Chance


BBC Session for John Peel, recorded 2nd October 1979, available on "To the shores of Lake Placid" compilation, "Peel Sessions Plus" and "Kilimanjaro" deluxe edition.

Julian Cope - bass, vocals
Ged Quinn - organ
Mick Finkler - guitar
Gary Dwyer - drums

Written by Cope / Finkler / Dwyer


What's in a name? This song is listed as "Chance" in various places - the BBC Peel website, the "In session tonight" book from the 90s - but is also listed as "Take a chance" in other places - its appearance on "To the shores of Lake Placid" and the "Piano" compilation. Yet both these titles refer to the same recording of the same song. When the Teardrop Explodes played it live, it was introduced as either "Take a chance" or "Take a chance at fame".

Another very early song, it was already in the set by February 1979 - it was played as the soundcheck at the Masonic Arms as well as in the main set, and it didn't really change much from then. It's another typical Teardrops song of the era, based around repeating patterns on guitar and organ during the verses and moving into full ascending chords for the chorus. As such it may have been tricky to play live, the interlocking musical jigsaw required Cope, Finkler and Simpson (or Balfe or Quinn) to play their parts with robot precision. Fair play to the band, they threw themselves into each performance with gusto. 

"Chance" is a peculiar lyric, especially as it was written so early in the group's lifetime. Does Cope really want a chance at fame and to see the possibilities? It all seems quite ironic from the bottom rung of the Northern post punk toilet circuit in early 79. Yet the song has a ridiculously catchy chorus - "Everybody's singing babadobadobadawoah, Mummy Daddy be so proud, babadobadobadawoah". The lyric is quite intriguing - a lot of images thrown together with little thought of how they fit with each other, but somehow it really doesn't matter. What does matter is that insistent chorus and how it instantly digs into the listeners memory. There's a brief instrumental break of the solo organ line before three organ chords as everyone returns to that riff and after two minutes everyone plays a little ascending riff to close the song. Two minutes three verses and out.

"Chance" was played regularly during 1979 but was dropped from the live set early into 1980. Maybe the act of recording it for Peel preserved it enough for the band? Maybe by 1980 the chance of fame looked more likely than in 1979 so it lost relevance. It wasn't recorded again, unless there's an unreleased version from the debut album sessions somewhere in the vaults. It only turned up on "To the shores of Lake Placid" in 1982 because Bill Drummond wanted to offload a pile of unreleased material on the world, and by 1982 the Teardrops sounded very different to how "Chance" sounds. Also notice how the sleeve notes on "To the shores of Lake Placid" claim it was recorded in Cargo studios in November 79, which bends the truth a little - maybe they didn't want the struggle of having to officially licence the BBC recording, so just said it was recorded elsewhere. Or I could be wrong, it could be a different recording, but I've played them side by side and they sound identical to me. 

Even though "Chance" had disappeared from the Teardrops' story by 1980, it still had some influence. The lines "Move from the corridor move to the door" appear in the middle of the lyric of "Brave boys keep their promises" on the inner sleeve of "Kilimanjaro" for some reason. Also Cope would throw the lines "And everybody's singing babadobadobado" into the later stages of live renditions of "The culture bunker" throughout 1981 and 1982. So the song stuck around. I have to admit I love "Chance", I think it's the great little song which so many little asides - "choose your partners" - that it packs a lot into those 125 seconds. It probably wouldn't have fitted on "Kilimanjaro" but could have been a good b side for an early single. In a way this song brings to a close the first stage of the Teardrop Explodes' development. The next stage would start with a great leap forward...

(The fabulous photo of Finkler, Cope and Dwyer in a Marks And Spencer's in 1980 was taken by Francesco Mellina who you can support here)

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