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sign o' the times
composers
Composer : Prince
publisher
© 1987 Controversy Music, ASCAP
background
"It was always like that when we did our covers. Not even just a Prince song, but Sign O' The Times! I have
mixed feelings about it - at least we put in a bit of urgency; and also, the technology, it was very much out
of the box. It was a difficult track to do. It had enough of us in the track to make it feel like us." - Charlie - Street Fighting Years Super Deluxe
"I felt I'd peaked with the album. I got a snifter of where we
wanted to go when we did the Prince track, it was really exciting. I wanted to make music with noises. Anything
went then with the advances in technology. I loved working on that EP with Steve." - Mick - Street Fighting Years Super Deluxe
"[It] was the most extraordinary thing. I know people were very critical of it, but I thought it was a remarkable
recording actually. Lots of programming. Charlie played great.
Jim sang it really well and there was this weird momemnt where for some reason
I had a box set of soudn effects from the BBC. And I remember just asking us to go intro record and I'd
hit the buttons, you know, randomly, and all the sound effects just happened in one part. Shots and cries and all
sorts, it just fell in the right place, it was really bizarre." - Steve Lipson,
Street Fighting Years by SuperDeluxeEdition.
The first recordings of Sign O' The Times were recorded at Wisseloord on the 12th and 13th October. There
were various takes, a Home Mix (possibly a home recorded demo) and various parts of the song.
On the the 23rd October, the arrangement of Sign O' The Times was decided, four mixes were prepared, and mix #4
was selected as the master. From this master, an instrumental and edit were created.
"We knew we were doomed to fail on Sign O' The Times because
why cover one of the greatest songs ever made? We did it for fun, just as an experiment."- Charlie, Classic Pop Magazine, March 2020
lyrics
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Oh Yeah.
In France a skinny man,
Died of a big disease with a litte name.
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle,
And soon she did the same.
At home there are seventeen-year-old boys,
And their idea of fun,
Is being in a gang called The Disciples,
High on crack, totin' a machine gun.
Time. Time.
Hurricane Annie ripped the ceiling off a church,
And killed everyone inside.
You turn on the telly and every other story,
Is tellin' you somebody died.
Sister killed her baby 'cuz she could affort to feed it,
And we're sending people to the moon.
In September my cousin tried Reefer for the very first time,
Now he's doing Horse, it's June.
Time. Time.
It's silly, no? When a rocket ship explodes,
And everybody still wants to fly.
Some say a man ain't happy,
Unless a man truly dies.
Oh why?
Time. Time.
Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly,
Neighbours just shine it on.
But if a night falls and a bomb falls,
Will anybody see the dawn?
Time. Time.
It's silly, no? When a rocket ship explodes,
And everybody still wants to fly.
Some say a man ain't happy,
Unless a man truly dies.
Oh why?
Time. Time.
Sign o' the times mess with your mind,
Hurry before it's too late.
Let's fall in love, get married, have a baby,
We'll call him Hate...if it's a boy.
Time. Times.
Time. Time.
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discography
Edit (4:12)
Produced by: Stephen Lipson
Engineered by: Heff Moraes
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Single Version (5:37)
Produced by: Stephen Lipson
Engineered by: Heff Moraes
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C J Mackintosh Mix (6:15)
Produced by: Stephen Lipson
Engineered by: Heff Moraes
Remixed by: C J Mackintosh
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videography
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