Growing up in Penhill Swindon, Andy Partridge used to live a few doors down from us, we'd see him walking up Allington Rd on his way to guitar practice as we were all playing football, thinking, "Ha, .. what a waste of time". We all ended up in crap jobs while he went on to make good in the pop world. Very uplifting song :-)
So many brilliant elements to this song. I'll mention just one. Colin's bass guitar; doesn't enter the song until 1:25, great restraint, then some undeniably McCartney inspired slides and bumps which transcend anything Paul ever did and some high register riffs that are just sublime. Colin Moulding is one of the classiest bass players on record!
Yes, the bass on this is just gorgeous (CM was/is a far better bassist than he was/is songwriter imho), but it's a shame that it doesn't really come across on computer speakers. Headphones recommended!
@@tinfoilhatter Yep, he was a good song-writer, but a great bassist! And he was competing with Partridge in the song-writing stakes - the bar was set very high.
most unappreciated band in music history AND the BEST band than practically never was.....SOME DAY the rest will get XTC......all I can say is THANK YOU XTC
how could you not like XTC?. I'm and old guy who loved Hendrix. I think these guys embody that frolicking knowledge. How to take a riff and ride it like a roller coaster. that is what rock is. Have loved them since the 80's.
osider51 andy partridge is peer to poet laureate with his lyrics, and every bit as musically adept as the Beatles combined. He should be a national treasure. He is Great Britain
this is different from anything else I've ever heard. I had no idea this kind of music existed. WTF? I listened to this 10 times and i am still not tired of it.
XTC is so underrated and underappreciated, they certainly don't get the due they deserve as a band. XTC knew how to craft the perfect pop song and Andy Partridge writes the best lyrics .
Great track from one of the best bands everyone should have heard of.......what a world we live in when XTC arent followed as much as some of todays empty headed drivel.....
XTC Drums & Wires Tour,... sat with Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno and David Byrne as the fab four went nuts playing both Drums and Wires AND Black Sea sets. At Wolfgangs in S.F. We were all Stupidly Happy for sure!
what? heck, man! what else, what else! c'mon! somethin' else happened, surely! do tell! but do y'know andy? tell him the ladies miss him on the tweeter-thingy!
While i love Dave Gregory's contributions i do need to point out that he is no longer in the band at this point. Still i agree that my favorite XTC albums include Dave as well as the incredible drumming skills of Terry Chambers, who is also not in the band for the Wasp Star album.
Yeah, it doesn't sound like an early 00's song. They used it in Skins season 2 (2008) and I assumed it was a new song (also didn't realise at first it was XTC, so that was a cool surprise).
Im a big Beatles fan but a big XTC fan too, (born in Swindon too) I think they're Oranges & Lemons :) XTC are truly a great band, Andy is amazing & Colin don't get enough credit for Making Plans for Nigel and Generals & Majors. The Beatles broke so much ground which paved the way for most modern pop bands including XTC. Had Andy been around in the 60's I expect he would have been able to be revolutionary too but by the late 70's punk and synth pop were new, XTC embraced it, but didn't invent it.
So many brilliant elements to this song... so well said. The additive layering in one song is the same as Talking Heads' first five song in _Stop Making Sense_. Partridge is seriously genius.
I really like XTC, not all of their stuff, but i did buy Apple Venus & Oranges and Lemons....this song is beyond brilliant....love We're all Light also....great global video.
dude- you rock my world- telliing me i am wrong for not going far enough. you made my month This is what i try to get my students to do: exceed. you have chosen wisely. again, thanks, tonight i'll sleep with a smile all night long.
A band that experiments and evolves their sound are usually the great bands with longevity. The Beatles 1st and last albums are about as different as you could get. XTC are great because they experiment too and sound great each time just like the Beatles but the Beatles had more opportunity to break the mould as music was so much more a formula in the 50's and 60's than the late 70's.
In my family if you’re relaxed on holiday or enjoying a holiday event it’s tradition to turn to a family member and utter “like the words to that song”
SO much pleasure to be had from the way the elements are woven together & the layers added. It doesn’t miss his trademark middle 8 for me, it’s close to perfect. For truly top marks though, an ending would’ve been impressive … not a fade.
Not to disagree, and I love XTC and the bands you mentioned, especially Blur owe XTC at least a pint, but I believe britpop truly started with The Kinks. SO MANY bands owe them some thanks for making it acceptable to be British, and actually sing with a British accent. They were British when all the other invasion bands pretended to be American. Every decade of music fro England goes back to The Kinks. Even punk. Beatles sang about idyllic Penny Lanes. The Kinks talked about Dead End Street!
