For Years

Recorded October 15th 1980 for a Mike Read BBC Radio 1 session, broadcast 27th October 1980, available on "Kilimanjaro" 3CD deluxe edition and "Zoology" CD.

Julian Cope - bass, vocals

Dave Balfe (aka The Evil Wasp) - keyboards

Alan Gill (aka The Emotional Jungle) - guitar

Gary Dwyer (aka Rocky) - drums

Written by Cope / Gill

"For years" is a cool little curiosity, only recorded once for a radio session and only played during the Autumn 1980 "Daktari" tour. According to Cope's historically dubious notes on "Zoology" (where the song is titled "Nobody knows this is everywhere") the song was recorded "over the water" (ie in the Wirral) at Alan Gill's studio, "this song was attempted about five times before we got a solid version", also claiming it was on the 1982 bootleg "Live baby yeah!" Hmm. For a start it's the same recording on "Zoology" as on the BBC recording. Secondly Gill's studio was a flat in the Wirral and I'd be surprised if the whole band could have fitted in there * Thirdly - recorded five times? Maybe you're thinking of another song, Julian? And lastly  "Live baby yeah" doesn't exist ** Cope as ever is the unreliable narrator to the tale. 

"For years" was written by Cope and Gill, and it's a peculiar merging of their two styles, psychedelic post punk from two different angles. On the BBC recording Gill's slightly atonal guitar leads the way on the song's introduction while Dwyer rolls around the tomtoms and Cope provides occasional bass, then the song kicks in with nicely melodic synth line from Balfe over a jumping bass line and Gill's frantic bursts of guitar chords, arpeggios and leads. Cope sings the verses over this, Gill chopping out harsh chords like shards of glass, before moving into the chorus which ends with the phrase "For years", then back to the melodic synth phrase and round we go again. There's a middle eight too which is pleasant before a few moments where Dwyer and Cope play together while Cope stretches out a little vocally, then the chorus repeats to fade with Cope scatting as the song disappears. 

That's how "For years" sounds, but a simple description doesn't catch the  not-quite-rightness of the song. The BBC session recording sounds oddly empty, half-formed and vague. The lyrics aren't clear enough to hear the imagery properly, there's some big holes in the arrangement where it feels like something is missing (trumpets, perhaps?) If anything it sounds like a first attempt at a new song. 

The one alternate recording of "For years" is from a gig in November 1980 towards the end of the "Daktari" tour. Cope announces it as "This is a song about a heart attack patient" which is baffling. The live version adds extra keyboard melodies during the second verse which fill the song out nicely. Gill's guitar sounds more like an electric sitar in places - especially when he plays runs of single notes - which feel like a link to "Passionate Friend". There's an instrumental section in the middle where the whole band get a bit of a groove going - Gill and Balfe playing against each other - and during this section you can almost hear "The culture bunker" forming somewhere in the distance. There's even a proper ending. The song was definitely improved in being played live and it's possible it would have translated nicely in the studio, but as far as I can tell it was never recorded beyond the BBC version. As such it remains a curiousity - one which got away. Sure it wouldn't have been a single but it would have been a cool album track on a 1981 Teardrops album had the band (a) recorded one in the early months of the year and (b) not imploded dramatically within a month or two of this radio session. The departure of Gill at the end of 1980 sealed this song's fate but curiously the other Cope / Gill song from this session would be more well known. 

UPDATE - There may actually be a studio recording of "For years"! I've mostly neglected the recent Cope's Notes #1 CD because I don't really regard it as an official part of the Teardrop Explodes canon. But listening to it the day after this post was published, it turns out that the track "Falklands War 1982" uses loops from "For years", and it's a different recording from the radio session - there's some chorus effect on the bass guitar, a tambourine played enthusiastically and it drops in and out - Cope drops it down to bass line, tambourine and synth melody at one point. So there may well be a studio recording of "For years" in the archive after all. Which begs the question "What else is in there?"

In late 1980 though the band was moving fast and "For years" was discarded, left to gather dust on crappy bootleg tapes until it was reissued in the 21st century. It's a nice reminder of what could have been and well worth a listen, especially if you can hear the live rendition from the "Daktari" tour.

* The sound of Gill's studio can be heard on the b-sides of Dalek I Love You's "Holiday in Disneyland" single - "Masks and licences" and "Heaven was bought for me" and they sound nothing like "For years"

** The mini albums "Buff Manila" and "Kirimanjaro" listed on the sleeves of the 2000s edition of the two Teardrops CDs don't exist either. So don't go looking for them.