argybargy

Squeeze found their groove with the catchy and clever storytelling of this new wave farfisa stereogram.   The band had made great strides between their self titled debut and the followup 'Cool For Cats' (which yielded their greatest chart success with back to back number two smash hits); but with their next album, they were ready to hone their craft.  

Chris Difford reveals:  "We decided that we’d spend a long – or the right time – writing the songs.  So we spent about six months writing, in three different batches, we rehearsed for a couple of months, and then recorded for six months – so it was well over a year in the process."

The band co-produced the sessions for 'Argybargy' at Chelsea Olympic Studios in London with John Wood, featuring Chris Difford on rhythm guitar and vocals;   Glenn Tilbrook on lead guitar, keyboards, and vocals;   Jools Holland on keyboards and vocals;   John Bentley on bass;   Gilson Lavis on drums;   Del Newman on string arrangements;  and Keith Strickland adding guitar on Pulling Mussels (From the Shell).  

Tilbrook remembers:  "We used John Wood, who engineered the first album, on Cool for Cats and Argybargy...It worked really well with John Wood, in that he was able to filter through the ideas we were having and get them down onto tape.  But at the end of Argybargy, we just wanted a change, because we’d done three albums, more or less, like that with him ... I think it's a very positive aspect that we don't have a specific image or fashion we adhere to. So we're not held back by it when it goes out of style. If we sell records, it's because it's a Squeeze record and nothing else. We don't die as soon as a fad does...Actually, we're extremely directionless when we decide to make an album. Every step along the way it's a thoroughly democratic process; we all vote for things. The advantage of having a producer is it would take a lot less time. " 

Holland quips:  "Out of twelve hours in the studio, we spend most of them deciding what to do and then finally deciding this isn't the place to talk about it and go out for a drink. That's why it took so long to make this album. In actual recording time, we were probably in there only a day and a half."

 'Argybargy' reached number seventy-one in the US, thirty-two in the UK, and twenty-six in Canada.  Holland explains the title:   "What it means is if there are a lot of people in a bar together and the barman said, 'Drinks are free for 30 seconds,' what you'd get in that bar for 30 seconds would be Argybargy -- violent, jocular chaos." 






http://www.squeezeofficial.com/






lyrics:
http://lyrics.wikia.com/Squeeze:Argybargy_(1980)



Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)



They do it down on Camber Sands, they do it at Waikiki 
Lazing about the beach all day, at night the crickets creepy 
Squinting faces at the sky, a Harold Robbins paperback 
Surfers drop their boards and dry, and everybody wants a hack

But behind the chalet, my holiday's complete
And I feel like William Tell
Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell
Pulling mussels from a shell

Shrinking in the sea so cold, topless ladies look away 
A he-man in a sudden shower shelters from the rain 
You wish you had a motorboat to pose around the harbor bar 
And when the sun goes off to bed, you hook it up behind the car 

But behind the chalet, my holiday's complete
And I feel like William Tell
Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell
Pulling mussels from a shell 

Two fat ladies window shop, something for the mantelpiece 
In for bingo, all the nines, a panda for sweet little niece 
Coach drivers stand about, looking at a local map 
About the boy, he's gone away, down to next door's caravan

But behind the chalet, my holiday's complete
And I feel like William Tell
Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell
Pulling mussels from a shell

But behind the chalet, my holiday's complete
And I feel like William Tell
Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell
Pulling mussels from a shell




Another Nail in My Heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bTWF7eirJw




If I Didn't Love You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gv4vBW1wmU







 'Argybargy' 
full album:





All songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook except as indicated.


Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)
Another Nail in My Heart
Separate Beds
Misadventure
I Think I'm Go Go
Farfisa Beat
Here Comes That Feeling 
Vicky Verky
If I Didn't Love You
Wrong Side of the Moon  (Jools Holland, Difford)
There at the Top
Funny How It Goes
Go


bonus tracks.

"What the Butler Saw" ("Pulling Mussels" b-side)
"Pretty One" ("Another Nail in My Heart" b-side)
"Going Crazy" ("Christmas Day" b-side)
"Library Girl" (Demo)

cool for cats

Squeeze changed the mood a little and were up the junction with the slap and tickle of these new wave narratives.  They had had a difficult experience with producer John Cale (whose former band The Velvet Undergound had inspired their name with their final album 'Squeeze') in the recording of their eponymous debut (released as UK Squeeze in the US and Australia due to conflicts with bands using the name in each of those countries) and were disappointed with the direction he had taken them.  

Chris Difford looks back:  "Interestingly, after [the first] album came out and we started touring, we didn’t do all of the album; we did some of it, but we were constantly moving on to the next album, 'Cool for Cats'." 

