Thursday, September 16, 2010

12 Days of A Selective Retaliation: V1.12

We have reached the end of "12 Days of A Selective Retaliation"! The final print, V1.12, is aptly titled W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G. 1.1
Of course most know that this stands for "What You Hear Is What You Get" which itself is a play on the WYSIWYG acronym (here is a wiki article if you are curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG

W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G. is the first track on the "Official Version" album. On the actual liner notes/album artwork it is listed as W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G. Extended 7:22

This is one of those Front 242 songs that was often played live, with much more dramatic differences that what is on the actual album. The live versions often feature lyrics that are not sung on the album cut itself (technically if you listen closely to the track you do start to hear J-L sing some of the lyrics as the song fades out)...which is very curious to me. I have always enjoyed live cuts of W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G. since J-L sings these lyrics, which also appear on this print. (The same thing also happened when Front 242 would close with the song "Work" , as the live version has lyrics not on the released track.)

If you can't quite make it out, here are the lyrics... (from the print and from the song as appears on the Switzerland 86 and Hadafi Commando bootlegs). Later W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G. would often be combined with U-Men and the lyrics were not sung...

"One hour ago...
there were only three...
But look at them now...
They must be more...
Much more than twenty...
They act too shy...
They act too shy...
So they prefer...
to fly in the sky...
They're coming down...
They're coming down...
They're coming down for you...
You're one of them...
(None) dares to be the first...   (Print: none of them dare to be the first)
You're one of them...
(None) wants to be late...  (Print: none of them wants to be late)
One hour ago...
There were only three...
But look....(repeat)
They're coming down...
They're coming down for you...
You're one them...
(repeats)

BTW, does anyone know where the samples "Are You Crazy" and "You're making (a big mistake?)" and others from this song come from? I have tried to find them for years...!

The print itself features yet another "Quite Unusual" video image with the title above and the lyrics below...

V1.12

V1.12 Detail (rotated)

V1.12 Detail

V1.12 Detail

V1.12 Detail (lyrics!)

V1.12 Detail

V1.12 Detail


So ends "12 Days of A Selective Retaliation"... See The Future?







1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing ! Because of you now I know where are the lyrics tha JL sang in WYHIWYG version on Switzerland. After 20 years ! :-D

    ReplyDelete