One Of The Three | Tag Archives: song-riders | Page 8song-riders Archives - Page 8 of 8

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Black Hole / If Things Were Perfect / Just Hip / Mosquito / Johnny Yen / Why So Close / Charlie Dance / So Many Ways / Ya Ho / Riders / Are You Ready? / Hymn From A Village / Summer Song / Really Hard / Chain Mail / Whoops

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More Information & Reviews

NME Review

It was getting slippery onstage too, by the time James got there to dish out samples of their forthcoming album – destined to be another of the year’s best along with those from The Smiths and Woodentops. Apart from Tim’s raving, moving vocals and leg jerks, Jimmy’s pushy, bendy bass and Gavin’s busy and complicated drumming, there was this evening’s outstanding Jamesian element – Larry’s guitar playing. Whenever James play these days a new layer opens up, and this time it was through his fretwork exploration – segments of West African, bits of British folk, and techniques improvised out of nowhere.

James melodies and lyrics inhabit a kind of cultural subconscious, but the power of a Johnny Yen or a So Many Ways is no less real for having said that. Because of it, in fact, James go further to satisfying any hunger for newness – they’re verging on the poetic.

Riders is track eight on the 1988 James album Strip-Mine and track four on the 1989 live album One Man Clapping.

Riders is about a dream Tim had that included other artists such as Nick Cave, Jimmy Hendrix, Iggy Pop and Jim Morrisson where he was offered the power of the tortured artist in return for drinking a potion by Nurse Ratchett from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs

I'm in a crowded room - I've been half-asleep
Says the sister in uniform
"Has everybody understood?"
The listeners turn and nod
But I can see their fear, do they know more than me
Do they know why they're here
I don't want that poison in, poison in, poison in, poison in

She passed around a potion - it went from lip to hand
I took a sip, a taste I didn't understand
The woman then explained, that this was the juice, the juice that causes pain
That all great singers need
I don't want that poison in, poison in, poison in, poison in

I stumbled from the room
There must be some mistake
I do not want this seed
Think I'm in another's dream
Now I can feel this creature flapping in my throat
I try and throw it up
But my cough turns to a choke
Put my fingers in my mouth
I have it by the head
It dug into my jaw
I threw the sucker to the floor
Threw the sucker to the floor (repeat 7 times)
I don't want that sucker in (repeat 3 times)
Sucker in (repeat 6 times)