Glenn Tilbrook adds:   "And in a way, the tracks from the first album that really represent the band best at that time are the two that we did by ourselves, because John Cale left before we actually finished – “Take Me I’m Yours” and “Bang Bang.”  “Take Me I’m Yours” we still do; “Bang Bang” we abandoned long ago.  But they were also the two singles off of that album in Britain, which pointed the way to our doing the second album on our own.  Which is why I feel the second album is probably more representative as a debut album than the first is...We used John Wood, who engineered the first album, on 'Cool for Cats'...It worked really well with John Wood, in that he was able to filter through the ideas we were having and get them down onto tape...'Cool for Cats' we actually recorded twice, which took even longer...We didn’t get it right the first time, and the record company said so – and they were right.  So we went back in and did most of it again."

'Cool for Cats' features Glenn Tilbrook on composing, guitar, keyboards, and vocals;   Chris Difford on composing, guitar, rhythm guitar, and vocals;   Jools Holland on keyboards;  Harri Kakoulli on bass;  and Gilson Lavis on drums;  with John Wood on arrangements and production, and engineering by Brian Humphries and Andrew Lumm.  The album peaked at number forty-five in the UK and had four chart singles, the most for any of their albums.  








http://www.squeezeofficial.com/








'Cool for Cats' went to number two in the UK, five in Australia, and eight in Ireland.  


The Indians send signals 
From the rocks above the pass 
The cowboys take positions 
In the bushes and the grass 
The squaw is with the Corporal 
She is tied against the tree 
She doesn't mind the language 
It's the beating she don't need 
She lets loose all the horses 
When the Corporal is asleep 
And he wakes to find the fire's dead 
And arrows in his hats 
And Davy Crockett rides around 
And says it's cool for cats 
The Sweeney's doing ninety 
'Cos they've got the word to go 
They get a gang of villains 
In a shed up at Heathrow 
They're counting out the fivers 
When the handcuffs lock again 
In and out of Wandsworth 
With the numbers on their names 
It's funny how their missus' 
Always look the bleeding same 
And meanwhile at the station 
There's a couple of likely lads 
Who swear like how's your father 
And they're very cool for cats 
They're cool for cats

To change the mood a little
I've been posing down the pub 
On seeing my reflection 
I'm looking slightly rough 
I fancy this, I fancy that 
I wanna be so flash 
I give a little muscle 
And I spend a little cash 
But all I get is bitter and a nasty little rash 
And by the time I'm sober 
I've forgotten what I've had 
And ev'rybody tells me that it's cool to be a cat 
Cool for cats 

Shake up at the disco And I think I've got a pull 
I ask her lots of questions 
And she hangs on to the wall 
I kiss her for the first time 
And then I take her home 
I'm invited in for coffee 
And I give the dog a bone 
She likes to go to discos 
But she's never on her own 
I said I'll see you later 
And I give her some old chat 
But it's not like that on the TV 
When it's cool for cats 
It's cool for cats






'Up the Junction' hit number three in Ireland and two in the UK.  


I never thought it would happen 
With me and the girl from Clapham 
Out on the windy common 
That night I ain't forgotten 
When she dealt out the rations 
With some or other passions 
I said you are a lady 
Perhaps she said I may be 
We moved into a basement 
With thoughts of our engagement 
We stayed in by the telly 
Although the room was smelly 
We spent our time just kissing 
The railway arms we're missing 
But love had got us hooked up 
And all our time it took up 

I got a job with Stanley He said I'd come in handy 
And started me on Monday 
So I had a bath on Sunday 
I worked eleven hours 
And bought the girl some flowers 
She said she'd seen a doctor 
And nothing now could stop her 

I worked all through the winter The weather brass and bitter 
I put away a tenner 
Each week to make her better 
And when the time was ready 
We had to sell the telly 
Late evenings by the fire 
With little kicks inside her 

This morning at 4:50 I took her rather nifty 
Down to an incubator 
Where thirty minutes later 
She gave birth to a daughter 
Within a year a walker 
She looked just like her mother 
If there could be another 

And now she's two years older Her mother's with a soldier 
She left me when my drinking 
Became a proper stinging 
The devil came and took me 
From bar to street to bookie 
No more nights by the telly 
No more nights nappies smelling 

Alone here in the kitchen I feel there's something missing 
I'd beg for some forgiveness 
But begging's not my business 
And she won't write a letter 
Although I always tell her 
And so it's my assumption 
I'm really up the junction








'Slap and Tickle' made a ripple at number twenty-four in the UK.  


