One day Josie Jones arrives unnanounced at the One Little Indian offices in London. She tells label boss Derek Birket that she wants a deal for her new single.
"Let's hear it then," he sez.
Instead of playing him a demo, she reads out, in a dour northern accent, her 'imperfect list'. Birket is blown away by the words, & decides to take a punt, offering her a tiny recording budget
A few weeks later, she returns with the masters. To everyone's amazement, not only is the track kinda amazing, but it is recorded by Robin Gutherie of Cocteau Twins & Pete Wylie with Andrew Weatherall remixes already arranged...
It's jaw-dropping weirdness, especially in its original beatless version - a list of evildoers & nastiness spat out in a vitriolic Scouse accent over a dark ambient drone.
"Adolf Hitler. the dentist. Terry & June. fucking bastard Thatcher. Scouse impersonator. silly pathetic girlies. silly pathetic woman. macho dickhead. Bonnie Langford. neighbours. lost keys. phoney friend. ungrateful accusing mate. the Royal family. Stock Aitken & Waterman. smiling Judas. heartbreaking lying friend. Myra Hindley. acid rain. stinking rich female in furs. disloyal lover. wife & child beater. drunken abuser. racist. bully. The Sun newspaper. AIDS inventor. Leon Brittan. all nonsense. massive massive oilslick. Jimmy Tarbuck. loneliness. cancer. hunger. greed. gut wrenching disappointment. evil gossiping fashion bastard. tasteless a&r wanker. hard cold fish. overdraft like a mountain. the Jimmy Swaggart show. the Tory invention of the non-working class. poll tax. commie bashers. mister Jesse Helms. Hillsborough. weird british judges. apartheid. John Lennon's murder. anyone's murder. the breakdown of the NHS. the death of the rain forest. Heysel stadium. rednecks. rape. homelessness. the all-American way. Clause 28. Tiananmen Square. sexual harrassment. Nelson Mandela's imprisonment. Nancy's term. Ronnie's term. miscarriage. where were you?"
decryption code in comments
Imperfect List 1
Imperfect List 2
Imperfect List 3
Imperfect List 4
Weirder & weirder,
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Imperfect List
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