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Shipbuilding (song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Shipbuilding'" is a song with lyrics by Elvis Costello and music by Clive Langer. Written during the Falklands War of 1982, Costello's lyrics highlight the irony of the war bringing back prosperity to the traditional shipbuilding areas of Clydeside , Merseyside (Cammell Laird), North East England and Belfast (Harland and Wolff) to build new ships to replace those being sunk in the war, whilst also sending off the sons of these areas to fight and, potentially, lose their lives in those same ships. According to Robert Sandall, the best version of the song is the one recorded and released as a single by English singer-songwriter Robert Wyatt in August 1982 a few months after the Falklands War, although it was not a hit until it was re-released eight months later on the first anniversary of the conflict.
In September 2013, Elvis Costello and the Roots released an answer song written in the perspective of the other side of the conflict, called "Cinco Minutos con Vos" ("Five Minutes with You"). The song is a duet partly sung in Argentinian Spanish by La Marisoul.
Robert Wyatt version
{{Infobox song
| name = Shipbuilding
| cover = Shipbuilding.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Robert Wyatt
| album =
| B-side =
| released = 20 August 1982
(reissued 22 April 1983)
| recorded = 1982
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length = 3:04
| label = Rough Trade
| writer = Music: Clive Langer
Lyrics: Elvis Costello
| producer = Elvis Costello, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (credited as "Clangwinstello")
| misc =
| prev_title = Grass
| prev_year = 1981
| next_title = The Age of Self
| next_year = 1984
}}
According to Clive Langer, he had written the tune for Robert Wyatt but was not happy with the lyrics that he had written himself. Langer played the tune to Elvis Costello at a party hosted by Nick Lowe, and within days Costello had produced what he described as "the best lyrics I've ever written". In a 1983 interview with 'NME', Mark Bedford of Madness, who played double bass on the single, recounted the history of the song:
Wyatt himself recalled, "Geoff (Travis, head of Rough Trade Records) sent me a cassette saying this is a pretty good song, you ought to sing it. So I tried it out and it sounded good. The musical setting was nothing to do with me. Elvis had already recorded a vocal for it very good vocal and it was going to come out in the same form with him singing on it. I went in and did a vocal in a couple of hours with Mr. Costello producing, and that was it ... I had no expectations of it at all. All I thought about was singing it in tune!"
The Robert Wyatt version was originally released as a single on Rough Trade on 20 August 1982, but failed to chart. It was re-released on 22 April 1983 when it reached number 35 in the UK Singles Chart, marking the first ever UK Top 40 entry for Rough Trade.
The single was released in five different sleeves, all featuring sections from two of Stanley Spencer's series of eight panels entitled 'Shipbuilding on the Clyde' which were painted in the 1940s. Four of the sleeves featured two different sections each from "Riggers" and "Riveters", which folded out into four-page 'leporello' pictures. The panels themselves were donated to the Imperial War Museum in London: they are now on rotating display at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow on loan from the Imperial War Museum.
The single was acclaimed by the music press, with the 'NME' writers voting it their third favourite song of 1982.
Wyatt's version of the song was a favourite of English musician David Bowie.
Langer and Costello discuss the writing of "Shipbuilding" in a BBC Radio 4 programme, 'Soul Music', first broadcast March 2013.
Track listing
*'7" single'#"Shipbuilding" (Clive Langer, Elvis Costello) 3:04
#"Memories of You" (Eubie Blake, Andy Razaf) 2:56
*'12" single'
#"Shipbuilding" (Langer, Costello) 3:04
#"Memories of You" (Blake, Razaf) 2:56
#"Round Midnight" (Thelonious Monk) 4:08
Musicians
All except Wyatt are uncredited on the record.*Mark Bedford double bass
*Elvis Costello backing vocals
*Martin Hughes drums
*Clive Langer organ
*Steve Nieve piano
*Robert Wyatt lead vocals
Charts
Other versions
{{Infobox song
| name = Shipbuilding
| cover =
| alt =
| type = Song
| artist = Elvis Costello & the Attractions
| album = Punch the Clock
| released =
| recorded = JanuaryApril 1983
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length =
| label =
| writer = Music: Clive Langer
Lyrics: Elvis Costello
| producer = Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley, assisted by Gavin Greenaway & Colin Fairley
| misc =
}}
Costello recorded his own version of the song for his 1983 album 'Punch the Clock', featuring a performance by jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. Other versions have been recorded by Suede (for 'The Help Album', a charity album), Tasmin Archer (whose version was a UK top 40 hit in 1994), Graham Coxon, June Tabor, the Unthanks, Hue and Cry and the Bad Shepherds.
See also
*List of anti-war songs
References
Category:1982 singles
Category:Robert Wyatt songs
Category:Elvis Costello songs
Category:Tasmin Archer songs
Category:Songs written by Elvis Costello
Category:Anti-war songs
Category:Works about the Falklands War
Category:Rough Trade Records singles
Category:Songs written by Clive Langer
Category:Song recordings produced by Clive Langer
Category:Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley
Category:1982 songs
Category:UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles
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