She was frigid like a Bible
When she met her boyfriend Michael
He took her in his Zephyr
They sat like salt and pepper
Looking out across the city
From Lover's Leap is pretty
The lights they flick and flutter
He told her how he loved her
Next night he called for her
But Dad protected daughter
And told him she was poorly
A lie was told there surely
So Michael felt rejected
This wasn't quite expected
He drove off to his local
Where he felt anti-social

She cried all night at missingThe boy she could be kissing
While he was falling over
He drunk himself back sober
And went home in a taxi
And crashed out in the back seat
He slept just like a baby
Which he hadn't done just lately
He saw her in the morning
Out with his sister Pauline
She felt all shy and soppy
He acted cool and cocky
He said tonight at Charlie's
There's going to be a party
I'll meet you at half seven
She visualized the heaven

If you ever change your mindWhich you do from time to time
Never chew a pickle
With a little slap and tickle
You have to throw the stone
To get the pool to ripple

That night they danced togetherIt looked like love forever
He put his hand on her leg
You should have heard what she said
He tried again much later
It seemed to aggravate her
He drove home in silence
Avoiding all violence
She said let's watch the city
From Lover's Leap is pretty
I think I need the fresh air
She put a comb through her hair
Then while she turned to kiss him
And very nearly missed him
She put her hand on his leg
He felt her tongue in his head

If you ever change your mind
Which you do from time to time
Never chew a pickle
With a little slap and tickle
You have to throw the stone
To get the pool to ripple








'Goodbye Girl' peaked at number sixty-three in the UK.


I met her in a poolroom
Her name I didn't catch
She looks like something special
The kind who'd understand
The room was almost spinning
She pulled another smile
She had the grace like pleasure
She had a certain style

Sunlight on the linoWoke me with a shake
I looked around to find her but she'd gone
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl

She took me to a motelA room on the second floor
A kettle and two coffees
A number on the door
She said I hardly know you
Agreed we kissed goodnight
I knew that in the morning
Somehow I'd wake to find

Sunlight on the linoWakening me with a shake
I looked around to find her but she'd gone
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl

I lost my silver braceletMy clubroom locker keys
The money in the billfold
It doesn't bother me
My wife has moved to Boston
So mud is not the word
If you ever see her
Say hello goodbye girl

Sunlight on the linoWoke me with a shake
I looked around to find her but she'd gone
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl
Goodbye girl



'Cool for Cats'
full album:  



All songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook.

"Slap and Tickle" – 4:00
"Revue" – 2:30
"Touching Me Touching You" – 2:25
"It's Not Cricket" – 2:35
"It's So Dirty" – 3:11
"The Knack" – 4:34
"Hop, Skip & Jump" – 2:46
"Up the Junction" – 3:12
"Hard to Find" – 3:37
"Slightly Drunk" – 2:41
"Goodbye Girl" – 3:08
"Cool for Cats" – 3:39
bonus tracks
"I Must Go" – 2:16
"Ain't It Sad" – 3:29

east side story

Squeeze released their quintessential masterpiece with this album of diverse pop nuggets. 'East Side Story' was originally conceived as a double album with a different producer for each side: Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, and Paul McCartney. Edmunds only produced one song and Elvis Costello did the rest of the album with Roger Bechirian. The variety of different musical forms is breathtaking: Baroque, psychedelia, rockabilly, country, soul, and new wave. The songwriting team of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook has often been compared to Lennon and McCartney; and this is Squeeze's White Album.








http://www.squeezeofficial.com/

Jools Holland had left the band and was replaced with Paul Carrack, who Costello got to sing lead for the leadoff single,'Tempted'. The album credits Glenn and E.C. on vocals as well. It was their first hit in the US.

"Tempted by the fruit of another

Tempted but the truth is discovered

What's been going on

Now that you have gone

There's no other"

'Is That Love' was a top forty hit in the UK.

"Beat me up with your letters, your walk out notes,

Funny how you still find me right here at home.

Legs up with a book and a drink,

Now is that love that's making you think."

The frenetic album opener'In Quintessence' was the only song produced by Dave Edmunds.

"He smokes himself into double vision

Leaves his mind on an indecision,

Thinks he's invented imagination

Says that God is some relation."

The weapy country and western 'Labelled With Love' made it to number four on the British charts.

"Drinks to remember, I me and myself

And winds up the clock

And knocks dust from the shelf

Home is a love that I miss very much

So the past has been bottled and labelled with love."

'Messed Around' ends the album with a rockabilly flourish.

"She left herself open for him all the time

But always kept off of his cloud,

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Have come to mess her around."

'East Side Story' 
full album:




All songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook except as indicated.

LP side A:
"In Quintessence" – 2:55 Produced by Dave Edmunds, assisted by Neil King
"Someone Else's Heart" – 3:00
"Tempted" – 4:02
"Piccadilly" – 3:26
"There's No Tomorrow" – 3:27
"Heaven" – 3:49
"Woman's World" – 3:42

LP side B:
"Is That Love" – 2:31
"F-Hole" – 4:41
"Labelled With Love" – 4:44
"Someone Else's Bell" – 3:08
"Mumbo Jumbo" – 3:13
"Vanity Fair" – 3:09
"Messed Around" – 2:42