Wearing out your shoes
The Raincoats – Running Away / No One's Little GirlRough Trade – RT093Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, UK, Jul 1982
By 1982, punk had helped opened doors for things that would be much more interesting than four white guys making rock and roll fast again. I guess that's part of the story: punk never was all white, definitely not just for boys, and (after that initial burst onto the scene anyway) wasn't always even very rock and roll.
Cue the Raincoats. All women (except when they weren't quite), punk-ish... but less so with each recording. Violins, melodies, feminist, art, reggae and more were thrown in the mix leaving a short string of records that I think are among of the best arguments that some wonderful things came out of punk rock for those who might be skeptical.
The Raincoats had already pounded out two albums in about 2 years' time when this single came out. The band shows off a new level of confidence and... funkiness? One side features their take on Sly & The Family Stone's Runnin' Away. Their more experimental side steps a little more forward on the flip, an original, No One's Little Girl. The strange violin melody is shockingly catchy and the bass sound just kills me on this one (recorded in the same studio as many an early On-U track, something was going on right there!).
The simple, sing song lyrics are memorable and effective with their message on the empowerment in saying "no." I love this record.
Not sure who's playing drums on this one, credited only to "Tom Tom," but they get done nice moments in as well. Trumpet and flugelhorn were contributed by the great British/Caribbean jazz artist Harry Beckett... Not a novelty attempt at being funky by some white rockers, this is just good. Definitely the best post-punk feminist art-funk single that you'll listen to today... I mean, right?
The Raincoats didn't last much longer in their original run, but they remained influential and have occasionally popped back into activity. My wife and I actually got a chance to see them in 2011 when they finally made it to Chicago for the first time, 30 years late, but still pretty great. Third Man Records recently released Feminist Song, a solo single by Gina Birch (backed by fellow Raincoat Ana Da Silva) and cool kids around the world seem to still be picking up on their style and getting influenced by their music (here's a recent mix from Da Silva and an interview). It's nice to see them still active and making some noise.
Enjoy!
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Tracklist
A Running Away
B No One's Little Girl
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I'm gonna turn you down in FLAC (Download zip file):
'Cause I don't wanna be MP3 (stream or download):
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