The meaning behind the song was particularly dark, considering the band's previous material. Primarily written by Lee Thompson, sax player), the plot of the song reflected the unfolding turmoil following the news that his teenage sister, Tracy, had become pregnant and was carrying a black man's child. The subsequent rejection by her family, and the shame felt, was reflected in the song. As Thompson was on the road with the band, he only heard snippets of the story, through phone calls and letters, but this was enough for him to piece the story together. The song is a clear indication of changing attitudes. The real-life story had a happy ending, however; Thompson later stated that when the child named "Hayley" was born, the antipathy of Tracy's relatives dissolved.
1980. My friend had come out to me as gay. He had a boyfriend, which was illegal in the UK. A gay man couldn't have relations until age 21. while the rest of us the age was 16. This song felt so relevant to the gay community, even if it wasn't written about them, it felt like it was. This is my favourite Madness song
A few years ago I was honoured to see and have a chat with Suggs, Lisa Stansfield and Terry Christian in my then local pub in Great Titchfield St. Had a brilliant afternoon talking music and got some of my vinyl signed by them too! Thanks for a great song and keep up the good work!!!!!
This song is about the turmoil that engulfed Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson's sister Tracy, after she fell pregnant by a black man. The lyrics express the shame felt throughout the family of having a mixed race baby, an attitude sadly still prevalent in early 1980s Britain.
Madness really good at combining upbeat music with serious topics. Another example worth checking out is The Sun and the Rain - written about homelessness
One Better Day ~ 'Walking around you sometimes, hear the sunshine, beating down in time with the rhythm of your shoes'. A song about community cohesion, alienation, homelessness and community resources being sold for privatisation. As a side note: The bag lady in the video for One Better Day, is Graham McPherson (Suggs) wife Bette Bright.
You really need to see their videos, they add to the fun no end. Baggy Trousers, House Of Fun, Our House, One Step Beyond, It Must Be Love .. there's loads, & they're all good.
Astonishing lyrics about sign of the Times meaning at the end your an embarrassment directed at the famiky reaction. Very brave to release but very successful song one of their best
First off...thank you guys for covering Madness!!! Its very interesting to see how our friends from over the pond react to this music!. Secondly, regarding the meaning of the song!..One of the band (Lee Thompson) Sister birthed a mixed race child and the stigma that surrounded this birth inspired this song. So yep...you are right.
It's amazing that the same band that could put such an uplifting dancable tune to such sad lyrics as 'Embarrassment' could also create such a sinister sounding tune as 'Take it or leave it', which actually has a positive message. Edit. Btw, this is the baby. ruclips.net/video/xMQU5btgw78/видео.html
i am a massive madness fan so i know who wrote it and what it is about. i love this family listening and trying to enjoy the song. she just loves the sax and everthing musical that she forgot the words that were said. the same as what i did for 10 yreas. so glad you try to enjoy the music i love. big thumbs up { ps look up the small doc about the song, i think you'd love it}
Have you heard "Grey day" by Madness ? It's more dub/reggae than ska and has downbeat lyrics which showed that Madness were quite capable of dealing with serious subjects. Highly recommended.
Interracial relationships in the UK did not generally do down well back in the 1970's & 1980's. Even black police officers in the Met were often called the n word & other insults by their colleagues driving past, while they were walking the beat. Lot better nowadays, but it is still around to a much lesser extent.
Sorry mate but that's utter bollocks. For a start, the N-word was never the slur of the UK, it would virtually always be 'wog', why you feel compelled to lie I don't know...
I know this is a year later but if you watch a video titled Lee Thompson : Embarrassment on RUclips, it explains it all perfectly and features Lee and his family. I won't link it because replies with links tend to get zapped.
