| "Being Boiled" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single bythe Human League | ||||
| from the albumTravelogue | ||||
| B-side | "Circus of Death" | |||
| Released | 30 June 1978 | |||
| Recorded | Sheffield (Yorkshire, England) | |||
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| Producer | The Human League | |||
| The Human League singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio sample | ||||
"Being Boiled" is a song by the Englishsynth-pop bandthe Human League. It was composed byMartyn Ware andIan Craig Marsh, with lyrics byPhilip Oakey. "Being Boiled" is strikingly different from and darker than the group's more well-known songs.[4]
"Being Boiled" was released as the Human League's debut single in 1978. It has been re-issued several times since then, becoming a top-10 hit in the United Kingdom in 1982 and in West Germany four years later.
The song was influenced byKraftwerk, Germankrautrock such asCan andNeu!, American funk bandsFunkadelic andParliament[5] and the attitudes ofpunk placed in a different context.[6]
It has a strongbassline, compared toBootsy Collins.[6] The lyrics, described as "bizarre" and "confused",[7] combine a protest againstsilk farming with vague mention ofEastern religion - ("Listen to the voice ofBuddha/saying stop yoursericulture"). In Japan, the sound of bells are referred to as "the voice of Buddha".
The song's music predatesPhilip Oakey's joining the band. The Future, a band comprisingMartyn Ware andIan Craig Marsh, had just parted company with singer Adi Newton, later ofClock DVA. Needing a new singer, they contacted former schoolmate Philip Oakey, giving him the music to listen to. Two days later he was back, having written the lyrics. "That was the first thing I heard Phil do," Marsh recalled, "and I immediately thought, 'You've definitely got the job.'"[8]
The original version was recorded on a domestictape recorder, inmono, in an abandoned factory, at a cost of £2.50.[9]
"Being Boiled" was first released as asingle in 1978 on theFast Product label.
The band recorded a new version as part of a session for theJohn Peel radio programme in the summer of 1978. The session was recorded 8 August 1978 and broadcast on 16 August. Among the four songs recorded, "Being Boiled" is the only one which has had an official release.[10]
A totally re-recorded version of "Being Boiled" was included on the band'sHoliday '80EP, which reached number 56 in 1980 and number 46 in 1982. This version was also included on their 1980Travelogue album, and is also available on theOriginal Remixes and Rarities compilation album (2005).[11]
A stereo remix of the original mono Fast Product version was released as a single in August 1980 throughEMI Records, failing to chart. This stereo remix was then reissued in January 1982, this time reaching Number 6 in theUK Charts, shortly after the band's commercial breakthrough withDare and "Don't You Want Me". It was later included on theirGreatest Hits anthology released in 1988. It has also been released on subsequent greatest hits albums, as well as on CD releases of the band's debut albumReproduction as a bonus track.
The song has also been covered byKMFDM on their 2009 albumBlitz.
The song received a mixed reception among established artists of the time.David Bowie declared it to be "the future of music",[6] but formerSex Pistols singerJohn Lydon, reviewing the single for theNew Musical Express, dismissed the band as "trendy hippies".Peter York inHarper's and Queen cited the cover as an example of "post-modern packaging".[12]
Gary Numan named "Being Boiled" as one of his favourite songs.[13]Andy McCluskey ofOMD called it "a great piece of music".[14]
7-inch single (1978 Fast Product release)
Holiday '80 EP (Virgin Records release)
1980 EMI release and1982 EMI reissue
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