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Carousel

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Carousel is an early demo version of Say Something that was given away as a free download with the CD version of The Morning After mini album. Another version of the demo also appeared on the 2015 reissues of Laid.

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Song:Carousel
Released:March 2015
Main Associated Album (or Single):Laid / Wah Wah Super Deluxe Edition
First Heard Live:
    Can't find any records of performances.
Unavailable

Laid / Wah Wah Super Deluxe Edition

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Laid / Wah Wah Super Deluxe Edition, a 2015 Compilation Box Set by James.

Summary

This re-issue of Laid and Wah Wah combined both albums as originally intended by the band, and was released 8 years ago. The boxset includes two extra CDs of rehearsals, demos, B-sides and radio sessions. The boxset also include a booklet, prints and badges.

Track List

Disc 1 – Laid:

Out To Get You / Sometimes (Lester Piggott) / Dream Thrum / One Of The Three / Say Something / Five-O / P.S. / Everybody Knows / Knuckle Too Far / Low Low Low / Laid / Lullaby / Skindiving

Disc 2 – Wah Wah:
Hammer Strings / Pressure’s On / Jam J / Frequency Dip / Lay The Law Down / Burn The Cat / Maria / Low Clouds / Building A Fire / Gospel Oak / DVV / Say Say Something / Rhythmic Dreams / Dead Man / Rain Whistling / Basic Brian / Low Clouds / Bottom Of The Well / Honest Joe / Arabic Agony / Tomorrow / Laughter / Sayonara

Disc 3 – Rehearsals, Demos & Jams:
Carousel / Unknown Track 8 / Dream Thrum / Chicken Goth / Jam J / You Were Born / Bruce Jam 1 (Mix 1) / Jam D Rhythmic Dreams / Jam E / Jam 11 / Jam 12B / Jam P / Jam P2 / Jam Q / Jam R / Who Is Gospel Oak? / Falsetto / Jam 13

Disc 4 – B-Sides, Radio Sessions & Live:
America / Building A Charge / Wah Wah Kits / The Lake / Seconds Away / Say Something / Assassin / Laid / Low Low Low / Sometimes / Tomorrow / Five – O / Jam J (Arena Dub) / Jam J (Sabresonic Tremelo Dub)

Details

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Release Name: Laid / Wah Wah Super Deluxe Edition
Artist Name: James
Release Date: 23 March 2015
Format: Compilation Box Set
Catalogue: ASIN B00RYGDNQ6
Related Release(s):

According to Tim Booth, Laid and Wah Wah are “the culmination of playing four or five hours a day four or five days a week in Manchester and the new band adapting to that. It is about the transition of becoming more of a band but with Brian at the helm.” Booth remembers jamming “hundreds of songs that never saw the light of day” and guitarist Larry Gott suggests it might have been “as many as 340 tracks.” The simultaneous, coupled reissues are particularly notable, however, due to the fact that producer Brian Eno and the band had originally favoured releasing the records as a double package.

Recorded concurrently in 1993 during a frenetic six week period at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Complex, the albums were always intended as companion pieces – Laid being referred to as the “song” album whilst Wah Wah was known as the “experimental” or “jamming” album – but the record company’s decision to release them months apart put paid to this conception: Laid, released in the UK in October 1993, reached the No.3 spot in the UK and became the band’s biggest album to date in the US, selling 600,000 copies and breaking the band in the USA in the process but the subsequent follow-up Wah Wah effectively sunk the band over there and – according to Booth – “put paid to us breaking America at all!”.More pertinently perhaps, by the time Wah Wah came out, U2 (and Eno) had released Zooropa and “everyone thought we were copying off them instead of the other way round!”The 4CD 12’x 12’ Super Deluxe box set features 20 previously unreleased recordings.

Songs related to this release:

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Videos related to songs on this release:

Compilation release not related to gigs.

Say Something

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Say Something is track five on the 1993 James album Laid.