IN THE SUGGESTED VIDEOS sidebar The Chats "SMOKO" has 8.1 million views & 160k likes (I'm not denigrating their song but it's just a simple punky teenage garage band jobby) .... this XTC track only has 300,000 views & 1.8k likes - how odd??
Growing up in Penhill Swindon, Andy Partridge used to live a few doors down from us, we'd see him walking up Allington Rd on his way to guitar practice as we were all playing football, thinking, "Ha, .. what a waste of time". We all ended up in crap jobs while he went on to make good in the pop world. Very uplifting song :-)
Love this
Headlands or the other School?
I lived in Cricklade Rd..XTC Best thing to ever come out of Swindon!!
Everytime I listen to this song on here, I see this comment, and click like, only to discover I've un-liked my previous like from a few days ago.
@@twelver9593 Andy went to Penhill junior's I have a pic of him in the scouts, I think he would have gone to Headlands afterwards.
@@twelver9593 besides the M4 Motorway, right?
The bass on this is just insane
It’s stupidly good
Hilarious! Reminds me of that Brazilian song, Samba numa nota so.
Snare and hi-hat for me.
The most unappreciated band in UK music history!
Word up!
We need more XTC in our lives
The riff that the Stones and Agnus Young missed!!!!!!
The bass. The BASS! Colin's the man.
yes! less is more, in this case! it might actually be andy, he wrote the mayor of simpleton bass part, by the way, he told me!
So many brilliant elements to this song. I'll mention just one. Colin's bass guitar; doesn't enter the song until 1:25, great restraint, then some undeniably McCartney inspired slides and bumps which transcend anything Paul ever did and some high register riffs that are just sublime. Colin Moulding is one of the classiest bass players on record!
+DoctorOcculator totally agree with you . As usual XTC were masters with the off beat. I will always love them...Partridge and Moulding
check out stackridge same sort of beatles twang and clever word play prob agreat xtc influence
Yes, the bass on this is just gorgeous (CM was/is a far better bassist than he was/is songwriter imho), but it's a shame that it doesn't really come across on computer speakers. Headphones recommended!
@@chrisbaker3900 no way, man! colin's songs could only have been wrote by him, and there's so many classics!
@@tinfoilhatter Yep, he was a good song-writer, but a great bassist! And he was competing with Partridge in the song-writing stakes - the bar was set very high.
most unappreciated band in music history AND the BEST band than practically never was.....SOME DAY the rest will get XTC......all I can say is THANK YOU XTC
cheers I canna hope that they remain our secret tho
Partridge is pure perfection: penultimate penmanship plus pop personification.
how could you not like XTC?. I'm and old guy who loved Hendrix. I think these guys embody that frolicking knowledge. How to take a riff and ride it like a roller coaster. that is what rock is. Have loved them since the 80's.
osider51
Well said!
I was just trying to describe the music, in my head, analogise...
But you did it sir :)
XTC are very much like a Theme park!
'How to take a riff and...'brilliant comment
osider51 andy partridge is peer to poet laureate with his lyrics, and every bit as musically adept as the Beatles combined. He should be a national treasure. He is Great Britain
I'm 20 and I think this song is great lol
osider51 benny hill was the best
"All the lights of the cars in the town form the strings of a big guitar " ... Fantastic line !!
this is different from anything else I've ever heard. I had no idea this kind of music existed. WTF? I listened to this 10 times and i am still not tired of it.
I'm with you even though I did know about it. It's completely addictive.
At 2:20 when he sings ”guitar” and you hear a great bassline and then two chords, first left and then right speaker. That’s pure genuis
What a wonderful collection of positive images, thank you so much. One of my fave XTC songs too.
One amazing song.
I discovered this via skins but damn quality tune
Yesss
Finally found it,what a tune. XTC just nail it all the time
I love the slideshow of different people, but Benny Hill seems so perfect for this song.
Andy stole his glasses!
Please bring this wonderfull song on spotify! ❤
Professor Dr. Andrew John Partridge.
He knows how to create an incredible pop song. Of course well supported by his fabulous band.
Andy Partridge is such a musical badass that he only needs one key to blow other songwriters and performers away with his brilliance.
My power pop heroes. Heard “Mayor of Simpleton” circa ‘89, and my life was changed forever.
I was born in 89, raised on these guys and I'm now introducing them to my 10 year old son. I don't want to imagine a world of music without XTC :)
@@sophielittler5496 From Oranges and Lemons I went to Skylarking, Drums and Wires, and Black Sea. Favorite is Nonsuch, at least today.
