Every Bomb You Make (EDIT: No show – 22:03) News Posted by Jonathan Capps on 2nd July 2005, 01:15 http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/deck01/charity_song.html Sting is set to sing Grant and Naylor’s satirical version of Every Breath you Take, entitled Every Bomb You Make at one of tomorrow’s Live8 concert.I can’t wait, to be honest. The name of the song makes it sound a bit bland and by the books SATIRES, but this is Rob and Doug we’re talking about here – arguably the best thing that ever happened to Spitting Image, writing wise. I’m sure it’s good (I’ve not heard the original). I’ll hopefully have an MP3 and AVI of the song uploaded sometime tomorrow and linked to from here. I’m not sure if Live8 actually want donations but if they do, I’ll donate something to justify my THEFT. Alternatively, watch BBC TWO from 1pm to see it live for yourself! Until then, the lyrics: Every bomb you make, Every job you take, Every heart you break, every irish wake, I’ll be watching you, Every wall you build, Every one you’ve killed, Every grave you’ve filled, all the blood you’ve spilled, I’ll be watching you, Oh, can’t you see, You belong to me? EDIT: Sting didn’t sing the Grant Naylor lyrics, in the end. Instead he opted to simply insert the word ‘democracy’ into his famous stalker song. Great.
I’ve got a nice piece about this in ‘Tooth And Claw’ (a great behind-the-scenes book on SI). I’ll type it up later.
I didn’t see the original broadcast either, but I’m pretty sure it was great. The impact would have come as it’s a very serious piece at the end of a comedy show. Sometimes, these can be done abominably, but I suspect that SI did it really well. Of course, I don’t *know*… but Tooth & Claw likes it, anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if it loses some of its impact at Live8, sadly. But still! Grant Naylor lyrics! Sung at Live8! He should have done The Chicken Song, though. Now that *would* have been worth tuning in for.
I saw it on a repeat on (I think) Granada Plus a couple of years ago, and was astounded at its impact, even ten-plus years later.
I think he *did* change some words… but that wasn’t ‘Every Bomb You Make’. Did they bottle out, then?
Looks like it. I bet they thought it was too inflammatory, or something. Bastard. I hate Sting even more, now.
During an interview with Jonathon Ross near the start he (sting) did mention he was asked to change some of the lyrics. He said he’d be singing “we’ll be watching you”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1671682,00.html “Bells ring as we hear of Sting?s plan to use Spitting Image puppets at Live 8 in a version of Every Breath You Take with the chorus changed to ?We?ll be watching you?. Those with long memories might recall him doing exactly the same thing in 1984, on Spitting Image itself, with a song called Every Bomb You Make.” Hmm.
Oh, good. You see, I’m missing “Live 8” on Channel 9 right now (they’re not showing it live: a cable station did that) and so it seems I’m not misisng anything.
I’ve been looking for the lyrics that he did sing. He did use something different than Every Breath, but of course the censors were with their hand on the switch the broadcast buttons so he probably wouldn’t have gotten his message past them if he went with the G & N version. Anyway I think the G & N version would have fallen on deaf ears because of it’s rawness. Too much for them to consume at once so to speak, considering we’ve been blasted by media conservativism all our lives. Anyway if you find out which words he did change let me know.
I think the lyrics he sung were “Oh can’t you see, that our democracy, is just a game we play, no matter what we say”?
The Lyrics of Every Bomb You Make were not written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. they were written by Quentin Reynolds & James Glen. I believe that Naylor and Grant were script editing Spitting Image at the time. If anything all they did was trim down the verses used on the show (there were many more originally) -they did not change the lyrics. Just thought you should know.
That’s interesting, Jonbhoy. The link to the official story doesn’t seem to work any more so I can’t remember if I just *assumed* Rob and Doug wrote the bulk of the lyrics or whether it was RD.co.uk who were mis-informed, too…
Searching on Google, TOS said the lyrics were “substantially written” by Rob and Doug. With a writing team like Spitting Image, it’s always going to get slightly confusing who wrote what…
Incidentally, my favourite comment on this song is on the ever-intelligent YouTube, definitely the best user community ever on the internet honest ever: OMG, i cant belive that these people have NO appreciation for all the great things our hardworking and brave leaders do for the world
Just to confirm that Grant and Naylor did not “substantially write” ‘Every Bomb You Make’. In fact they very slightly amended (and not for the better) lyrics written by myself and Quentin Reynolds. This was acknowledged in the first book written about Spitting Imsge and, indeed, by the fact that we continue to receive royalties!
Oh and re Live8 we were contacted a few days before the event by John Lloyd (producer of Spitting Image) saying that Bob Geldof had asked for permission from us to use ‘Every Bomb You Make’ at Hyde Park. Naturally, we agreed. Like others we were disappointed when Sting only made minor modifications to his original song. We never got an explanation.