Just found you and subbed 👍 two suggestions stereophonics 'maybe tomorrow'. And the second Rick Astley! You probably have a preconception of him, but that will all change listing to 'keep singing'. Many thanks and good luck with the channel 👍👍
@@hanierfamily honesty it will change anyone's mind about him and the 80's stigma of him, his range and depth of voice, and this song in particular will make anyone sit up! Thanks for a swift reply!👍👍
I'm interested to see your reaction Jane Sibery's ''An Angel Stepped Down (And Slowly Looked Around). She's Canadian and she got some attention in the early 90's. The video (please watch the video and not an album cover) kinda flipped me out when I used to see it play on TV. There are bare chested women (just to warn you) in the video clip, but I think it's for artist effect.... I know a lot of Canadian music.
I'm white as snow apart from the red and green Punk Rock ink all over the place my three boy's are dark coffee coloured Mum is a dark skinned Maori Lady. And the thought of someone hurting my boy's because of the colour of their SKIN makes me MAD AS HELL if someone tried that shit on my boy's they better have medical insurance
I think it was more a fear of "what people will think" than anything else. White working class culture was very conservative ( with a small c) in the 1970's
Funny that originally they were seen more as a skinhead band when they first started with their doc Martins, shaved heads, Fred Perry tops, jeans and braces rather than SKA as they had no black members in the group...
They didn't compete. It was tge opposite. The members of Madness were HUGE fans of The Specials (in the early North London Days) and were inspired and influenced by them. Suggs said so in an interview. Madness were more than pleased to be accepted into the two-tone Records family (created by Jerry Dammers of The Specials). After exhausting the ska angle they decided to go towards a more pop direction.
@@hanierfamily You'll have no issues with 80's videos, you really should delve into the 80's such a fantastic time for music, so many great bands all with their own style / sound. INXS 'Listen like Thieves' / DEACON BLUE 'Real Gone Kid' / TALK TALK 'Life's What You Make it' will give you an idea of what I mean. Take a listen even if you don't do a reaction video, the 80's are a true Rabbit Hole for music fans.
@@hanierfamily This isn't a link for the music video. That doesn't contain any imagery of the story. Probably thought it would be a bit much for UK television. It is a small 4 minute interview with the Sax player Lee, his sister Tracy and the person who the song is about. His niece Hayley.
You're taking a 2022 attitude to an song written over 40 years ago! The parents weren't "racist",prejudiced,yes. But that was a different non woke time when not everyone was comfortable with races being mixed. BTW.as a Madness fan at the time no cared or knew what the lyrics meant then.
Canada becoming even more multi-cultural than the UK I don't think is anything to celebrate. The same problems we have here will be multiplied with your open-door policy by 10.
That's not something I usually worry about when I choose to subscribe or not, but to each his own. Also, I don't know what that means in reality. Thanks for watching.
The meaning behind the song was particularly dark, considering the band's previous material. Primarily written by Lee Thompson, sax player), the plot of the song reflected the unfolding turmoil following the news that his teenage sister, Tracy, had become pregnant and was carrying a black man's child. The subsequent rejection by her family, and the shame felt, was reflected in the song.
As Thompson was on the road with the band, he only heard snippets of the story, through phone calls and letters, but this was enough for him to piece the story together. The song is a clear indication of changing attitudes. The real-life story had a happy ending, however; Thompson later stated that when the child named "Hayley" was born, the antipathy of Tracy's relatives dissolved.
It really is a beautifully, tragic song.. Love madness.
Thanks for the update to the story. Good to hear :)
1980. My friend had come out to me as gay. He had a boyfriend, which was illegal in the UK. A gay man couldn't have relations until age 21. while the rest of us the age was 16. This song felt so relevant to the gay community, even if it wasn't written about them, it felt like it was. This is my favourite Madness song
@@joemack1965 being gay wasnt illigal in 1980
this song is in my all time top ten,it becomes more poignant when you find out what it is about
Favourite madness song. Magic.
A few years ago I was honoured to see and have a chat with Suggs, Lisa Stansfield and Terry Christian in my then local pub in Great Titchfield St.
Had a brilliant afternoon talking music and got some of my vinyl signed by them too!
Thanks for a great song and keep up the good work!!!!!
