Description
Medieval Death LP and free DVD + Mordicus “Rights ‘n Trials” LP. Official videos, audio, info.
7″ single
Side A
“Incommunicado” (single edit) 4:00
Side B
“Going Under” 2:44
Incommunicado is a song by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was the lead single from their fourth studio album Clutching at Straws. Released on 11 May 1987, it reached number six in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band’s third top-ten hit and their last until 2004’s “You’re Gone”. It also became a Top 40 hit in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as well as on the US Mainstream Rock chart.
Composition and release
The A-side is a fast, anthemic rock song with a repeated chorus and dominant keyboards from Mark Kelly. Kelly’s solo was later cited as an inspiration by Adam Wakeman. Lead singer and lyricist Fish acknowledged a similarity between the song and the work of the Who.
The B-side, the short, slow and introspective “Going Under”
Both tracks were written and arranged by Marillion and produced by Chris Kimsey.
The line “currently residing in the where-are-they-now file” is a reference to a scene in the film This Is Spinal Tap.
Cover art
The cover was designed by the band’s regular artist at the time, Mark Wilkinson; however, instead of the usual airbrush style, it was a collage based on a colourised photograph of fans waiting outside the Marquee Club, then still in Wardour Street (there are some posters advertising a Then Jerico gig on the door). Only the eccentrically dressed, pivotal “angel” character standing at the door apart from the crowd, was painted in Wilkinson’s traditional style. The scene alludes to the song’s main topic, success alienating artists from their fans and reality in general. On the back cover there is a quotation supposedly from Seneca the Younger’s Moral Epistles (“This mime of mortal life, in which we are apportioned roles we misinterpret.”)
But I got problems of the memory ever since I got a winner in the fame game
I’m a citizen of Legoland travellin’ incommunicado
And I don’t give a damn for the Fleet Street aficionados
I don’t want launderette anonymity
I want my hand prints in the concrete on Sunset Boulevard
A dummy in Tussaud’s you’ll see
I’ve got an allergy to Perrier, daylight and responsibility
I’m a rootin’-tootin’ cowboy, the Peter Pan, the street credibility
Always taking the point with the dawn patrol fraternity
When I hear opportunity kicking in my door
Call it synchronicity call it deja vu
I just put my faith in destiny – it’s the way that I choose
To the bumper of a wedding limousine
Or currently residing in the where are they now file
A toupee on the cabaret scene
I want to do adverts for American Express cards
Talk shows on prime time TV
A villa in France, my own cocktail bar
And that’s where you’re gonna find me
When I hear opportunity kicking in my door
Call it synchronicity call it deja vu
I just put my faith in destiny – it’s the way that I choose
It’s the only way
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