Suffocate

Version one recorded October 15th 1980 for a Mike Read BBC Radio 1 session, broadcast 27th October 1980, available on "Kilimanjaro" 3CD

Julian Cope - bass, vocals

Dave Balfe (aka The Evil Wasp) - keyboards

Alan Gill (aka The Emotional Jungle) - guitar

Gary Dwyer (aka Rocky) - drums

Version two recorded Autumn 1980, available on "You disappear from view" 7" single, February 1983 and US edition of "Kilimanjaro".

Julian Cope - bass, vocals

Dave Balfe - keyboards

Alan Gill - guitar

Gary Dwyer - drums

Luke Tunney, Ted Emmett - trumpets

Version three recorded in late 1981 or 1982, available on "You disappear from view" 12 inch single, Feb 1983 and "The Greatest Hit" CD, 2000

Julian Cope - vocals

Nicky Holland - harpsichord, string arrangement 

Luke Tunney, Ted Emmett - trumpets

Dave Balfe - keyboards?

Written by Julian Cope

"Suffocate" marks a unique place in the tale of The Teardrop Explodes for it is the first song in their catalogue to be written entirely by Julian Cope. This is the start of his move to take control of the band, and the song itself shows a level of maturity and melancholy as yet unheard in the Teardrop catalogue. The fact that the song was barely issued during the band's lifetime - although it was recorded a number of times and played live consistently for almost two years - only adds to the puzzle. 

The first recording of "Suffocate" was made for the Mike Read session in the middle of October 1980. At this point the outline of the song is there but the musicianship hasn't quite matched the ambition of the song. Dwyer's repeated hihat during the quiet verses falters from time to time, the trumpets aren't quite right, Cope hasn't quite worked out the right notes to hit when singing. Again it's an interesting listen, a rough outline of what is to come.

The proper studio recording, made in the Autumn of 1980, tightens up the loose arrangements, adds extra space and drama and becomes one of the Teardrops' masterpieces. The tension is already present within the first ten seconds - the persistent bass drum and bass guitar riff, the piano and wobbling synth playing the same melody, Gill's angular guitar arpeggios and the rise and falling herald of the trumpets - even before Cope has sung a word the listener knows something is wrong. The opening stanza sets up the song perfectly.

"Love has come to this house

And my my, how we laughed

Love has gone from this house

But my my, how I cried..."

Cope's vocal shows a new level of control already, not strident but subtle and slightly heartbroken. 

Then the chorus kicks in and the band almost explode with sound - almost military snare hits and tom tom fills, a high register synth part in fifths repeating like a car alarm, Gill clanging chords loud and sharp, Cope's bass descending and ascending. And Cope exhorting at the top of his voice, 

"If I said I suffocate

High seas for us *

I said I can't count on you

You said 'come come'"

On the second "come" the song returns to the quiet unease of the verse, this time including a tape echo-d hihat pattern and Cope is again whispering sweet somethings into the listener's ear, while Gill fires off chord harmonics after the line "Hold that sight in my head" - now that's a moment. The second chorus crashes back in, and after that there's a brief instrumental break where parping trumpets play against angular guitar and strident drums before a backwards piano chord leads us to the third verse. The song stays strident now - there's a repeated piano chord, steadfastly refusing to move, the tremelo synth wobbles on the same chord, Cope's bass is more animated and Cope sings more intriguing lines

"I find diamonds inside

I take them out and hide them

Don't cast shadows on me

There's nothing left but this..."

But the most magical thing in this verse is Gill's guitar part. After the first two lines he plays a flurry of notes which sound utterly random yet make perfect sense in the song. For the final two lines he plays sharp choppy broken chords almost in the style of Gang Of Four's Andy Gill. Somehow the combination of all of these things - the guitar, the piano, the synth, the way Cope sings "Don't cast shadows on me" - it adds up to a perfect moment, leading into the last repeated chorus where more layers of overdubbed and overlapping backing vocals take over - Cope singing against himself over and over, and with the addition of trumpets too, it's almost too much to take. Then it all breaks down to a sad and solemn end, repeated bass, the opening synth / piano melody, echoing cymbal hits every four bars, the elements drift off into their own worlds, leaving one final cymbal echoing into nothingness.

I don't know, maybe it's just me, maybe I love this song too much to be objective about it. When I listen, I'm always transported into the song, it sounds like the middle of an argument without any kind of resolution, maybe cyclical - returning to how it all started after the same old same old lines. And I'm also transported back to my parents' living room on that warm Saturday in early May, having bought "You disappear from view" for 50p from Oxfam that morning, hearing it for the first time, thinking "This isn't what I expected, I wonder what the second disc's three songs sound like?" Yeah I'm too close to be objective. "Suffocate" is one of my favourite Teardrop Explodes songs. There you go. 

And yet "Suffocate" is a mystery. Why was it recorded at this point in the band's trajectory? What was the intention for the song? Somehow it was released on the American edition of "Kilimanjaro" but not in Britain or anywhere else. Why? Obviously Cope had a lot of affection for the song because it was immediately added to the live setlist and played by almost every incarnation of the band from late 1980 onwards. For some reason Cope usually introduced it live as "I suffocate". The live arrangement changed slightly - for example the 1981 band played the song slightly differently. After the first verse there's an instrumental break instead of the first chorus, which builds the tension for when the chorus does actually arrive. This break gave Cope enough time to get his guitar on. The third verse loses its strident attitude, staying in the low key mode of the early verses before the final chorus which is followed a variant on the original instrumental section before final repeats of the chorus. For the finale of the song, Cope strums an open chord on his guitar while Troy Tate (who is unusually muted during this song) will play a mournful guitar figure while the rest of the band maintain the solemn routine of the previous verses. Just as beautiful, just as sad. Still gorgeous. 

