The Stranglers - Peaches (1996 remaster) reaction commentary - Punk Rock

Details

Description

Today I listen to English punk rock/ new wave band The Stranglers perform Peaches from their 1977 debut album, Rattus Norvegicus (alternative title The Stranglers IV).


Chapters
0:00 - Intro
0:18 - Peaches
4:25 - My thoughts
6:10 - Who are The Stranglers?


Links
Original video: https://youtu.be/j2w0rbp6J9Y?si=FFi_aP8K8O9tAFRt


The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the UK punk scene.

Rattus Norvegicus (alternative title The Stranglers IV) is the debut studio album by the Stranglers, released on 15 April 1977. It was one of the highest-selling albums of the punk era in Britain, eventually achieving platinum record sales. The album was originally going to be titled Dead on Arrival but it was changed at the last minute. The Stranglers IV prefix was a deliberate attempt by the band to cause confusion. The released title is the taxonomic name for the common brown rat.

"Peaches" is a single by the Stranglers, track six from their debut studio album Rattus Norvegicus (1977). Notable for its distinctive bassline, the track peaked at No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart.

The song's narrator is girl-watching on a crowded beach one hot summer day. It is never made clear if his lascivious thoughts (such as "there goes a girl and a half") are an interior monologue, comments to his mates, or come-on lines to the attractive women in question. The critic Tom Maginnis wrote that Hugh Cornwell sings with "a lecherous sneer, the sexual tension is so unrelenting as to spill into macho parody or even censor-baiting territory".


Lyrics
[Verse 1: Hugh Cornwell and all]
Strolling along minding my own business
Well, there goes a girl and a half
She's got me going up and down
She's got me going up and down

[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

[Verse 2: Hugh Cornwell and all]
Well, I got the notion, girl
That you got some suntan lotion in that bottle of yours
Spread it all over my peelin' skin, baby
That feels real good
All this skirt, lappin' up the sun
Lap me up
Why don't you come on and lap me up

[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

[Verse 3: Hugh Cornwell and all]
Well, there goes another one just lying down on the sand dunes
I'd better go take a swim and see if I can cool down a little bit
'Cause you and me woman
We got a lotta things on our minds
You know what I mean?

[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

[Verse 4: Hugh Cornwell and all]
Will you just take a look over there
(Where?)
(There)
Is she tryin' to get outta that cli-tar-es?
Liberation for women
That's what I preach preacher man

[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

[Bridge: Hugh Cornwell]
Oh shit, there goes the charabanc
Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer
Well, what a bummer
I can think of a lot worse places to be
Like down in the streets or down in the sewer
Or even on the end of a skewer

[Organ Breakdown]

[All and Hugh Cornwell]
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches just look at all the firm bodies
Down on the beaches just look at all the sunglasses
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches
[Outro: Hugh Cornwell]
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm
Mm, mm
Mm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm