We Know You Well was originally created by Mark Drower and evolved when he and Pok were in the band Beyond the Pale. Their performance of We Know You Well, at The King's School, Ottery St Mary, is the stuff of legend. We hope that this version does that one, from 1983, some kind of justice. Sadly there are no recordings in existence of Beyond the Pale, as far as we know.
We Know You Well was also jammed by Now, but not really developed any further until the seminal Cander recording by Laughing Sun, in the long summer of 1985. This version owes a great deal to the Cander version.
Laughing Sun performed We Know You Well at their first ever live performance, which was at Exeter College in 1985. Unfortunately the song was curtailed and the final three minutes or so were never played because the drama hall was needed and the band had run over time. Flump.
Maxx on bass normally tunes B-E-A-D. He says that E simply isn't low enough these days. For this song he drops his B down to an A, properly low! Sven's bashings and tappings are as immaculate as always. What a rhythm section.
Pok's electric and acoustic rhythm tracks are panned to the right. The acoustic rhythm track is played on the Tanglewood, which is also used for the echo guitars in the teacher-talk mashup and the weird psychedelic section. The electric rhythm guitar is played on Broken Horn. Broken Horn is also the instrument for the widdly-diddliness from about 11:19. The particulalry dirty tremolo guitar in the verses is Betty the Bastard.
The rhythm guitar parts played by Fedax are panned to the left. He plays the acoustic parts on an Encore that cost £11 including delivery from eBay. It is the same guitar that plays the main line in Cordelia Dreams as well. The electric parts were played on the Ice Maiden, even the filthy dirty rhythm at the end.
The weird section after the third verse that starts at about 8:56 owes its existence to the Cander version of We Know You Well. We made this section by taking Nicodemus (to the right) and playing loose notes whilst retuning the strings, then playing the whole thing backwards so that by the end Nicodemus sounds in tune. To the left we hear some whammy wangage on Marsha, or perhaps the Ice Maiden, but not Betty as the sequencer claims.
The violining and the fiercely panned beams of guitar sweeping from side to side in the intro section were performed on Betty, with Marsha adding extra wobbliness and phasing in phases two and three.
Pok's deliciously classic solo from 6:57 was played on Betty and his amazing acoustic virtuosity showcased in the solo from 9:58 was played on a borrowed semi-acoustic.
Fedax plays three solos on the Ice Maiden. The first is a short outburst of wibbliness between verses one and two and the third a further ouburst of wibbulation in the slowdown right at the end from 11:55.
The second and main solo from Fedax at 10:24 was recorded first take without any prior warm-up. Although he was not keen on it at first and left it there to mark that one should exist, Pok loved it and convinced him to go with it.
We Know You Well is a subversive song about teachers, school, the misuse of power and control, oppression, the standardisation and homogenisation and eradication of individuals and their unique talents within the uk education system, the similarities and differences between the roles of teachers and pupils, ego, and teachers' fears and uncertainties. Perhaps it can be considered a cousin of Pink Floyd's song Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2).
This song is 37 years old at the time of its release. It is a song we have always loved and dearly wanted to make a decent version of someday. We hope you enjoy our attempt to do so.
lyrics
WE KNOW YOU WELL
I saw you dosing in your room last night
You thought you were racing but your face it was white
I'd like to make you but the wall's in the way
I'd like to take you but you're drifting away
And we know you well
We know you well
Wise master sat at your desk in school
Who are you kidding?
Who's the fool?
You like to push pens in the wisdom of your years
Don't you know yet that your mind is full of fears?
And we know you well
We know you well
Wisdom of ages is there in your head?
Would you use it or abuse it instead?
That you knew the word you knew was all that was real
Universe there in your hands, how does that make you feel?
And we know you well
We know you well
credits
from Anthology,
track released July 5, 2019
Music: Simon Miller/Mark Drower/George Davies.
Lyrics: Simon Miller/Mark Drower.
This arrangement by Pok, Fedax, Maxx Damage and Sven Stiglund.
Performers:
Pok the Bard: electric and acoustic guitars, vocal
Fedax Si-Hulmin: electric and acoustic guitars
Maxx Damage: bass
Sven Stiglund: drums
We would like to thank the following, in order of appearance, for their 'teacher-talk' during the mashup:
Primrose Kitten (biology)
Freesciencelessons (physics)
Jack Maths Brown (mathematics)
CSGSTC (German)
Christopher Thornton (chemistry)
TheBestSubjectInTheWorldRE (religious studies)
Mr Bruff (English)
Tom Freeman (physical education)
Holly Billinghurst (computing)
Tavistock Tutors (French)
Recorded and engineeered at Wud Records Studio One, Exeter, 2011-6.
Mixed and mastered at Wud Records Studio One, Europe, 2019.
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