Polydor POSP 101
Highest chart position : 40, 5 weeks on chart
Released: Jan 16th 1980
Apparently the single is about the 'rise in facism' in the late seventies, hence the lines 'you were wearing the uniforms' e.g. facists. Gigs at the time were often disrupted by neo-facists and The BNP. The Clash, Sham 69 and The Specials were to suffer from 'unwanteds' in the audience. The lyric is often misread as being about 'Sounds from the street' ala 'In the city'. This is a good opportunity to get the Jam thing out of the way. Unluckily for the Chords they were on the same label, had similar instrumentation and influences, but (and I quote Buddy)
'Without the Who you wouldn't have had the Chords. Without the Jam you would have STILL had the Chords'
What is apparent is that alot of bands at the time had a similar sound but were just as influenced by The Buzzcocks and The Clash and not just The Jam. As you probably already know The Sex Pistols did covers of 'Small Faces and Creation songs' but did that make them the same as the Jam? Enough said lets move on.
The song's structure is classic, rousing guitar intro, verse , half chorus , verse, chorus, shattering middle eighth, intro again, key change (one tone), chorus, verse , chorus , outro. This structure the Chords use many times, and why not it works. The handclaps on the chorus lift the song but it doesn't turn into a Sham 69 . The production is a marked improvement on 'Now its gone'. In particular the guitar & drums are not so forward and the guitar has more room to push the song along.
'I Don't Wanna Know' another by Martin is a marked improvement on 'Don't go back' and wouldn't have sounded out of place on the LP. That said the subject matter lets it down. 'Hey girl' sounds like fun, rousing and spirited (i.e five times faster) but lacking 'Marriots' voice.
The five months between the singles show a marked improvement in playing and production. Andy Arthur produced this single and the next and went on to produce the LP. He was used because the drum sound he got for punk band '999', was what Buddy wanted.
Maybe tomorrow , BRILLIANT