A “New” Version accompanied the release of the song as a double A-side with Jam J in the UK in March 1994. It was also remixed by Utah Saints for a US single release and by Mark Hunter for the Saying Nothing mix on the 2001 reissue.

A live version recorded for BBC Radio 1 appeared on a second Laid cd single in November 1993. Another live version appears on the 2002 Getting Away With It Live CD and DVD.

Originally entitled Carousel, Say Something was written at a time when Larry and Tim were barely on speaking terms. It was debuted at Hamburg Grosse Freiheit on 29 April 1992 and very quickly became a fixture in James set-list. It lost the “hoolaheyray” part in the middle eight stolen from Crescendo and appeared on the Laid album.

Two videos were made, one with Tim in a gorilla outfit in a cage and then a second with the band singing the song at passers by in New York, made at the request of MTV as they felt the original was inappropriate.

It fell out of favour with the band until the Best Of tour and is now a regular crowd-pleaser at James gigs, often causing Tim to venture out into the audience.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
You're as tight as a hunter's trap
Hidden well, what are you concealing
Poker face, carved in stone
Amongst friends, but all alone
Why do you hide

Say something, say something, anything
I've shown you everything
Give me a sign
Say something, say something, anything
Your silence is deafening
Pay me in kind

Take a drug to set you free
Strange fruit from a forbidden tree
You've got to come down soon
More than a drug is what I need
Need a change of scenery
Need a new life

Say something, say something anything
I've shown you everything
Give me a sign
Say something, say something, anything
Your silence is deafening
Pay me in kind

Say something, say something anything
I've shown you everything
Give me a sign

I'm open wide, open wondering
Have you swallowed everything
Pay me in kind

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Song:Say Something
Released:27th September 1993
Main Associated Album (or Single):Laid
First Heard Live:Hamburg Grosse Freiheit 36 – 29th April 1992
Played at:
James - Say Something

Taken from the album Laid

Written and performed by James

Main Riff:

e------------------------------- e--------------------------------------
B------------------------------- B--------------------------------------
G------------------------------- x 2 G--------------------------------------
D--2-----0-----------2---0------ D--2---0----------------------------0--
A-----3-----0--3--3----3---0-3-- A----3---0-3-3--0h3-0----0h3----0-3----
E------------------------------- E---------------------3----------------

Chorus Riff:

e------3------5--- -----3--------------------------------
B----5------5----- ---6---6-5----------------------------
G--5------5------- --------------------------------------
D----------------- --------------------------------------
A----------------- --------------------------------------
E----------------- --------------------------------------

Song Structure:

The Main Riff is played by Larry and appears mostly thoroughout the song, except during the chorus, where the Chorus Riff is played, again by Larry. The bit "tacked on" at the end is an incidental that sometimes appears through the riff. Listen to the song and you'll here it.
The chord progression throughout is C Am F, but if you're only playing chords try playing C , Am7 and Fadd2 over the chorus instead of the normal C Am F.

Lyrics/Chords:

C Am
You're as tired as a hunter's trap

F
Hidden well
C
What are you concealing

Am
Poker face carved in stone

F
Almost friends but all alone

C
Why do you hide?



Am
Say something, say something, anything

F
I've shown you everything

C
Give me a sign

Am
Say something, say something, anything

F
Your silence is deafening

C
Pay me in kind


Am
Take a drug to set you free

F
Strange fruit from a forbidden tree

C
You've got to come down soon

Am
More than a drug is what I need

F
Need a change of scenery

C
Need a new life


Am
Say something, say something, anything

F
I've shown you everything

C
Give me a sign

Am
Say something, say something, anything

F
Your silence is deafening

C
Pay me in kind


Am
Say something, say something, anything

F
I've shown you everything

C
Give me a sign

Am
I'm open, wide open, wondering

F
Have you swallowed everything

C
Pay me in kind




Transcribed by Alex Carter 2001.

alex@shandy3000.fsnet.co.uk