On de uber side ob de island
Dere's a sky so clear and blue
Can see, cross water, to de mainland
New life for me and you
Let's buy a hotel
Let's get a yacht
We'll get a golden island
In the sun made of coconut
Let's buy an old car
We'll crash in a hut
We'll feed the food to the Ford
And we'll live off the coconut
Well there's a big black mama
In a tree
She's gonna cook us
She's gonna call up the rest of the tribe
And it looks like the ghost of Tarzan lied
He went over to the other side
And he rang like a bell
From tree to tree
They never ever let you go
They never ever let you go
We get American menus
With all American men
We're getting sick of things American
We ate our way through half the Pentagon
We had our share of big palookas
Yankee go home
Yankee go ho ho home
They never ever let you go
They never ever let you go
Yankee go home
Yankee go ho ho home
Let's buy a hotel
Let's get a yacht
We'll get a golden island
In the sun made of coconut
Let's buy an old car
We'll crash in a hut
We'll feed the food to the Ford
And we'll live off the coconut
Well there's a big black mama in a tree
She's gonna cook us
She's gonna call up the rest of the tribe
And it looks like the ghost of Tarzan lied
He went over to the other side
And he rang like a bell
From tree to tree
Tree to tree, tree to tree
They never ever let you go
They never ever let you go
No one commented on this song? This is one of the best pop songs of the '70s! It's about as politically incorrect as you can get, at least on first hearing ("We got a big black mama in a tree/she gonna cook us/she gonna call up the rest of the tribe..." imagery straight out of one of the now-banned Warner Bros. cartoons of the '30s and '40s that depicted thick-lipped, bone-in-the-nose, cooking-missionaries-in-a-big-black-pot, grass-skirted African natives), but the riff, the percussion, and the clever lyrical delivery are irresistible. What does the song mean? I don't know, but I would guess that 10cc, an art-rock band with serious aspirations that nevertheless had a terrific sense of humor and never stopped poking fun at itself and everyone else (word to solemnly "serious" bands of today: yes, I'm talking about YOU, Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder, Green Day/Billy Joe Armstrong, and especially YOU, U2/Bono, and the kings of rock solemnity in the current era, Radiohead/Thom Yorke- you might try exploring the absurd side of all the political, social, and artistic themes you take on, if you have any capacity for that, any sense of humor AT ALL), are making comments about the easy pleasure rich white people, especially Americans (this was 1974, toward the tail-end of the Vietnam war era) take in their vacations, their tendency to view other places and "native" peoples in the world as objects for their own amusement and pleasure, the legacies of European/American imperialism, and about the equally-simplistic left-wing/Marxist critiques of the imperialist world view. Sorry, I know that's a long/complicated sentence that should have been cut down to size, but my point is that, in this song, NOBODY escapes 10cc's wit and scrutiny and critique. And that's the beauty of it.
Glad to see a comment. I think you nailed it. It is like a movie or a cartoon. The first part is sung by natives on a tropical island. The sound effects and production are really vivid. Then come the rich and frivolous tourists. Wary of the local cuisine they ask their hosts if they have American menus, and are shocked by the response: "We got American menus, With all American men, We ate our way through half the Pentagon".
Glad to see a comment. I think you nailed it. It is like a movie or a cartoon. The first part is sung by natives on a tropical island. The sound effects and production are really vivid. Then come the rich and frivolous tourists. Wary of the local cuisine they ask their hosts if they have American menus, and are shocked by the response: "We got American menus, With all American men, We ate our way through half the Pentagon".
"The ghost of Tarzan lied"? No clue about that. Godley and Creme themselves probably couldn't explain.
"The ghost of Tarzan lied"? No clue about that. Godley and Creme themselves probably couldn't explain.
...
This is a good song to listen to before distant travel. Along with all of Bloody Tourists.
Thanks you, Mr. SM!