XTC is so underrated and underappreciated, they certainly don't get the due they deserve as a band. XTC knew how to craft the perfect pop song and Andy Partridge writes the best lyrics .
Underrated no...under appreciated...yes
@@jamesbelljr7987 true, everybody who knows em loves em just not enough people know em
Great track from one of the best bands everyone should have heard of.......what a world we live in when XTC arent followed as much as some of todays empty headed drivel.....
Cette chanson est un tube évidemment !!! Quelle bonne chanson.
XTC Drums & Wires Tour,... sat with Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno and David Byrne as the fab four went nuts playing both Drums and Wires AND Black Sea sets.
At Wolfgangs in S.F. We were all Stupidly Happy for sure!
what? heck, man! what else, what else! c'mon! somethin' else happened, surely! do tell!
but do y'know andy? tell him the ladies miss him on the tweeter-thingy!
Don't forget the contributions of Dave Gregory. Without his guitar, keyboard & arranging skills XTC wouldn't have sounded nearly as good as it did.
While i love Dave Gregory's contributions i do need to point out that he is no longer in the band at this point. Still i agree that my favorite XTC albums include Dave as well as the incredible drumming skills of Terry Chambers, who is also not in the band for the Wasp Star album.
Layered and coated in brilliant toe-tapping brilliance.
+asxtc yes I agree. superb group, so talented ..they always the best !! Come back Andy!! Come back Colin !!
hell yes
So ahead of thier'" Short lived ' evolution of modern music;
True💯🙏☯️
SONIC ' , Bliss of melody and chorus, 👌🍸
Cheers mate's 🍺😎
Yeah, it doesn't sound like an early 00's song. They used it in Skins season 2 (2008) and I assumed it was a new song (also didn't realise at first it was XTC, so that was a cool surprise).
Im a big Beatles fan but a big XTC fan too, (born in Swindon too)
I think they're Oranges & Lemons :)
XTC are truly a great band, Andy is amazing & Colin don't get enough credit for Making Plans for Nigel and Generals & Majors. The Beatles broke so much ground which paved the way for most modern pop bands including XTC. Had Andy been around in the 60's I expect he would have been able to be revolutionary too but by the late 70's punk and synth pop were new, XTC embraced it, but didn't invent it.
Sempre un passo avanti a tutti gli altri, questi mattacchioni di Swindon! 🖤🔝 Greetings from Italy 🇮🇹
The greatest single that never was ?? Awesome track & would have been HUGE ??
Yes, really is perplexing how something so pop & sublime could not chart around our folly filled planet.
Still brilliant !! Still gorgeous. Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding , you are both geniuses!!!
So many brilliant elements to this song... so well said. The additive layering in one song is the same as Talking Heads' first five song in _Stop Making Sense_. Partridge is seriously genius.
This song starts just like a Third Eye Blind song. Both released in 2000
Lovely last three words
Long live XTC! One of the best bands (and songwriters) ever!
Best love song eva
Good innit
I am so jazzed up to come across this video today.
~~~jazzhands, man~~~
I wish this was on Spotify😢😢
Great slideshow for this excellent track! I play this when all else fails (which is quite frequently)🤔
Still stupidly brilliant! What a genius Partridge . Complete pop record..
Wonderfully layered song.
Exactly. Perfection!
it is the song I will play at my funeral Lala
Andy Partridge is a genius - I have loved xtc since 1982. Shame Apple Venus and Wasp Star their final 2 albums aren’t on Spotify.
Wow, what an awesome beat! This song makes me think of driving on a warm, sunny, summer day with the top down, seeing nothing but beautiful scenery.
A timeless gem loves me some XTC🤩
I really like XTC, not all of their stuff, but i did buy Apple Venus & Oranges and Lemons....this song is beyond brilliant....love We're all Light also....great global video.
i feel better now......., this song always cheers me up..., xtc are the best.. :-)
This is such a clever song. Who but Andy Partridge could take the most simple riff imaginable and make such a great arrangement. A masterpiece.
pete's 'a little is enough' is a god genius production- at this level, it becomes impossible to compare- they are just too good.
remember that muffed gtr tone, and waiting for the bass line to drop! cool starting on the & of four.
Amazing way that they kick in
A superb video. No matter how crap things are I can put this on and smile. Spike Milligan is a legend!
The strings on the BIG guitar !!!..super duper
I thoug everyone needs to be stupdly happy. Kisses from brazil
Stupidly brilliant!! XTC ... the dogs bollocks !! ... wonderful...
