Graduate - Elvis should play ska

Описание: Graduate were an English new wave and mod revival group formed in 1978 in Bath, England. Members included Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith, John Baker, Steve Buck, and Andy Marsden. They got their name from the cover of Simon & Garfunkel's 'Mrs. Robinson' (found on the Graduate original movie soundtrack) that they used to play live as a show opener. In 1979, Graduate signed a publishing deal with Tony Hatch who subsequently offered the group to Pye Records. Graduate recorded their debut album Acting My Age at Crescent Studios Bath in January 1980. Their first single, "Elvis Should Play Ska", reached number 82 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1980 and reached the Top 10 in Spain. According to Andy Marsden: We happened to be around along with a number of ska influenced groups such as Selector, Bad Manners, Madness etc. but we were not "Two Tone" (as ska was called then). Roland had heard an interview given by Elvis Costello where he said that all ska groups at that time were simply "one hit wonders" trying to cash-in on the mod revival. Rol felt that his comments were sour grapes because a lot of the songs in the charts at that time were doing better than Elvis Costello's songs. Costello had Produced The Specials debut album; Specials. Because of this, Rol wrote 'Elvis Should Play Ska'. In other words - stop moaning and write a ska song yourself. It was basically a mickey-take, but because it was written in a ska fashion, the record company latched onto the "ska" thing. No other Graduate songs were similar, but Pye Records decided to package the band with that image, and even took us down the King's Road in Chelsea to choose zoot suits.
The band broke up in 1981 after undertaking a gruelling tour. As the story goes, Roland and Curt were unhappy at being constantly outvoted on band decisions despite being Graduate's main creative force. According to Curt in 1983: I suppose Pye thought we were young and commercial for the time and could make a bit of money out of us. But we gave up half way through when we decided we didn't like being in bands. It was a worthwhile lesson and hopefully neither of us will ever be in a group again. In its place we decided to form a much looser act, that didn't parade under a so-called democratic banner when it was really just a case of "It's my band so play what I tell you" kind of fascism. Especially when Roland and I were the only two creative members of the band. So what we decided to do was leave and create our own thing, deciding to use whichever backing musicians we wanted whenever we wanted, leaving them free to go off and do whatever else they wanted to do in between and so on.
Orzabal and Smith went on to form the new wave band Tears for Fears.

Catch me if you can
I won't record no backhander
Ask me, who I am?
Tell me you're the part commander

[Chorus]
Elvis should play ska
Elvis should play ska

[Verse 2]
Take it as it comes
Doesn't matter, what the source is?
Let them have their fun
Don't fight them with your "Armed Forces"

[Chorus]
Elvis should play ska
Elvis should play ska

[Verse 3]
Catch me if you can
Don't you know, just what your "Aim is"?
For every junior band
I will ask you, who's your name is?
Chorus]
Elvis should play ska
Elvis should play ska

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 4]
Say go and look for clues
With the help of your "Detectives"
They don't want your "Red Shoes"
All of us their prime objective

[Chorus]
Elvis should play ska
Elvis should play ska