Armed & Dangerous by Dark Company.
Album: Signmaker
Fun Facts:
* This song is very closely related to The Joker as they both share the same tune in the verses.
* George considered this tune-sharing conundrum a challenge and set about making this song and The Joker appear to not be all that similar after all.
* The original guitar parts came from a groove that George wrote whilst living in Plymouth.
* Verses, intros and instrumentals are largely D7sus4-C7sus4 played around the 5th and 3rd frets respectively.
* The “It’s so dangerous” parts are largely Gm-F-Bb-C.
* Choruses are largely Am7-D add4/A-Am7-Gmaj7.
* The rundown to the chorus is simply Bm-Bbm.
* The tempo is 150BPM.
* When Sammi first heard this song, she sat and thought for a moment, then suddenly said: “I think here it should go like this,” and played the instrumental flute parts.
* She was clearly right!
* During this recording we discovered that giggling and playing the flute are reasonably incompatible activities due to one’s inability to form the correct shape with one’s lips to blow anything resembling music from the silvery pipe of love.
* It took three or four weeks of visits and prolonged outbreaks of the giggles all round before Sammi finally nailed the parts.
* This was the most joyously memorable aspect of the entire recording of the Signmaker album.
* The 12-string was made by Melody.
* George acquired it by swapping a pair of jeans with ripped knees for it, a deal with which he was most chuffed.
* Some years later the guitar was willfully destroyed by the stamping boot of a drunken Satan’s Slave at an Ug Brothers after-show party (harumph).
* Jeff borrowed the soprano sax from the legend who is Chrissie Burnett, and recorded his parts before becoming a more permanent Dark Company member.
* The bass for Armed & Dangerous had already been recorded when he arrived.
* The guitars were plugged straight into the desk.
* George used the lyrics for this song in a rather fiendishly difficult English lesson when working as a TEFL teacher.
* When he ran seminars for other TEFL teachers on The Use of Music in the Classroom he would set the lesson’s tasks to groups of teachers, and even they would struggle with it.
* Definitely a lesson for good Upper-Intermediate to Advanced students, especially those who feel like they know it all already.
* Pete wrote this song about the circus and the strains of enforced jolliness.
* George felt that it was about the unwanted and resented child whose role in life was to be its parent’s performing monkey, e.g. “aren’t I clever because isn’t my little Johnny clever”.
* This song would have become part of the Alien Heat set had the band lasted longer.
* To correctly spell the title of this song, an ampersand must be used.
* George and Jeff each produced a dub remix of this song, available as Signmaker bonus tracks.
* Thus it came about that the ampersand would be used for &co., the remixing arm of the Dark Company project.
lyrics
ARMED & DANGEROUS
In the circus there’s a uniform for fun
The love they got is fired from clownish guns
But it’s so dangerous
Armed laughter changing us
Warmed up with a yellow paper sun
Each act in line comes right in on cue
Bringing our emotions into view
And it’s so dangerous
Armed laughter changing us
Next time bring your mind along with you
There’s a pistol in my smile
It shoots grins for miles and miles
But look into my eyes
The reflection’s saying goodbye
Outside the ring we sit and blankly stare
Nobody but our own selves in the chair
But it’s so dangerous
Armed laughter changing us
Close your eyes and no-one knows you’re there
With animals such tricks are neatly made
They nod and wink in terminal parade
It’s oh so dangerous
Armed laughter changing us
Into their souls we think we can invade
There’s a pistol in my smile
It shoots grins for miles and miles
But look into my eyes
The reflection’s saying goodbye
★
Words by Peter Greatorex.
Copyright ℗ 1990 D & G Music.
Fabulous band formed in the 1980s. Acoustic psychedelic folk rock musical treasures lost for decades, found and resurrected. More in our Archives: https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/archives/critical-error/ Wud Records
A truly great record. Every song is super catchy and likely to stick in your head. Sounds fantastic, amazing production. Great lyrics to make you smile or think. Fun musical tricks. ORANGE VINYL!!! Wud Records
Best band we found in the last year. Wonderful songwriting and musicianship. Songs you can't get out of your head and won't even want to. More on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/blackbirdrebellion. Wud Records