Mad Bad World - The story behind the song

Mad Bad World was written in 2008 and has been a staple of my live appearances since then, pretty much becoming my ‘signature’ song. It was the only number I managed to complete for an aborted musical I planned to write called Murder On The Dancefloor. An independent television producer who had seen my musical Postcards from God approached me to write a vehicle for enfant terrible drag sensation (and former dancer) Jonny Woo – and the resulting story was a murder mystery with Jonny as enfant terrible drag sensation (and former fashion designer) ‘Marc La Mode’. Part Paris Is Burning, part Theatre Of Blood, the outlandish and highly unlikely story followed Marc and his entourage being picked off by a sinister killer in a series of grisly and incredibly camp murders. The treatment caught the eye of a producer from the Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborne festival and we hoped to present a semi-staged version of selected songs featuring Jonny and several rising stars of the alternative gay cabaret scene. Mad Bad World was written for the character of ‘Mahogany’, a larger than life (and perpetually stoned) ukulele wielding bearded drag queen to be played by Le Gateau Chocolat. The song was Mahogany’s ‘torch song’ where she looks back at her wasted life after the murder of another of her close friends (and just before being battered to death with her ukulele and thrown into a canal).

The song is a little unusual as it is written very low in the voice (I am a bass baritone and Le Gateau has an even lower range than I do) and originally the song stayed in that register throughout. My musical collaborator Michael Roulston suggested switching an octave higher two thirds of the way through the song which certainly added a lot of drama to what could have been a bit of a dirge otherwise. The song was always meant to be reminiscent of the music from Twin Peaks and the other soundtracks composer Angelo Badalamenti has composed for the films of David Lynch and think we’ve managed to capture that ‘dark jazz’ feel. I sang the song as one of my audition pieces for a vocal course led by world renowned vocal coach Mary King at the South Bank Centre as part of her Voicelab programme. It felt great to sing the song again when I was invited to perform at Paul Burston's Polari at the same venue. I had spread my wings and so had the song.

This recording is actually the third version of the song. We made a demo version that I used as a backing track for live gigs, but I felt like it needed a different treatment and started an alternative version. The original demo was recorded ‘colla voce’ – the musicians follow the tempo of my singing – and in this song, the tempo varies quite a lot throughout . The new version was done to a strict tempo and didn’t really work. We tried adding drums to the original demo but it was very difficult to keep everything in time, so we decided to record the song live at Shock and Awe Studios with Michael on piano, Tom Mansi on double bass and James Johnston on drums. Synths and strings were added on afterwards by myself and Nick Trepka. This was the third and final take and I was very pleased with the result, which has been described as the soundtrack to a drinking competition between between Nick Cave and Tom Waits, a great compliment I think.

If you haven't done so already, you can get a free download of Mad Bad World by joining the mailing list at my website. Visit: http://www.reevescorner.co.uk/music.html

Photo by Robert Piwko (c) 2010

Look around

At all the madness going down

Sometimes you’ve got to find a way

To drown your sorrows

Maybe get a little high

To chase the dragons all away

I drink and I drink and I drink and I drink

‘Til I’m drowning

From crying and crying and crying

The whole night through

‘Cause it’s a mad bad world

It’s a mad bad world

It’s a mad bad world

That makes me blue

When friends have two faces

And they tear your heart apart

Life starts splitting at the seams

You feel like you’re crawling

On your hands and on your knees

Down that boulevard of broken dreams

Night after night after night after night

I’m still falling

From trying and trying and trying and trying

To make it through

But I can’t break on through

‘Cause it’s a mad bad world

It’s a mad bad world

It’s a mad bad world

That makes me blue

If you ask me ‘What’s your poison?’

I wouldn’t know quite what to say

‘Cause I’ve been killing myself for all these years

Dying slowly, slowly

Every day

‘Cause it’s a mad bad world

It’s a mad bad world

It’s a mad bad world

That makes me blue

That makes me blue

Blue

Lavender Nights, Velvet Tongues, Misfits, Maestros and Blue, Blue Stars

January and February tend to be quiet months, with all of us nursing our hangovers (both literal and financial) after the festive season. However, here at Reeves Corner, they were a flurry of activity, with some very exciting happenings, mainly in the form of several live performances.

The new year began with the return of ‘Screwged!’, the RVT panto, with a one-off ‘X-Rated’ performance. It was good fun but rather messy. I for one have no recollection of the second half and offer my apologies for anyone who does! Shortly after came a very nice piece in Time Out by Paul Burston, which made my decade.

A few weeks later came the second outing of The Quicksilver Singers, a choir formed by myself and my musical director Michael Roulston for our gig last year as part of Wise Thoughts GFest at the Cochrane Theatre. This time we were joined by several new members for ‘Lavender Nights’, a fundraiser at the Rose & Crown in Walthamstow in aid of Positive East, a charity that helps HIV positive people in East London.

