Rat Trap

"Rat Trap" was a single by The Boomtown Rats which reached #1 in the UK singles chart for two weeks in November 1978,^[1] the first single by a punk or New Wave act to do so. It is a rock ballad telling the tale of a boy called Billy who feels the depressing town he lives in is a "Rat Trap".

It was written by Bob Geldof ^[2] and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

It replaced "Summer Nights", a hit single for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from the soundtrack of Grease, at number one in the UK charts after Summer Nights' seven week reign at the top.^[3]

When the band performed the song on Top of the Pops (which is also mentioned in the song) as the new number one the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John to emphasise the fact that the pair - who had spent a total of 16 weeks out of the preceding 22 at the top of the charts - had been deposed. Alan Holmes did not appear; Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra, a jest referring to the TOTP practice of bands miming to a backing track.

In the music video, various members of the band are seen reading copies of the novel "Rat Trap" by Welsh author Craig Thomas, although the book has no connection to the song. The lyric about "pus and grime..." was changed to "blood and tears pour down the drains and the sewers".

One of the more popular Boomtown Rats songs, it was performed by them at Live Aid and is still performed by Geldof to this day. During the Live Aid performance, Geldof's microphone went dead (apparently from the cable being damaged), causing Simon Crowe's harmony vocals to become the only audible voice on the last half of the song. This performance was not included on the DVD.

In 1996 Geldof recorded a self-mocking cover version of the song with Dustin The Turkey which reached number one in Ireland.

Personnel

Bob Geldof – vocals
Pete Briquette – bass, vocals
Gerry Cott – guitar
Johnnie Fingers – keyboards, vocals
Simon Crowe – drums, vocals
Garry Roberts – guitar, vocals
Alan Holmes – saxophone

References

↑ Larkin, Colin (2002), The Virgin encyclopedia of 70s music (3rd ed.), Virgin Publishing, p. 45, ISBN 1852279478.
↑ A Tonic For The Troops track listing
↑ Pegg, Nicholas (2006), The complete David Bowie (6th ed.), Reynolds & Hearn, p. 76, ISBN 1905287151.

Preceded by "Summer Nights" by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John	UK number-one single 18 November 1978 - 25 November 1978	Succeeded by "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod Stewart

v t e The Boomtown Rats

Bob Geldof Pete Briquette Gerry Cott Simon Crowe Johnnie Fingers Garry Roberts

Studio albums	The Boomtown Rats A Tonic for the Troops The Fine Art of Surfacing Mondo Bongo V Deep In the Long Grass

Singles	"Lookin' After No. 1" "Mary of the 4th Form" "She's So Modern" "Like Clockwork" "Rat Trap" "I Don't Like Mondays" "Diamond Smiles" "Someone's Looking at You" "Banana Republic" "Up All Night" "The Elephant's Graveyard (Guilty)" "Never in a Million Years" "House on Fire" "Charmed Lives" "Tonight" "Drag Me Down" "Dave" "A Hold of Me"

Other albums	Ratrospective The Boomtown Rats' Greatest Hits Loudmouth – The Best of Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats The Best of The Boomtown Rats Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits

Related articles	Discography Ensign Records Mercury Records

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.