This song is about the turmoil that engulfed Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson's sister Tracy, after she fell pregnant by a black man. The lyrics express the shame felt throughout the family of having a mixed race baby, an attitude sadly still prevalent in early 1980s Britain.
One of their best songs.
Those instrumental passages are stellar!
Madness really good at combining upbeat music with serious topics. Another example worth checking out is The Sun and the Rain - written about homelessness
One Better Day ~ 'Walking around you sometimes, hear the sunshine, beating down in time with the rhythm of your shoes'. A song about community cohesion, alienation, homelessness and community resources being sold for privatisation. As a side note: The bag lady in the video for One Better Day, is Graham McPherson (Suggs) wife Bette Bright.
A great song from my youth, we all knew each and every word.
You really need to see their videos, they add to the fun no end. Baggy Trousers, House Of Fun, Our House, One Step Beyond, It Must Be Love .. there's loads, & they're all good.
This is one of their best songs. Quite dark lyrics!
Astonishing lyrics about sign of the Times meaning at the end your an embarrassment directed at the famiky reaction.
Very brave to release but very successful song one of their best
First off...thank you guys for covering Madness!!! Its very interesting to see how our friends from over the pond react to this music!. Secondly, regarding the meaning of the song!..One of the band (Lee Thompson) Sister birthed a mixed race child and the stigma that surrounded this birth inspired this song. So yep...you are right.
I've been dancing to this since I was five when it came out and never heard the words. Danmmmm!!!
It's amazing that the same band that could put such an uplifting dancable tune to such sad lyrics as 'Embarrassment' could also create such a sinister sounding tune as 'Take it or leave it', which actually has a positive message.
Edit.
Btw, this is the baby. ruclips.net/video/xMQU5btgw78/видео.html
i am a massive madness fan so i know who wrote it and what it is about. i love this family listening and trying to enjoy the song. she just loves the sax and everthing musical that she forgot the words that were said. the same as what i did for 10 yreas. so glad you try to enjoy the music i love. big thumbs up { ps look up the small doc about the song, i think you'd love it}
Have you heard "Grey day" by Madness ? It's more dub/reggae than ska and has downbeat lyrics which showed that Madness were quite capable of dealing with serious subjects. Highly recommended.
One of their best! Love these guys.
Madness made lots of serious songs on upbeat music. Especially on Absolutely and 7.
Interracial relationships in the UK did not generally do down well back in the 1970's & 1980's. Even black police officers in the Met were often called the n word & other insults by their colleagues driving past, while they were walking the beat. Lot better nowadays, but it is still around to a much lesser extent.
The Met are a shitshow
Lies.....
Sorry mate but that's utter bollocks. For a start, the N-word was never the slur of the UK, it would virtually always be 'wog', why you feel compelled to lie I don't know...
The music video for this awesome song by madness is amazing
Along with NW5 (well worth a listen by the way), this is my all time favourite Madness track.
I know this is a year later but if you watch a video titled Lee Thompson : Embarrassment on RUclips, it explains it all perfectly and features Lee and his family. I won't link it because replies with links tend to get zapped.
Just found you and subbed 👍 two suggestions stereophonics 'maybe tomorrow'. And the second Rick Astley! You probably have a preconception of him, but that will all change listing to 'keep singing'. Many thanks and good luck with the channel 👍👍
To be honest, we don't know more than Rick's 80's hits but, we could always hear he was musically inclined. It would be interesting to hear more.
@@hanierfamily honesty it will change anyone's mind about him and the 80's stigma of him, his range and depth of voice, and this song in particular will make anyone sit up! Thanks for a swift reply!👍👍
@@hanierfamily but don't underestimate the stereophonics maybe tomorrow, that song/video puts everything else in the shade lol
My favourite Madness song that doesnt get played enough on the radio compared to Our House or It Must Be Love .
My brother is a huge fan of Madness and many moons ago used to sing this and point at me! 😀
It was meant out of love, I'm sure. :)
haha touche
I'm interested to see your reaction Jane Sibery's ''An Angel Stepped Down (And Slowly Looked Around). She's Canadian and she got some attention in the early 90's. The video (please watch the video and not an album cover) kinda flipped me out when I used to see it play on TV. There are bare chested women (just to warn you) in the video clip, but I think it's for artist effect.... I know a lot of Canadian music.