Poor Andy Patridge, He had a good band before he broke. Some of the best to hit the 80s
he took his-lucky-break, and broke-it-in-two, did he? haha... hey, i slightly doubt it, mate~
This group are incredible ............ Am recently discover thanks a dvd collection of gray wistle test ..........
Like all the Monty Python pictures (and more) in this video along with the song.
XTC , when they hit that zone, make one think, smile, tap your toes, dance.
how can it be that only 148,087 people like this. It's brilliant.
Andy described the guitar riff as the "ultimo Keef riff that he (Keith Richards) never found".
This is a brilliant love song. I always feel great when hearing this. Would love to see XTC live again.
Very nice slideshow, so british. Ciao from Roma
dude- you rock my world- telliing me i am wrong for not going far enough. you made my month This is what i try to get my students to do: exceed. you have chosen wisely.
again, thanks, tonight i'll sleep with a smile all night long.
A band that experiments and evolves their sound are usually the great bands with longevity.
The Beatles 1st and last albums are about as different as you could get.
XTC are great because they experiment too and sound great each time just like the Beatles but the Beatles had more opportunity to break the mould as music was so much more a formula in the 50's and 60's than the late 70's.
Brilliant! And a great anthology of Brit comedy icons to accompany this really clever tune.
What a gorgeous song with images of lovely funny people from the past x
In my family if you’re relaxed on holiday or enjoying a holiday event it’s tradition to turn to a family member and utter “like the words to that song”
Spike Milligan, absolute legend, such a shame he suffered so much.
Popmeister!!!!!!!!!!
This song is perfection!
Beautiful record by a beautiful soul. Andy and XTC, you are brilliant
A simple, and simply brilliant song!
Great tune
the greatest love song ever written
LOVE THIS, AND THE ALBUM, AND XTC, ALL THROUGHOUT; THEY GOT BETTER, AND BETTER. , LOVE THEIR PASTORAL PSYCH ; BRILL ANDY SONG
Damn Legends
I love that 2nd guitar at 2:20, what a great band
Xtc has done so many awesome tracks, this again is simple brilliance , life as it is. Beats the crap manufactured pop shit today
J Mac,late reply,totally agree with you ,but then even Renee and Renalto ,or the birdie song beats the garbage of today! Regards,mate.
I love your devotion to JPG&R, and i will not argue.
Both are god genius artists- and I know they would never compare themselves to each other...
SO much pleasure to be had from the way the elements are woven together & the layers added. It doesn’t miss his trademark middle 8 for me, it’s close to perfect. For truly top marks though, an ending would’ve been impressive … not a fade.
Not to disagree, and I love XTC and the bands you mentioned, especially Blur owe XTC at least a pint, but I believe britpop truly started with The Kinks. SO MANY bands owe them some thanks for making it acceptable to be British, and actually sing with a British accent. They were British when all the other invasion bands pretended to be American. Every decade of music fro England goes back to The Kinks. Even punk. Beatles sang about idyllic Penny Lanes. The Kinks talked about Dead End Street!
The Kinks are the best, it is true. There's never been a better band.
@@ChrisSeahorse shyeah: until billy idol came along, obviously
Awesome rock band that catapulted an entire subgenre
Superb song from a superb band 👍.
jonesfeld, you have picked me up no end.....thanks and happy new 2019.
Pleased you like it. All the best to you too Davy. Another year full of sounds ahead of us.
@@jonesfeld You to chum
Another musical gem - you're absolutely right. One of many!
I concede- this is the best thing we could ever do1 Well freaking put....
Love how the backing vocals are layered in a a "round " on the outro
Wasp Star is a magnificent album
Yes ... yes, it is.
awesome reeves and Mortimer i dad showed us that when we were wee uns wavy davy, uncle peter the man with the stand pure classic alternative
love this song...wish they had it on Itunes. thanks for putting it up!
Its allther pure JOY.!!!!
RIP Gareth - this will always be our song.
yeah the DFS ad brought me here too, I didn't realise this was XTC, great stuff! :D
IN THE SUGGESTED VIDEOS sidebar The Chats "SMOKO" has 8.1 million views & 160k likes (I'm not denigrating their song but it's just a simple punky teenage garage band jobby) .... this XTC track only has 300,000 views & 1.8k likes - how odd??
Love that song.. I am stupidly happy most of the time....
Vicki Steel Lucky you Vicki . But so am I !!!!!
Be happy all the time Vicki! You got people that love you! Hope you’re doing well
Un grand merci de Bretagne ❤❤❤
I try to be stupidly happy guess what, it works!!!
Go for it!
Just seen this on an ad on the tv and loved it...had to look on TH-cam for it,..its got a great beat to it and great dance beat too....thanks guys...