Frivolous Tonight

(Moulding)

#\#i#/#Apple Venus Volume 1#\#/i#/#

Apple Venus Volume 1

 Recordings
XTCfans interview with Colin Moulding
Art
Annotated Lyrics
Chords and Tablature
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Recordings

  1. Album version, 3'10.
    Released on Apple Venus Volume 1.

  2. Demo version.
    Released on 27 September 1999 on Homespun in the U.K.

    Colin: “Our ex-manager thought it reminded him of the theme from Steptoe and Son, a dangerous thing to say for a manager whose contract is coming up for renewal, but Steptoe's Theme is alright by me and I sort of see what he meant, Music Hall always lurking in my writing. Perhaps it's too many nights spent in working men's clubs watching my parents dance the gay Gordons, where usually at the end of the night my father was invited to get up and sing a melancholy ballad with too much vibrato, or just as bewildering, the family ritual of watching ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’ on our 22 inch TV set, for me, usually in my pyjamas, viewed upside down, on the settee. It all sinks in and I am acutely aware of the songs' old fashioned-ness, so much so that I had a dream where I was doing a duet on ‘Michael Barrymore's Big Night Out’ exchanging the occasional line with Barrymore and both of us joining in on the chorus, kicking our legs out and clutching hat and cane. Rhythmically I was anxious to avoid the ‘Flanagan and Allen lope’ in favour of the ‘Good-day Sunshine tromp’ but usually turns out to be the very thing what people like about it, artists being too close to their art so to speak. But still Andy hasn't accused me of writing ‘Granny Music’ yet, at least not to my face and I won't ask him to put on the ‘Penguin Suit’ for our ‘routine’ in some future promotional film or video, but you never know it might simply be a case of ‘Gracie Fields Forever’.”

  3. Instrumental version.
    Released on 17 October 2002 on Instruvenus in Japan.

[Thanks to R. Stevie Moore]

Art

[THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

Lyrics

Notes

Brian Hancill: “Rael Brook refers to a brand of shirt more popular in the 1970s than now. They come wrapped in cellophane in a fancy box and spiked with more than a dozen round-headed pins. They usually contain rather more ‘poly’ than cotton in the fabric and are consequently not very comfortable. To a Brit of my age (around the same as Colin) this line paints a mocking but affectionate picture of a buttoned-up middle-management type of guy with lousy taste in office wear.”

Let us talk about some trivial things we like
A bit of this and that
Let's chew the fat

Pour ourselves a glass of stout
And let our Rael Brook shirts hang out
Nothing makes us more content
To let us wallow in a bit of nonsense

We're all so frivolous tonight, tonight

Let's reveal our childlike nature
And leave our stocks and invoices to rot
Let's go to pot

Tell our jokes about mothers in law
But watch him jump when she comes through the door
O the party goes with a swing
When we talk about the trivial things

We're all so frivolous tonight

But there's always one
Who wants to talk shop
We'll drive him through the door
With a broom or a mop

Let us tell our favourite story
About some poor chap who put it on display
Hip hooray
And let the girls gather in their slacks
To talk about husbands hairy backs

Some might think we're a bit of a shower
But this could be our finest hour

We're all so frivolous tonight, tonight
We're all so ridiculous tonight

© 1998 Copyright Control

Chords and Tablature

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 01:04:59 EST
From: Kevin Brunkhorst <KB305 (at) aol dot com>
Subject: chords for Frivolous Tonight
Message-ID: <6da3ecab.36e75d0b (at) aol dot com>


Frivolous Tonight

(Moulding)

E            E/D#              E/C#
Let us talk about some trivial things we like
  E/B             Dmaj7/F#
A bit of this and that
      F#7susc  F#7
Let's chew the fat
Dmaj7#11
Pour ourselves a glass of stout
Amaj7
And let our Rael Brook shirts hang out
E                F#
Nothing makes us more content
Dmaj7                 Amaj7
To let us wallow in a bit of nonsense

      C#m7   F#7       Amaj7    E
We're all so frivolous tonight, tonight

Let's reveal our childlike nature
And leave our stocks and invoices to rot
Let's go to pot
Tell our jokes about mothers in law
But watch him jump when she comes through the door
O the party goes with a swing
When we talk about the trivial things
We're all so frivolous tonight

    C#m7
But there's always one
                  D9
Who wants to talk shop
      C#m7                  C#m/B
We'll drive him through the door
                  F#/A#
With a broom or a mop
Amaj7
....