The whole shebang was curated by Michael and his partner, the inimitable Champagne Charlie and they pulled out all the stops with turns from the cream of London’s cabaret scene, including Tricity Vogue, Paul L Martin, Jonathan Hellyer, Marisa Karnesky and many others I am too addled to recall, including a wonderful burlesque artist who turned into a naked Bo Peep! A real highlight was the very sexy closing set from a young lady called Asya, who really will be one to watch. You heard it here first, punters!

As I walked into the building, Michael joked ‘Got your glitter?’ (meaning my holographic makeup), ‘Of course!’ I barked, only for my jaw to drop when I realised it wasn’t in my make-up bag after all! Luckily I had some green stuff Scottee had given me for ‘Screwged!’, but various people did wonder why I looked like The Incredible Hulk on a hen night. Now you know - sheer senility!

A week or so later, Michael and I performed as part of ‘David Hoyle’s Lives’, the latest run from the melancholy maverick at his home from home, the RVT. I felt so proud to be asked to take part by the show’s producer Dawn Right-Nasty. Dawn had handpicked the very best of the current cabaret and alternative music scene to complement David’s renegade performance antics and that night in particular felt especially auspicious for me as it was my birthday - marking two years since my solo retrospective show 'Three Zero', in which time I had come through high and low.

Doing the panto showed me that sometimes things come your way randomly, when you’re not trying – when you try too hard, you elude yourself. By plugging away and sometimes being second or third on the list instead of ‘top of the bill’, you are sometimes a better choice. As a venue, the RVT is a truly historic place – it’s been a home to many weird and wonderful performers over the years and I (literally) used to dream of performing there. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of many shows under its rotting roof over the last few years and I hope that can continue for a while to come.

Our set at David’s night was great fun – we started with a very gloomy number called ‘Mad, Bad World’ and I chose to walk in from behind the audience. Poor Michael was left repeating the first four bars on a loop for about two minutes while I pushed through the frozen crowd. I sang the song amongst them and there was an unforgettable moment when I felt those members of the audience who hadn’t yet realised where I was slowly turn their gaze toward me – it was truly spine-tingling! Alongside performing with Elbow and hearing Sister Wendy hear one of my songs about her for the first time on Radio Two, it’s a moment I will always cherish and feel very privileged to have experienced. David also gave me a very nice introduction which I have quoted on my website – alongside the kind words from Elaine Paige and Sister Wendy, I think I now have all my bases covered!

Next up was my first ever ‘proper’ spoken word set as part of Ernesto Sarezale’s erotic poetry night ‘Velvet Tongue’ (named after a rather saucy sexual practice). My old housemate and good friend Sina Evil opened proceedings and other readers included Jonathan Kemp, author of ‘London Triptych’, a VERY good book, so I felt a little daunted. This was the first time I’d tried out what felt like a tangible group of poems, some new, some old – but I really enjoyed it and even got a nice mention in a review from Remotegoat, which said: ‘Marcus Reeves speaks about loving despair with humour and honesty’. They say never read or believe your reviews, (especially the good ones) but I think that’s a fair appraisal.

At the end of the month, Michael and I re-united for ‘The Double R Club’, a night of dark burlesque, music and mayhem inspired by David Lynch. I’d never been before but I really would recommend it – you get a lot of bang for your buck and with its mix of the absurd, surreal and sublime, the night is indeed very reminiscent of Lynch’s dark, anarchic world.

After a rather shambolic attempt at ‘Blue Velvet’ (on my part) Michael and I performed something of an exclusive. In the film ‘Blue Velvet’, Isabella Rosselini plays a night club chanteuse who one could safely say is rather down on her luck. In one scene, a montage, she sings and we hear the last few bars of an original song by David Lynch and his stalwart soundtrack composer, Angelo Badalamenti. I suggested to Michael that we complete what they had started. I was all over the place that night and murdered the song, so I won’t trouble you with an MP3, but here are our lyrics. Imagine me channeling Marianne Faithfull and Shirley Bassey and you’ll have a good idea of how it worked out!

BLUE STAR

Lynch/Badalamenti/Reeves/Roulston

A single star, so blue in the black above

Ever cold, ever old, never knowing love

Her light falls down on the streets of this town

That I walk along alone

A stranger’s kiss and danger’s touch, I give my all

But in the fading light of day I don’t get much at all

Though I may know you well I’ll never kiss and tell

There’s far too much for me to lose

Shadows, shadows, shadows fall so blue

As daylight fades from view

For just a dime, come buy my time, my body too

And when you leave and I’m alone, I’ll dream of you

But that blue star above is all I’ve left to love

As darkness falls around the room

Shadows, shadows, shadows fall so blue

As lonely as a blue, blue star

PS. Over the next few months I am re-establishing my mailing list - I've realised I'm far too dependent on Facebook etc. If you want to be added, please email marcus AT reevescorner.co.uk (with an @ instead of AT, in case you’re stoopid), along with your postal address.

PPS: Stay tuned for a very special announcement and put April 1st in your diaries for a high profile appearance of something from the vaults! (And no this is not an April Fools!)

(Photos featured by Danny Richman, Robert Piwko, Ant Smith, AbsolutQueer Photography, Sin Bozkurt (c) 2011)