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The Boomtown Rats — Up All Night
Album: V (Five) Deep
Avg rating:
5.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 265









Released: 1982
Length: 3:33
Plays (last 30 days): 0
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Up all night
Ooh za za
Ooh staying up all night

African jungle
Big city street
The only real difference is in
The people you meet

Up all night
Ooh za za
Ooh staying up all night

It's an agreeable town
It's neat and sedate
Why even the muggers are off
The streets by eight

Up all night
Ooh za za
Ooh staying up all night
Say it ain't so Joe, say it ain't so Joe

Polite and well spoken
Well heeded and well sane
They know they're alive
When they start to feel pain

You're staying up all night
Ooh za za
Ooh staying up all night
Up all night
Ooh za za
Ooh staying up all night
Say it ain't so Joe, say it ain't so Joe

Big city jungle
African street
The only real difference is in
The people they meet
Comments (37)add comment
Thought it was Bowie. :/
Posted 7 years ago by CoYoT51    [ Reply ]
 slandering wrote:
Banana Republic is far better this one sucks folks

 
Thanks for clearing that up!
Posted 7 years ago by Webfoot    [ Reply ]
Well this is just the latest in  a string of plays from bands with a, shall we say, unorthodox interpretation of the word 'singer'. Bob Geldof was always more effective being Bob Geldof than singing.
Posted 8 years ago by ElCamoteLoco    [ Reply ]
Banana Republic is far better this one sucks folks
Posted 8 years ago by slandering    [ Reply ]
"Mary of the Fourth Form" worked for me back in the day, but this is poor.  They weren't up to much, really.
Posted 8 years ago by DaidyBoy    [ Reply ]
vey bad. 2 is enough
Posted 9 years ago by jazzdevil    [ Reply ]
I always liked "Me and Howard Hughes" the best.
A classic Power Pop/ New Wave/ Cutting Edge classic.
Posted 9 years ago by KurtfromLaQuinta    [ Reply ]
Gimme some Bob Geldof.....or is it Pink?
Posted 9 years ago by hempmandan    [ Reply ]
 blotto wrote:

How about some Generation X next?  


With all apologies to Mr. Lennon, please read this with an "Idol sneer":
I'm sick to death of hearing things from uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics!
 


Posted 10 years ago by treatment_bound    [ Reply ]
yowza, this is bringing the memories.

How about some Generation X next?  
Posted 10 years ago by blotto    [ Reply ]
Ah my anthem song through school! Classic
Posted 10 years ago by aspicer    [ Reply ]
 radiojunkie wrote:
THIS was Boomtown Rats? I never woulda thunk it. I thought I was hearing Bowie.
And whatever you do, please DON'T play I Don't Like Mondays. I don't like I Don't Like Mondays. I used to think it was daringly groundbreaking when it first came out. Now I just think it's the most depressing song ever recorded.
 
It does sound a bit like Bowie from "Ashes to Ashes." (When I was feeling very burned out during college, I loved the strung-out, hungover feel of "It's No Game", complete with the angry woman snarling...something in Japanese.) Did Adrian Belew work on this? Somehow I hear his guitar...

Boomtoon Rats might have fared better, I think, if Bob had actually tried to sing a bit more. He's here straining for a manic intensity that David Byrne had in the early days of TH.  
Posted 10 years ago by kcar    [ Reply ]
always loved this one. lucky enough to see the Boomtown Rats do this in concert a very long time ago.
Posted 10 years ago by damo    [ Reply ]
There really should be many more Boomtown Rats tracks added to RP's playlist...

Here's a reprint of their UK Top 40 singles if that helps:


UK Top 40 singles"Lookin' After No. 1" (1977) No. 11"Mary of the 4th Form" (1977) No. 15"She's So Modern" (1978) No. 12"Like Clockwork" (1978) No. 6"Rat Trap" (1978) No. 1"I Don't Like Mondays" (1979) No. 1"Diamond Smiles" (1979) No. 13"Someone's Looking at You" (1980) No. 4"Banana Republic" (1980) No. 3"The Elephant's Graveyard (Guilty)" (1981) No. 26"House on Fire" (1982) No. 24
Posted 10 years ago by treatment_bound    [ Reply ]
 zoopmama wrote:
My favorite of theirs. Who produced it? Production and orchestration (i.e. tinkling reverb piano) sounds very similar to Nick Lowe's 'Breaking Glass'.

