There I stand neath' the marquee moon just waiting

I was informed the other day of a musical factoid that I was unaware of. The song in question was "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan of The Clash outside of most of London Calling and a few other tracks, but I had never heard the song "Straight To Hell" which is where M.I.A. sampled the iconic beginning of her song. Needless to say my world was turned upside down (well that's a stretch but I was certainly a little uneasy about not knowing of this blatant sample). Anyway, I was talking about this with a friend who knew of this already, like an idiot I found it my duty to tell people (akin to letting you know the Civil War has ended-heads up by the way, it has). We soon got in to a conversation about The Clash, but he quickly informed me of another band that he said rivals The Clash in their importance of the time. I was skeptical but went home and looked in to it further.

Creepiest album cover ever

The band in question is Television, more specifically the song "Marquee Moon" (also the name of one of their albums, although I'm just reviewing the song). Now I'll be the first to admit it, the track is great, up there with the songs of London Calling I think not though. However, The Clash obviously sets a very high standard. However, you cannot judge bands against one another, it can often be like comparing apples to oranges.

So here goes my best attempt at breaking down "Marquee Moon." The intro starts out with a great guitar riff that is pretty ear-catching, and then incomes the two-tone bass line that somehow works in. Then in comes Tom Verlaine with the vocals, his voice is interesting, probably not one of the best ever in a song-or at least not to my taste-but you can really feel the mid to late 70's in this song in terms of the vocals and the extravagant dual-guitar parts. I'm not sure how else I can describe the song other than just classic sounding. I guess you'll just have to hear it for yourselves. Also, I'll throw in "Paper Planes" and "Straight To Hell" just to throw in a bit of context.

"Marquee Moon" by Television from Marquee Moon (1977)

"Straight To Hell" by The Clash from Combat Rock (1982)

"Paper Planes" by M.I.A. from Kala (2007)

-S