Bow Wow Wow - Louis Quatorze

[cythera431]

"Honey, close your eyes and think of England."

..."Just a second!" brilliant

[briteness]

Imagine having been Annabella's mom...

[imnotthatbloodyguy]

@briteness

im pretty sure she sued them at one point

[kittyprydekissme]

I wish there was a video for the second version.  It's so much better.

[cythera431]

Please, let's forgo the hackneyed histrionics and symbolism. Just enjoy an amazing song: great sound, and irreplaceable performance by Annabella.

[blueberryman]

its still art just not the stuff on the radio or tv

[VvAnarchangelvV]

"Think of (your duty to bear an heir for) England", a phrase which probably descended through the royal line, for whom it had the most relevance. Compare to the "crime of happiness" - as much as I would prefer sex to be presented as an inherently good thing, rather than a dark temptation to lure sinners in with so they will spend their money, I still take Annabella's England over Victoria's every time.

"Gun in my back" is a not-so-veiled reference to a penis. Seriously, how did you miss that?

[VvAnarchangelvV]

Imagine (just for one second?) people who hated everything England stood for and had become and were bound and determined to take it in another, any other, direction; would not the phrase 'Lie back and think of England', previously a command to perform a duty, have a completely different and therefore ironic meaning to them?

[VvAnarchangelvV]

It is hardly surprising that no one here understands this song and all are shocked by it; the producers did not really care if their audience understood it and wanted them to be shocked.

Putting aside for the moment whether it is a good idea to scare the straights, they accomplished what they set out to do.

[Paulmcxxx]

She's beautiful. I had (have?) such a crush on her back then...

[Crimeyfied]

w14.... Malcolm was inspired by Adam Ant... the band members of Bow Wow Wow were lured away from the Ants by McLaren. Just like Malcolm recycled the earliest hip-hop on "Duck Rock", Bow Wow Wow was Adam & the Ants with the sheerest of veils thrown across.... an always nearly-naked 15 year old girl, LOL

[w14wizard]

ummm - Adam Ant was rather inspired by this ? Another Rock n Roll Swindle ?

[karinagnesgertrud]

i bet malcolm regrets firing boy george who went on selling billions as the bands singer(after firing adam who also sold stupid amounts of records)--still great band-"your cassette pet"

[rpsabetto]

Quatorze is 14...as in Louis XIV.

[pickbaum4]

yeah but Adam needed 2 drummers to get that sound where as Bow wow wow only needed 1. what does that tell you?

[pickbaum4]

no it says that one drummer Dave Barbe could produce the sound of two drummers be it live in the studio or whatever. dont get me wrong i was an avid Antz fan but....... that burundi sound the bww sound belonged to Bow wow wow. Adam was at his best when he was doin stuff like Physical. table talk ,whip in my valise, or any of The Dirk era. better still is when johnny buivoack was with him x and Jordan used to get on stage x

[geofffio]

No, actually Leigh Gorman, the bass player for BWW, played the bass as a percussion instrument which doubled the drum sound. That is how it sounds so deep. Although Dave Barbarossa DID have a very special drum set...

[glarpspooge]

Why think of England, especially? Surely thinking about the ironing or lottery numbers or what was on tv that night would be more distracting.

[Skulldini]

I've always loved this groups music. This song is a little bit diferent from their other stuff though. This one has more of a classical European flavor to it ( wheres most of their other music is more jungle-ish sounding ). This song actually makes me think of one of those dirty period romance stories ( like you'd find in a novel or even a movie ), with the music and the lyrics.

[Siennasparrow]

"close your eyes and think of England": traditional advice given to women when confronted with the inevitability of sexual intercourse, or jocular encouragement to either sex about doing anything unpalatable.

The source given for this phrase -- Lady Hillingdon's (or Hillingham's) _Journal_ (1912) is suspect and has not been verified.

[powrxplor69]

Amazing! way ahead of their time &

criminally underrated, although I agree

the "second" version on the "last of the

"mohicans" 12" is far better than this

one. Anabella was & is a goddess,though

I always had the hots for drummer Dave

[didleybopp]

How funny powrxplor69 - I hung out with Dave as teenage jailbait in Hollywood in the 80s (no surprise since that's what Annabella was) and my buddy hung out with Mathew, the guitarist. We met them after their show at the Country Club in Reseda. A couple of years after that I bumped into Mathew in London and we hung out a few times. He died a few years ago. I've never seen Dave again.

[powrxplor69]

great story didleybopp, I wish I could've met them back in the day! I knew about Mathew(R.I.P.) but I wonder then what happened to Dave....?

[jam27775]

what did mathew die from?  Just wondering, I did know that he had died.

[bijeto]

I've always loved the line "Oh I love when he says so seriously, with his gun at my back, 'Honey, close your eyes and think of England', -Just one second!!" Cracks me up every time.

[CatapultYourMom]

Same here. You do realize the reference to Queen Victoria, right?

[shadowpapito]

I miss when Music was allowed to be a True Art, that it was Art in art along side and beside Art. They were allowed to be creative and take chances. Now it about a formula and cash not about Pure Art or at the least allowed to be expressive in an artistic way

[EcoliCows]

go white stripes, yay!

[briteness]

@shadowpapito If Malcolm had read this, he probably would have laughed.

