Ant Rap

"Ant Rap"
Single by Adam and the Ants
from the album Prince Charming
B-side "Friends"
Released 30 November 1981
Format vinyl record (7")
Genre Rap-rock, new wave, post-punk
Length 3:40
Label CBS Records
Songwriter(s) Adam Ant, Marco Pirroni
Adam and the Ants singles chronology
"Prince Charming"
(1981)		 "Ant Rap"
(1981)		 "Deutscher Girls"
(1982)

"Prince Charming"
(1981)		 "Ant Rap"
(1981)		 "Deutscher Girls"
(1982)

"Ant Rap" is a 1981 song performed by the British new wave band Adam and the Ants. Written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni, the song was included on the band's 1981 album Prince Charming. It entered the UK Singles Chart in December 1981 at number 9 before rising to a peak position of number three.[1]

Music video

The setting for the music video is Bodiam Castle and features Adam wearing a suit of armour, then a blue American Football uniform with the number 57 on the front. While in his football uniform, he crashes through a door, revealing Marco Pirroni sitting at a grand piano dressed as Liberace. Adam then does a Bruce Lee impersonation while rescuing the princess (played by Lulu) before reverting to his shining armor. The video ends with Adam jumping from the top of the castle into the moat (the jump is actually performed by a stuntman). He throws his sword in the moat only to see an armored hand lift it again from the water.[2]

Reception

While widely panned by critics, "Ant Rap" was one of the earliest rap singles to chart in the UK, reaching number 3 on the UK singles chart.[3]

Paul Lester of The Guardian described "Ant Rap" as one of "the weirdest chart [hits] of all time:" "Adam Ant is easily dismissed as pop pantomime, but his paeans to insects weren't just lyrically peculiar, they were examples of populist daring at its best, all yelps and Burundi beats - I'd single out his clattering Ant Rap as the weirdest of the weird, with extra points for reaching [number 3] with a song with no verse, no chorus, and a refrain comprising a list of the band members: 'Marco, Merrick, Terry-Lee, Gary Tibbs and yours tru-ly'."[4]

The B-side to the single was a rerecording of "Friends". The band's former label, Do It Records, would release an early recording of "Friends" as a single in 1982.[5]

Lyrics

Ant boasts of his success and his ability to dance, and calls out the anarchists of the music scene, affirming he was never concerned with receiving their credibility.[6]

Friends

It was fairly common for Ant to record new versions of his pre-1980 compositions for the B-side of his singles. For this single, an old Ant song from 1978 called Friends was used. The song had enjoyed a short shelf life as part of the band's live set in the summer/autumn of 1978 and was recorded for the July 1978 Peel Session , an August 1978 demo at Decca Studios and one of three unused tracks from the Dirk Wears White Sox album sessions eventually released in March 1982 on The B-Sides EP. In "Friends" Adam does a considerable amount of name dropping in an attempt to be guestlisted. Among the people he claims as a friend include Shirley Bassey, former Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe, Michael Jackson, Michael Caine, John Wayne, Stevie Wonder, Eric Fromm and Bryan Ferry.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Adam & The Ants - Ant Rap". Chart Stats. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  2. ↑ Craig Rosen (1 November 2013). "Vive Le Rock: Adam Ant Looks Back at His Classic Videos". Yahoo Music.
  3. ↑ Lisa Rose (29 March 2011). "Song of the Day: 'Ant Rap,' Adam and the Ants". New Jersey On-Line LLC.
  4. ↑ Lester, Paul (11 July 2008). "What's the weirdest chart hit of all time?". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Adam and the Ants. "The B-sides". Adam-Ant.net.
  6. ↑ Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni. "Ant Rap". CBS Records.
  7. ↑ Ant, Adam. "Friends". LetsSingIt®. Swishgrade Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
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