I'M ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK, CHOPPING OFF MY STOPPING THOUGHTS

A mate of mine at University thought that the lyrics penned and sung by Ian McCulloch in mid 80s Echo & The Bunnymen were both hugely profound and philosophical to the point that he tried to incorporate whole chunks of them in various essays.

I wonder what he thinks of the 'poetry' nowadays:-

I'm on the chopping block
Chopping off my stopping thoughts
Self doubt and selfism
Were the cheapest things
I ever bought

When you say it's love
D'you mean the back of love
We`re taken advantage of
Breaking the back of love
We`re taking advantage of
Breaking the back of love

Easier said than done you said
But it`s more difficult to say
With eyes bigger than our bellies
We want to
But we can't look away
What were you thinking of
When you dreamt that up
What were you thinking of
When you dreamt that up

When you're surrounded by
a simple chain of events
Eventually
You'll shack those shackles off

We can't tell our left from right
But we know we love extremes
Getting to grips with the ups and downs
Because there's nothing in between
When you say that's love
D'you mean the back of love

When you say it's love
D'you mean the back of love?
We're taken advantage of
Breaking the back of love
We're taking advantage of
Breaking the back of love

What were you thinking of
When you dreamt that up

We're taking advantage of
We're breaking the back of love
Breaking the back of love

No matter the lyrical nonsense, there's no denying that it's a cracker of a tune that has proven quite timeless. Its still as fresh and dynamic today almost 29 years after it was first released.

mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - The Back Of Love

It gave the band their first mainstream chart success, reaching #19 in May 1982. Here's the two excellent songs that featured on the 12" version of the single:-

mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - The Subject
mp3 : Echo & The Bunnymen - Fuel

Incidentally, the painting on the sleeve is by the 19th Century British artist Henry Scott Tuke. The painting is called The Promise, which is not too dissimilar to that of the band's previous single.......

Here's footage of a very interesting appearance on Top Of The Pops:-



Shoulder-shaking on stilts......now that's impressive!!!