There's a very good version of "Suffocate" on the live video from August 1981 here. It's a great video to be honest and possibly the last concert performance of the Hammer / Agius line up of the band. There's also this fabulous version from the April 1982 Old Grey Whistle Test concert. God I adore Cope's cherry red 12 string Gibson. Note how Balfe is playing the keyboard part with a harpsichord sound. Remember that for later, ok?

So what was the aim of "Suffocate"? I remember reading somewhere that when the band were recording "Reward" it was originally planned as the b side to a song the producers (Langer and Winstanley) thought was "dreary". Was this "Suffocate"? And was it seriously considered as a single over "Reward" at this point? I doubt it. Clearly Cope held a lot of affection for the song which is why it stayed in the band's live catalogue for such a long time. Was the intention to place it on the second album? Unlikely really, the original intention for the second album was for it to be recorded by the Cope / Dwyer / Tate / Hammer / Agius lineup, and "Suffocate" was obviously recorded with Alan Gill. But there had been precedent - though Gill is on the cover of "Kilimanjaro" he isn't the main guitarist on the album. Maybe it would have been rerecorded by the five piece line up had they lasted long enough. Who knows?

So where does the "strings version" of "Suffocate" come from? Well that's a tale in itself, even if the exact details are vague. You see it's all about these three young ladies at the top of the blog post. These are - or were - the Ravishing Beauties and they had a few ties with the Teardrop Explodes. The band was formed around Virginia Astley - daughter of esteemed composer Ted Astley - who had issued her debut single on Why-Fi Records in 1981. Another artist signed to Why-Fi in 1981 was Troy Tate - erstwhile guitarist in the Teardrop Explodes. Indeed Tate's single "Lifeline" features Astley on backing vocals as well as Dave Balfe on keyboards. However Astley could not perform her classically inflected material live on her own, so the Ravishing Beauties** were formed around her. The two other members would be Nicky Holland and Kate St John, and they would support the Teardrops during their Club Zoo gigs and the Winter / Spring tour of 1982. They would also record a Peel session around this time before splitting up, all three members would continue within the music industry from then until now. 

But what's that got to do with "Suffocate"? Well this is where it gets interesting. In an interview with Record Mirror during the Club Zoo residency in Liverpool, Cope speaks about recording "Suffocate" for a forthcoming single, as well as another song "Log cabin". The article also mentions a forthcoming Teardrops gig at the Palais (Hammersmith I presume) which would be split into two sets - the second set being a "psychotically spontaneous" set, the first set being back by "The Screaming Beauties" (sic) - playing "prosaic ballads" like "Tiny Children" and "Suffocate" - "the next single which should be out some time this month". When the Teardrops did play Hammersmith Palais at the end of their UK tour in Winter 1982 there's no evidence of a "two sets" arrangement, so the prospect of Cope singing prosaic ballads with the Ravishing Beauties can only be imagined. But there's always "Suffocate"...

The "new version" of "Suffocate" - which appears on the 12 inch single of "You disappear from view" instead of the 1980 recording - credits Nicky Holland for the string arrangement and harpsichord. So was this recorded in 1981 for a possible single? It's hard to say really. The song's arrangement - in terms of verse - instrumental - verse - chorus etc - is exactly the same as the live version played by the Teardrops in 1981, and even includes the end guitar figure played on a solo violin to close the song. "Suffocate" works well with the string arrangement, Holland allows all the melodic elements to shine in different ways, and keeping the trumpets works well too. Cope gives a passionate vocal performance too - he's in full Scott Walker mode, riding the ebb and flow of the arrangement - his final "Come to me" before the final chorus is really pushing the emotions. There's some element of synths involved - were these played by Balfe? Note also how the 1982 live version has Balfe playing a harpsichord keyboard part - was this based on the new recording? The lack of tangible information is frustrating really. If this was recorded in late 81 why weren't the other two members of the Ravishing Beauties involved? The studio version of "Log cabin" issued on "Zoology" has Kate St John on oboe and Nicky Holland on cello, but features the three piece final Teardrops lineup so seems to date from the aborted 3rd album sessions. So was the new version of "Suffocate" recorded then? And how come the song was chosen for the b side of the final single? Who actually picked the songs for the "You disappear from view" package and why swap the 1980 recording with the new version for the 12 inch EP? Even when it comes to digital "Suffocate" is confusing - on the "Wilder" 2CD reissue from 2013 the 1980 version is included and listed as "New version", while the real "new version" is only available on "The Greatest Hit" compilation from 2000, where it is subtitled "Previously Unreleased Strings". So why this mix up?

So many questions...

I suppose it's only fair there are questions around "Suffocate". It's a beautiful and mysterious song. It shows Cope is more than capable of writing great songs on his own without input from other band members. It also shows a maturity in content, arrangement and musicianship compared to the "Kilimanjaro" era. And more importantly it is the first real sign of a melancholy bent in Cope's songwriting which will be developed during the rest of the career of the Teardrop Explodes and beyond. "Suffocate" points the way towards "Tiny Children", "And the fighting takes over" and the tortured ballads on Cope's early solo albums. It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma, a song played consistently in concert to thousands of fans which was only released after the band broke up, a song recorded twice - a possible single - but not issued during the band's lifetime, a heartbreaking yet defiant song with no resolution, an absolute gem of a song. "Suffocate" should be loved and cherished by fans and non-fans alike. 

I hope I've done it justice.

* A lot of lyric websites say this line is "I see stars" but I've always heard it as "High seas for us". I'm happy to be proved wrong.

** The Ravishing Beauties were meant to be called the Raving Beauties but Bill Drummond misheard their name and they stopped raving and became ravishing.