 
Hmm. Maybe as Tony Visconti moved from 70s glam to 80s new wave, he did some homework by listening to Nick? 
Posted 11 years ago by ScottFromWyoming    [ Reply ]
Bill,

You just back announced this song as Johnny Marr - now I'm confused!
Posted 11 years ago by NeilBlanchard    [ Reply ]
Jim Rome bumper music.
Posted 11 years ago by flyboy    [ Reply ]
My favorite of theirs. Who produced it? Production and orchestration (i.e. tinkling reverb piano) sounds very similar to Nick Lowe's 'Breaking Glass'.
Posted 11 years ago by zoopmama    [ Reply ]
After hearing Geldof whine interminably about hating Mondays, you tend to forget how good a band the Rats were.
Posted 11 years ago by WonderLizard    [ Reply ]
For us radio lovers, this was the intro music that Todd Wright of ESPN fame used for "All Night with Todd Wright."  
Posted 11 years ago by scraig    [ Reply ]
Oh boy...this one I didn't need to remember
Posted 11 years ago by asilbuch    [ Reply ]
been a long time
Posted 12 years ago by daveesh    [ Reply ]
Hiatt boom town-bongs and beer. ahh college add some early phish the complete Burlington experience.
Posted 12 years ago by skyguy    [ Reply ]
Saw them at the Ritz in New York City in the eighties. They were great.
Posted 12 years ago by miahfost    [ Reply ]
Woo hoo, let the chair dancing begin!
Posted 12 years ago by Jacksonstat    [ Reply ]
 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

"Me and Howard Hughes" is a much better cut.

 

Heard "Rat Trap" this morning on 'XRT in Chi.  Still love it.
Posted 12 years ago by treatment_bound    [ Reply ]
 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

"Me and Howard Hughes" is a much better cut.

 
Pretty much anything off this is worthy:

  
 
I used to groove to "(I Never Loved) Eva Braun" back when Jimmy Carter ruled...

       >>A Tonic for the Troops was The Boomtown Rats' second album and included the hit singles "She's So Modern", "Like Clockwork" and "Rat Trap".

The album featured dark themes in an often upbeat, pop-punk style. One of the album's tracks, "(I Never Loved) Eva Braun" was described by one critic as "the happiest, cheeriest, best upbeat song about Hitler ever written."  Other tracks featured subject matter including suicide ("Living in an Island") and euthanasia ("Can't Stop").

"She's So Modern" reached number 12 on the British pop charts. The album's title was taken from a line in this song: "And Charlie ain't no Nazi/ she likes to wear her leather boots/ 'cuz it's exciting for the veterans and/it's a tonic for the troops."

The most commercially successful track on the album is "Rat Trap," which made it to Number 1 on the British pop charts. "Rat Trap" was the final cut on the UK version of the album and the opening cut on the US version.

Track listing

All songs written by Bob Geldof except where indicated.

British version

  1. "Like Clockwork" (Bob Geldof, Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe)
  2. "Blind Date"
  3. "(I Never Loved) Eva Braun"
  4. "She's So Modern" (Geldof, Johnny Fingers)
  5. "Don't Believe What You Read"
  6. "Living in an Island"
  7. "Me and Howard Hughes"
  8. "Can't Stop"
  9. "(Watch Out For) The Normal People"
  10. "Rat Trap"
  11. "Lying Again" (CD bonus track)
  12. "How Do You Do?" (CD bonus track)
  13. "So Strange" (CD bonus track)

American version

  1. "Rat Trap"
  2. "Me and Howard Hughes"
  3. "(I Never Loved) Eva Braun"
  4. "Living in an Island"
  5. "Like Clockwork" (Geldof, Briquette, Crowe)
  6. "Blind Date"
  7. "Mary of the Fourth Form" (from the UK The Boomtown Rats)
  8. "Don't Believe What You Read"
  9. "She's So Modern" (Geldof, Fingers)
  10. "Joey's on the Street Again" (from the UK The Boomtown Rats)

Personnel


Posted 12 years ago by treatment_bound    [ Reply ]
 masterhead wrote:
I am not thrill about this track, I do enjoy the Boomtown Rats...What about "I don't like Mondays"
 
"Me and Howard Hughes" is a much better cut.

Posted 12 years ago by KurtfromLaQuinta    [ Reply ]
THIS was Boomtown Rats? I never woulda thunk it. I thought I was hearing Bowie. And whatever you do, please DON'T play I Don't Like Mondays. I don't like I Don't Like Mondays. I used to think it was daringly groundbreaking when it first came out. Now I just think it's the most depressing song ever recorded.
Posted 19 years ago by radiojunkie    [ Reply ]
WTF? maybe the only thing worse would be "monday's".
Posted 19 years ago by lotus_65    [ Reply ]
Avatard wrote:
Maybe it would be best for everybody if you got some sleep.
Haha, classic. I agree, this song does nothing but annoy me. :x
Posted 19 years ago by JBH    [ Reply ]
masterhead wrote:
I do enjoy the Boomtown Rats...What about "I don't like Mondays"
I never realized it was the same band that did both songs. Ya learn something new every day on RP.
Posted 19 years ago by TheLoneIguana    [ Reply ]
15 years from now, my kids will be listening to Nelly remnants and thinking the same thing I'm thinking now - "marginal" at best.
Posted 19 years ago by kimmer    [ Reply ]
8)
Posted 19 years ago by redeyespy    [ Reply ]
'bout time for some Rats...
Posted 19 years ago by kaupmees    [ Reply ]
I am not thrill about this track, I do enjoy the Boomtown Rats...What about "I don't like Mondays"
Posted 19 years ago by masterhead    [ Reply ]