In My Life - Soldier Boy

CMJ New Music Report
September 14, 2000
(c) CMJ

It's hard to believe that the author of a peacenik line like, "Generals and majors always seems so unhappy/Unless they got a war" keeps a stockpile of 3,000-plus toy soldiers in his attic. Yet XTC's skittish songwriter Andy Partridge harbors a soft spot for cast iron generals and majors with a pint-sized appetite for destruction. For nostalgic reason, the machismo-mocking pop troubadour prefers the mid-20th century mass-produced toy infantrymen he deployed as a child, as well as late-1800's German models with doll-like faces and lumpen features that cost about $30 each. "It's still cheaper than a cocaine habit," reason Partridge, whose recently released Wasp Star (TVT) ripples with similar dry English wit. Since Partridge can't draft troops very quickly at $30 a head, he also sculpts them out of epoxy and occasionally gets on his elbows and knees for carpet combat. The relatively innocent pastime keeps XTC's frontman in touch with the "big kid" inside him--it's not only a driving force behind his songwriting, but a defense mechanism. "The big kid protects me because I don't trust anyone and I think people are there to fuck you over. It's something my psychoanalyst is trying to unravel for me. I hope he doesn't kill the big kid off, though, he's been very useful." -- Neil Gladstone

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