[martinihoudini]

Great to see them wearing the pirate outfits, which were created by Vivienne Westwood for her "Pirate Look" collection of 1980. Bow Wow Wow were conceptually similar to Adam & the Ants (due to Malcolm McLaren), but Bow Wow Wow didn't maintain the pirate look for that long. After the success of Adam & the Ants, I guess they decided to tone it down. In any case, the early 80s were a great time for the meshing of music and fashion.

[pickbaum4]

yeah and can you beleive vivienne charged the band to wear her clothes!!! until one sweet day on the way to the motorway for uk tour the tour bus pulled up outside worlds end and various band members (not mentioning any names!) jumped out and went into the shop with blk bin liners and filled up the sacks got back on the bus and away they went. Brilliant.

[kittyprydekissme]

I wish they could've done a video for the second version of this song. It's so much better.

[davejaydisco]

This May have under age sex content (... not that 14 year olds have EVER done such a thing,,,,perish the thought...).

But I fail to see the "Rape" context..........bowwowwowwoww­owwowwahee, as Millie -dawgg has just stated....

[wildcatter63]

"Close your eyes and think of England"...referes to rape...may be a cultural thing

[alexeis66]

No it means they're an English band.

[Naoyusimi]

@wildcatter63

It's what wives were often told about "the marriage bed" (sex) back in Victorian times. After all, women weren't supposed to enjoy it . . . an orgasm for a woman was practically unheard of, and never striven for. She was just supposed to "endure" it. That's what "close your eyes and think of England" means.

[Ratchetchan]

The sheer audacity of writing a song basically about child rape at gunpoint... let alone having a child sing it and releasing it as a single.

Amazing.

[o0flip0o]

Seriously.

Malcolm Mclaren produced this "weak mix" single and then broke his relationship with the band

According to their website the band had another producer come in and remix the version that is known of today.

(compare the two and see the difference)

Not to mention the Adam Ants costumes that shows the rest of the bands roots.

This is one song that had my "gobsmacked" when I listened to the lyrics... say what you will but Malcolm really knew how stir up trouble.

[Skulldini]

I'm not sure that the song it'self is expresly about child rape,.. the person who's singing it just happens to be a little girl, thats all. It's an adult oriented type song performed by a kid, is what it is I think.

[adriang913]

@Skulldini

I think it is explicitly about underage sex, as in the lyrics she does sing "I'm just fourteen!"

And after all, what does "Quatorze" mean?

[Skulldini]

Well then, maybe your right after all. THAT lyric did kinda slip my minde there.

[pickbaum4]

welcome to Bow wow wo

[Skulldini]

The druming sounds like galloping horses hooves.

[f0ckdumont]

this one is a gem

[therealsoulproduct]

There's a video for "I Want My Baby on Mars". But I can't find it here on YouTube. I believe it was filmed the same day this was.

[whiteelines1]

fav bow wow wow song

i actually love them so much!!!!

[TATER1971]

I thought all they did was "I Want Candy"...but they have so much more!

[murcoil]

Wow, the bass player in this band is just feckin amazing. I want candy must be the single weakest thing they ever did.

[GimmeBWW]

For Real!

[julieswahn]

The entire band blows me away.. I never realized how damn good they were back then! A great example of the percussion in this band can be found if you type in "Bow Wow Wow Photoshoot"

The song is Mile High Club and is pretty dang great. Check it out!

[sputnikhq]

Holeeeee MACKERAL! What a KILLER vid! Where didja get it? She WAS 14, and BURMESE when MMcLauren saw her in a washer joint and off he went...got in trouble for having a 14 y.o. singing such a song, and posing semi-nude on album cover - band kicks MUCH ass!

[ultramouse]

well malcolm sure knew how to sell a record didn't he?

also stole the band from Adam Ant, but he turned out fine so I guess we get two cool 1980s bands out of the deal instead of one.

[abcpc1]

Sexiest 14 y.o. EVER!

[realitycheck333]

he tears down my defenses. he pretends that i'm against it.

[koenie72]

she's half cambodian

[frankdude7235]

Where in God's name did you find this?!? Thanks for the memories. Only 14? I thought she was from Burma not from Alabama.

[davalos8000]

... only 14!! no way they could get away with this these days... buck wild!! yeh.

[irisheyes1792]

OMGAWD!!! thank you helluh much for having this video.

ive been looking for it for like ever.

Amazingggg.

[cardiffchris]

Bow Wow Wow is so damn cool

annabella is a sexy goddess

in 1988 or so their stuff was out of print in the states. i had all the vinyl bought used at "off the record" and "lous records" in encinitas california.

[distolfink123]

Is this the one that was on one of the Anna Sui fashion Show's?

[realitycheck333]

maybe but i think it's V. Westwood of sex pistols fame that designed anabella's gear.

[Habibasse]

Ant Music ! I love Ant Music !!!

[jaseinspace]

God, this is awesome. How is this band not more revered.

[careypeak23]

These musicians are highly respected in musician circles, but as far as mainstream respect, I dont think the masses could see the greatness. They were distracted by her and her sexy!. I LOVE THIS BAND! This whole first album is awesome start to finish. Spread theword, its never to late to save rock!!!

[jaseinspace]

Couldn't agree more. And I think they were really at the vanguard of a new percussive sound. Of course this carries over to Adam and the Ants, who are also lightly respected, but often great.

[kimonui]

gawd Annabella Lwin was such a good actress!

[crashsite000]

Honey, close your eyes and think of Englad...just for one second.

Was there a video for "Cowboy"?