“The Wild, The Beautiful, And The Damned” (1977)

One of the first songs written by Ultravox!, “The Wild, The Beautiful, And The Damned” was included on the band’s eponymous debut LP in 1977. It was the centerpiece of the album, which comprised a good handful of truly outstanding songs.

Mix ‘n’ Fix ‘n’ be Polite

The band spent a good 2 weeks working on the song and experimenting with the various elements before they came up with this satisfactory version.

At the time, frontman John Foxx was already friends with the production wizard Brian Eno, and the band had accepted some input from Eno regarding the production of the album. But, contrary to popular myth, this song (and the entire album) was NOT produced by Eno. It was produced by Ultravox! and Steve Lillywhite. Nevertheless, they gave Eno credit as one of the “co-producers” – just to be polite. _{(Image source)}

Ultravox!

Ultravox! was a UK band. While the band emerged in the heat of the punk explosion, it was definitely more than a punk band. It has been variously called a “new wave” band and an “experimental punk” band. A more accurate description might be “artistic punk.”

Although Ultravox! was sometimes disparaged for creating fine art, we can now look back at the magnificent songs on their first 3 albums and say that they were indeed creating “fine art.” Or maybe, “fine artistic experimental punk” – with an exclamation mark!

U’re Out-Foxxed

The band that created this masterpiece was led by John Foxx (aka Dennis Leigh). It existed from 1976 to 1979, when Foxx left the band.

The remaining band members recruited another singer, Midge Ure. While Ure may have been a good musician, he was no replacement for the creative genius John Foxx.

The Foxx-less band continued performing for many years as Ultravox – without the exclamation mark, and with nothing worth exclaiming about. Just know this … Ultravox without John Foxx is like The Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger. ‘Nuff said. _{(Image source)}

Calling cards of madness

Pull the brass men from their knees

To petrify more images

To tango just outside the reach

Of the stunted and the dreamless ones

Who have nothing left to keep

For frozen dawns or nights

As cold as these have been

Don't ask for explanations

There's nothing left you'd understand

You're one of the wild, the beautiful and the damned

The damned

The wild, the beautiful and the damned

We read the latest veneeral journals

Flicked through some catalogues of fear

You tore some more pages from your old lovers' hearts

Then we engineered a wild reunion in a Berlin alleyway

While your New York führer tore our universe apart

Don't ask for explanations

There's nothing left you'd understand

You're one of the wild, the beautiful and the damned

The damned

The wild, the beautiful and the damned

Break my legs politely
I'll spit my gold teeth out at you
Your sores are almost big enough to step right inside now
I'll send you truckloads of flowers from all the worlds that you stole from me
I'll spin a coin in the madhouse, while I watch you drowning
Don't ask for explanations
There's nothing left you'd understand
You're one of …
The wild, the beautiful and the damned … the damned!
   [3 x]
The wild, the beautiful and the damned
   [2 x]   _{(Image source)} _{Lyrics by Chris Cross, Billy Currie, John Foxx, courtesy of – AZLyrics.com

Reference – Wikipedia

Reference – Wikipedia

Reference – Ultravox.org.uk

Into your ears … through 5 channels

The various posts are categorized into 5 channels _{(Right-Click to see details)}

         1 – “Music to Your Ears” (MTYE)

         2 – “Cover Versions”

         3 – “Honor Roll”

         4 – “Documentaries”

         5 – “Mock’n’Roll”

More “Music to Your Ears” ...

          Previous posts in this series – "MTYE posts 1–20"

Links to my other series ...}

Lou Reed – "Anthology of Memorable Lyrics, Part 1"
Lou Reed – "Anthology of Memorable Lyrics, Part 2"