Jason And The Argonauts

(Partridge)

#\#i#/#English Settlement#\#/i#/#

English Settlement

Recordings
XTCfans interview with Andy Partridge
Art
Lyrics
Chords and Tablature
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Recordings

  1. Album version, 6'03.
    Recoreded at Manor Studios, Oxfordshire, in October 1981.
    Produced and engineered by Hugh Padgham.
    Released on English Settlement.
    andy - lead and backing vocals, semi-acoustic electric guitar, pro prophetV, mini-korg.
    colin-fender bass, backing vocals.
    dave-electric 12-string guitar
    terry-drums and percussion.

    Andy: “Slightly out of chronological wack again, but we'll wave goodbye to early '82 with this wide screen, ocean going epic. If I think about all the songs I've written with a ships/sea/seaside connection, they really mount up. Perhaps I should have just followed my dad into the navy and stopped dreaming about it. All through our early career we were compared to the Talking Heads. I never saw the connection myself, but lazy journalists heard both bands' hiccuping vocalists and that was that. Trouble was, they were American art students from New York and were anointed ‘cool’. We were English council estate wasters from Swindon and anointed ‘naff’. The reason I bring them up is ‘Jason’ is the only song of ours that has anything in that might remotely sound like the Heads. It's the bit that goes, ‘And the more I travel, from the foam to the gravel, as the nets unravel...’ But that's it, and it's purely coincidental. Where's your lazy journalism now, when you need it?

    “ps. Dear Mum, the long passage in the middle is not meant to be a guitar ‘solo’, but more of a hypnotic suggestion as to the expanse of the sea. You know, repetition, slight variation, big, broad, blue. It was even longer in the studio but we edited it down by a few nautical miles.”

  2. BBC version, 5'42.
    Recorded 14 January 1982 at BBC Studios.
    Produced by John Sparrow. Engineered by Mike Robinson.
    First broadcast 25 January 1982 on the David Jensen Show.
    Released on 5 October 1994 on Drums and Wireless in the U.K.
    Also available on Transistor Blast.
    Andy Partridge - vocals and guitars
    Colin Moulding - vocals and bass guitar
    Dave Gregory - keyboards, guitars and vocals
    Terry Chambers - drums

    Andy: “You were supposed to get lost in the hypnosis of the middle section, in the mechanical repetitiveness of it. In this particular take though, we reined it in and didn't get lost.”

[Thanks to R. Stevie Moore]


Art

[THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]


Lyrics

j a s o n     a n d     t h e     a r g o n a u t s
  T
TTTTT  here may be  no golden fleece  but human riches I'll release
  T  oh, my head is  spinning  like the world  and it's filled with
  T  beasts I've seen,   let me put my bag down  and  I'll tell you
  T  it  all right   from the start.    like the scarlet  woman who
  T  would  pick  on  the boys she  thought  were  green,   and the
two  faced man  who made  a hobby  of  breaking   his  wife's heart.
seems  the more I travel, from the foam to  gravel,    as the  nets
unravel, all exotic fish I find like  jason and the argonauts there
may be no golden fleece  but human riches I'll release.
I was  in  a  land  where  men  force  women to hide their   facial
features,  and  here in the west it's  just  the  same but  they're
using   make-up veils.    I've seen acts of every shade of terrible
crime  from   man-like  creatures,  and  I've  had  the  breath  of
liars   blowing  me  off  course   in my sails.    seems the more I
travel,  from  the  foam  to gravel,      as the nets unravel,  all
exotic  fish    I find  like   jason and the  argonauts   there may
be no golden fleece  but human riches I'll release.
I  have  watched  the  manimals go buy---     buying  shoes, buying
sweets, buying knives.     I have  watched  the  manimals and cried
buying time, buying ends to other peoples lives.
jason  and  the  argonauts    there may be  no golden fleece    but
human  riches  I'll  release.

andy -  lead  and  backing vocals,  semi-acoustic  electric  guitar,
prophetV,mini-korg. colin-fender bass,backing vocals. dave-electric
12-string guitar terry-drums and percussion.composed by a.partridge

© 1982 Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.
[Thanks to Gary Jedlicka]


Chords and Tablature

Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:57:06 -0400
From: Kevin <KB305 (at) aol dot com>
Subject: one more time
Message-ID: <960723175703_244054811 (at) emout16 dot mail dot aol dot com>

j a s o n     a n d     t h e     a r g o n a u t s
(the basic riff for this song is G A B C# D C# B A,
in a wash of G Lydian mode-- there aren't really chords for that--)

There may be no golden fleece
                             C#5(no 3rd)(x466xx) C# b5(no 3rd)(x456xx)
but human riches I'll release

F#m
oh, my head is spinning like the world and it's filled with
D      D/C# D/B  D/C#
beasts I've seen,
F#m                                                   D    D/C# C
let me put my bag down and I'll tell you it all right from the  start.

like the scarlet woman who would pick on the boys she thought were green,
and the two faced man who made a hobby of breaking his wife's heart.

B7sus4                   Bb7sus4                  A7sus4
seems the more I travel, from the foam to gravel, as the nets unravel,
all exotic fish I find like jason and the argonauts
there may be no golden fleece but human riches I'll release.

I was in a land where men force women to hide their facial features,
and  here in the west it's just the same but they're using make-up veils.
I've seen acts of every shade of terrible crime from man-like creatures,
and I've had the breath of liars blowing me off course in my sails.
seems the more I travel, from the foam to gravel, as the nets unravel,
all exotic fish I find like jason and the argonauts
there maybe no golden fleece
                              C#5 (no 3rd)  C# b5 (no 3rd)
but human riches I'll release

C                              G
I have watched the manimals go buy---
Bm            C              D
buying shoes, buying sweets, buying knives.
D/C    C           D/C          G
I have watched the manimals and cried
Bm           C              G/A
buying time, buying ends to other peoples lives.

jason and the argonauts there may be no golden fleece
but human  riches  I'll  release.

[ Small modifications by Pat Flaherty <pflaherty (at) Mail dot Riem dot Com> ]

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