sound that I like; *snicker* at the fake cowbell sound just before the lyrics kick in. The song continues this way musically with some real drums kicking in once the lyrics do, and it’s generally a bass driven number, with some good saxophone being used later on. Lyrically, the song seems to be about a male gigolo with lines like “Here the ladies always ring twice, Thought you’d slip away tonight with me” and “Hello you, no more this talk of ‘My boys will be yours’ ” – that last line sorta confuses me. Overall, this is one of the best songs on this album.

Non-album single around the Dance era (that appears on the remastered Beggars Banquet CD edition) – this one’s called “Stormtrooper in Drag”. Meaty beat provided by drums and the bassline (with the bass being played by Gary Numan) with echoey-sounding guitar (played by Paul Gardiner, bass player in The Tubeway Army and on Numan’s solo effort The Pleasure Principle, Telekon, and Night Talk on Dance). Lyrically, the song appears to be about sex, with lyrics like “I could call and make you crawl into bed” and “I’ll just speak in slow motion, About obsessions with boys on the floor”, but the lyric “It’s so disgusting I’m so tired of rhythm, And needles in arms, I don’t want your point of view” sounds like a stab at Paul Gardiner’s drug habits (which would eventually take his life three years later in 1984).

Soon, I’ll be posting up select songs and videos from I, Assassin and analyzing the lyrics and musical elements of them.

~ by isolator86 on October 31, 2008.