The Chameleons' first album (Script of the Bridge, from 1983) opens with the following line, beautifully enunciated by an BBC-toned english man:
"In his autumn before the winter comes man's last mad surge of youth."
and a perplexed woman, sounding rather like Joan Greenwood responds:
"What on earth are you talking about?"
There's a moment's pause, and then the glorious sounds of Don't Fall, the opening track, come surging in.
I have been trying to find the source of this sample for years. I've been wondering about it, looking for it ever since I fell in love with the album back in 1985, listening to it every single night when I was studying for my A Levels. It comes back to haunt me every couple of years.
The biggest problem is that even the band don't know where it comes from. They were recording stuff randomly from the television one night, pointing a microphone at the TV in the studio. They can't remember what it was.
Back in college, my housemate Jim and I watched dozens of old movies, listening out for this line. For one glorious day I thought it might have been from The Man in the White Suit. I rushed out and rented the video, and we waited patiently for the lines that never came. He even put the lines in his sig file, for years, hoping that someone would recognise it and write to him. Nothing. Never a sniff of hope.
Do you know what it is? Can you put me out of my misery? It's OK. The album will always remind me of foxes, and losing the secret won't make it go away. |