Let us tell our favourite story
About some poor chap who put it on display
Hip hooray
And let the girls gather in their slacks
To talk about husbands hairy backs

Some might think we're a bit of a shower
But this could be our finest hour

      C#m    F#7       Amaj7    F#7sus
We're all so frivolous tonight, tonight
      Dmaj7               E    F#7  Am6   E6
We're all so ridiculous tonight
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 00:34:38 +0000
From: Tim Harris <wordsrus (at) wordsrus dot demon dot co dot uk>
Subject: chords for Frivolous Tonight - what else!
Message-ID: <+JfUdGAe2z12Ew$c (at) wordsrus dot demon dot co dot uk>


Frivolous Tonight

try to get this out of your head! - Kinky
bit more work on the scale bass notes maybe

F    F/E      C      C/Bb
F            F/E               Dm
Let us talk about some trivial things we like
  Dm/C            Eb    /D  /C /Bb
A bit of this and that
      Dm   Dm7 G7
Let's chew the fat
Eb
Pour ourselves a glass of stout
    Bb                                 (twiddle of Bbsus4!)
And let our railbrook shirts hang out
F                G
Nothing makes us more content
   Bb                    (Bb/G)
To let us wallow in a bit of nonsense
      F      G           Bb    (/A /G /A)       F
We're all so frivolous tonight,               tonight

Let's reveal our childlike nature

And leave our stocks and invoices to rot

Let's go to pot

Tell our jokes about mothers in law

But watch him jump when she comes through the door

Oh the party goes with a swing

When we talk about the trivial things
                         Bb     /A /G /F
We're all so frivolous tonight
    Dm
But there's always one
                  Eb7
Who wants to talk shop
      Dm
We'll drive him through the door
                  G    G7 G6 G    Bb  /A /G /F
With a broom or a mop

Let us tell our favourite story

'bout some poor chap who put it on display

Hip hooray

And let the girls gather in their slacks

To talk about husbands' hairy backs

Some might think we're a bit of a shower

But this could be our finest hour
      F      G           Bb      /A /G /F     (notesABD/A?)  G G/F G/D
We're all so frivolous tonight,               tonight
      F        G        Bbm F     G   Bb Bbm F6
We're all so ridiculous to--night

--
Tim Harris
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 16:08:40 EST
From: KingJeffe (at) aol dot com
Subject: Chords to Frivolous Tonight
Message-ID: <5750b86.36d5bbd8 (at) aol dot com>


Frivolous Tonight (by Colin Moulding)
XTC from Apple Venus Vol.1
transcribed by Jeffrey Fariello (kingjeffe (at) aol dot com)


CHORDS:
****************************************************************************
E  E(Eb bass) E(B bass)  B   B7  C#min  C#min7  F#7  D  Dsus2  A(Db bass) A
X     X          0       7    7    4      4      2   2    0       X       X
9     9          0       7    7    5      5      2   3    3       2       2
9     9          1       8    8    6      4      3   2    2       2       2
9     9          2       9    7    6      6      2   0    0       2       2
7     6          2       9    9    4      4      4   0    0       4       0
X     X          X       7    7    X      X      2   X    X       X       X
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
E(open)  E6  Asus4(Db bass)  Asus4  Asus2  D7(F# bass)  F#7sus4   F#min7b5
  0      0        X            X      X         2          2          0
  0      2        3            3      0         1          2          1
  1      1        2            2      2         2          4          2
  2      2        2            2      2         0          2          2
  2      2        4            0      0         0          4          X
  0      0        X            X      X         2          2          2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro chords: E - E(Eb bass) - B - B7

E            E(Eb bass)        C#min             E(B bass)       D
Let us talk about some trivial things we like, a bit of this and that

      C#min7   F#7        Dsus2
Let's chew the fat... and pour ourselves a glass of stout

    A(Db bass)                    A(Db bass)-Asus4(Db bass)..repeat 4 times
And let our railbrook shirts hang out

E(open)          F#7sus4-F#7      D                  Asus4-A-Asus2-A
Nothing makes us more content, to let us wallow in a bit  of nonsense

      C#min-C#min7  F#7       Asus2-A-Amaj7-A6    E       E7-E6
We're all   so      frivolous tonight,            tonight

E                E(Eb bass)           C#min              E(B bass)     D
Let's reveal our childlike nature and leave our stocks and invoices to rot

      C#min7  F#7  Dsus2
Let's go to pot... tell our jokes about mothers in law

    A(Db bass)                    A(Db bass)-Asus4(Db bass)..repeat 4 times
But watch him jump when she comes through the door

E(open)     F#7sus4-F#7        D                      Asus4-A-Asus2-A
O the party goes with a swing, when we talk about the trivial  things

      C#min-C#min7  F#7         Asus2-A-Amaj7-A6
We're all   so      frivolous tonight...

    C#min              C#min7            D7(F# bass)
But there's always one who wants to talk shop

    C#min                      C#min7               F#7   Asus2-A-Amaj7-A6
We'll drive him through the door with a broom and a mop...ooohhh

E               E(Eb bass)           C#min              E(B bass)    D
Let us tell our favorite story about some poor chap who put it on display

C#min7  F#7   Dsus2
Hip-hooray,   and let the girls gather in their slacks

   A(Db bass)                    A(Db bass)-Asus4(Db bass)..repeat 4 times
To talk about husband's hairy backs

E(open)                  F#7sus4-F#7       D                 Asus4-A-Asus2-A
Some might think we're a bit overshot, but this could be our finest hour

      C#min-C#min7  F#7       Asus2-A-Amaj7-A6    F#7sus4-F#7
We're all   so      frivolous tonight,            tonight

      D                   E - F#7 - F#min7b5 - E6
We're all so ridiculous tonight..................
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