I'm white as snow apart from the red and green Punk Rock ink all over the place my three boy's are dark coffee coloured Mum is a dark skinned Maori Lady. And the thought of someone hurting my boy's because of the colour of their SKIN makes me MAD AS HELL if someone tried that shit on my boy's they better have medical insurance
Back in 1979 a mixed race baby was not the done thing. Of course now it's totally different.
I think it was more a fear of "what people will think" than anything else. White working class culture was very conservative ( with a small c) in the 1970's
Funny that originally they were seen more as a skinhead band when they first started with their doc Martins, shaved heads, Fred Perry tops, jeans and braces rather than SKA as they had no black members in the group...
Skinheads were originally white kids who were into ska and reggae, bad manners were the same.
Hello , thanks for reacting to my request. If you ever delve into disco check out Spacer by Sheila b devotion. A classic disco. Cheers! ,
Ska,brought different ethnicities together,one of the first genres of music to heavily include black,white and any other colour together 👍🎼🎵🎵🎶🎶❤️
Hate to break it to you....that kidnapped child you had in the boxes escaped while you were busy talking....
LOL
As a 2 tone band suggs and Co addressing all the issues in song. 🎉😂
They do take it serious.
11 piece SKA band from Auckland Aotearoa new zealand THE MANAGER'S song to check out.... THAT WAS MY MISTAKE,👍✌️☮️
They were in competition with the Specials around SKA, till Madness kind of went their own way...
They didn't compete. It was tge opposite. The members of Madness were HUGE fans of The Specials (in the early North London Days) and were inspired and influenced by them. Suggs said so in an interview. Madness were more than pleased to be accepted into the two-tone Records family (created by Jerry Dammers of The Specials). After exhausting the ska angle they decided to go towards a more pop direction.
Can't wait for my 3 requests
Mister Clean by the Jam please
do you know tenpole tudor
is that a song, or band, or artist?
@@hanierfamily a band
The song is swords of a thousands men
Also the damned - eloise
read the lyrics, as obviously our accentisnt easy for americans to understand, and it was in 80's so many people had these views and still do
we're Canadians and hopefully we are getting better at this now
Rat race by the specials please
if you get a chance you should try to watch the videos they are amusing
People keep telling us that. I do worry about 80's sound quality in the videos, however.
@@hanierfamily You'll have no issues with 80's videos, you really should delve into the 80's such a fantastic time for music, so many great bands all with their own style / sound. INXS 'Listen like Thieves' / DEACON BLUE 'Real Gone Kid' / TALK TALK 'Life's What You Make it' will give you an idea of what I mean. Take a listen even if you don't do a reaction video, the 80's are a true Rabbit Hole for music fans.
There is a small video to give you some background on this song. It all turned out well in the end.
ruclips.net/video/xMQU5btgw78/видео.html
We should have done the music video for this one. Madness usually has great ones. I guess a revisit is in order.
@@hanierfamily This isn't a link for the music video. That doesn't contain any imagery of the story. Probably thought it would be a bit much for UK television. It is a small 4 minute interview with the Sax player Lee, his sister Tracy and the person who the song is about. His niece Hayley.
You're taking a 2022 attitude to an song written over 40 years ago! The parents weren't "racist",prejudiced,yes. But that was a different non woke time when not everyone was comfortable with races being mixed. BTW.as a Madness fan at the time no cared or knew what the lyrics meant then.
Don't listen to this clown, he's full of it.
Canada becoming even more multi-cultural than the UK I don't think is anything to celebrate. The same problems we have here will be multiplied with your open-door policy by 10.
Too woke, not subscribing.
That's not something I usually worry about when I choose to subscribe or not, but to each his own. Also, I don't know what that means in reality. Thanks for watching.
Define woke The-Cotswold-Village-Idiot.