The Grace of MACHINE

**remicks** · February 4th, 2006, 12:17 AM

**********

Machine's album was one of the bazillions that got lost in the inundation of releases of 1979.

Too bad . It's really a well-constructed , musician-oriented album .... lots of organ and metalish Isley Brothers guitar wails and funky bass guitar ….. sort of Foxy meets the Gap Band on such cuts as "YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY BABY " .. and the wonderful cut MARISA just needed one more studio mixing to have brought it to the dancefloor .... and could have been subtitled ( "WITH LOVE TO BOHANNON " )---- all this with the reminiscent bangs and clangs of the Original Savannah Band since its August Darnel produced ( he wrote lyrics on three songs as well )

OK two questions

The album's cover features a very sexy female leg on a motorcycle and goes out of its way to focus on her wearing of an ankle bracelet baring the name " CARMEN VIDAL " . ( viewed even closer on the backside) :-?
Then the storyline of THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I " is about the rearing of a child by a couple named Carlos and .... Carmen Vidal .....

Who's Carmen Vidal ? :-?

then question two :

As found at more than one lyrics site , here are the lyrics to

THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I

Carlos and Carmen Vidal just had a child
A lovely girl with a crooked smile
Now they gotta split 'cause the Bronx ain't fit
For a kid to grow up in
Let's find a place they say, somewhere far away
With no blacks, no Jews and no gays

Chorus:
There but for the grace of God go I

Poppy and the family left the dirty streets
To find a quiet place overseas
And year after year the kid has to hear
The do's the don'ts and the dears
And when she's ten years old she digs that rock 'n' roll
But Poppy bans it from home

Chorus

Baby, she turns out to be a natural freak
Popping pills and smoking weed
And when she's sweet sixteen she packs her things and leaves
With a man she met on the street
Carmen starts to bawl, bangs her head to the wall
Too much love is worse than none at all

That line in blue is heard on the album as :

Gaining weight and losing sleep

Maybe the 12" version has the line about pills and weed?
...or the song's lyrics were changed along the way ? ..... :-?

???

*****

**paul** · February 4th, 2006, 04:08 AM

Gaining weight and losing sleep is the only way I remember the lyrics.

**BrunoRepublic** · February 4th, 2006, 11:43 AM

I have Canadian copies of both the 12" and the LP, and both have the "gaining weight and losing sleep" line. However, the LP came with an insert with the lyrics, which shows it as "popping pills and smoking weed". Sounds to me like they had to change it at the last minute. Likewise, there is a later version which changes the line "with no blacks, no jews, and no gays". Apparently, a lot of people took that line out of context...

BTW, "Marisa" was released as a 12" single, US cat# PD-11707. Time listed is a few seconds longer than the LP, but I'm not sure what the differences are (if any)./

**remicks** · February 5th, 2006, 01:38 PM

*****

Thanks Paul and Graham,

I pulled out the inner sleeve , Graham.... and sure enough the album's own lyrics sheet has the line :

Popping pills and smoking weed

which is a better one than

Gaining weight and losing sleep

they should have left it alone .....

Added bonus :

In reviewing the rest of the credits I see the guest voice on MARISA was Chic's Norma Jean :D

*****

**jam master jay** · February 5th, 2006, 02:20 PM

I remember the "popping pills and smoking weed" lyric, but only vaguely. I think they changed that one earlier than they changed the second line about blacks, Jews, and gays. Shows how groundbreaking this song was back in 1979.

I hope someone can answer the Carmen Vidal question - I have wondered about that for years! I always figured it was just a fictional name.

**famdam** · February 5th, 2006, 07:48 PM

i think Carmen Vidal was fictional too. but you if you really want to know straight from the horse's mouth maybe you could ask the webmaster at Kidcreole.com since Augustino Darnelli(aka Kid Creole) co-wrote and produced it.

**thommy2458** · February 5th, 2006, 08:48 PM

I need to revisit this Lp,remicks-i do remember
I liked Marissa.A cut I've come
to love in the last few years
is the 12" "Is It In"-I'm not
sure what LP this cut came from though-
how many LP's did Machine have?
Thom

**Disco Funk** · February 6th, 2006, 08:32 AM

Is the censored radio version available on CD? I've only ever heard the version with the 'no blacks, no jews, no gays' version.

Disco Funk

**tehuti** · February 6th, 2006, 05:53 PM

Originally Written by Disco Funk

Is the censored radio version available on CD? I've only ever heard the version with the 'no blacks, no jews, no gays' version.

Disco Funk

I believe the edited version is available on a CD, but I'm not sure which one. The revised line was "where only upper class people stay".

**tehuti** · February 6th, 2006, 06:14 PM

Originally Written by tehuti

Originally Written by Disco Funk

Is the censored radio version available on CD? I've only ever heard the version with the 'no blacks, no jews, no gays' version.

Disco Funk

I believe the edited version is available on a CD, but I'm not sure which one. The revised line was "where only upper class people stay".

Interestingly, I just checked the version that I have on my iPod and realize that I also have a Calypso style version done by Kid Creole. It's from the re-mastered CD "Off the Coast of Me". This version has the line "where only upper class people stay" and also "popping pills and smoking weed".