Rubber Bullets

Album

My Kind Of Folksongs

Label

UK Records

Genre

Glam rock

Duration

9:00

Composer(s)

Graham Gouldman;Eric Stewart

Entered Chart

Sep 15, 1973

Peak Date

Oct 20, 1973

Released

June 1973

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

UK 49015

Like the Elvis Presley hit "Jailhouse Rock," this song is about a party that breaks out at the county jail. Elvis' song ends with everyone having a good time, but in 10cc's song, the party is kiboshed by riot police who use rubber bullets to quell the uprising, a more likely outcome. Band member Eric Stewart recalled: "I was amazed, but pleased that the BBC never banned the track, although they limited its airplay, because they thought it was about the ongoing Northern Ireland conflicts. In fact, it was about an Attica State Prison riot like the ones in the old James Cagney films." Graham Gouldman remembered: "Kevin and Lol had the chorus and part of the verse but then got stuck. We all loved the chorus and realized it was a hit in itself, so we wanted to persist with it. I chipped in the line 'we've all got balls and brains, but some's got balls and chains.' One of my finer couplets." (quotes from 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh) Lol Creme is lead singer on this track; he wrote the song along with Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman. Godley recalled to Uncut: "Lol may have been working with a strange tuning. I'm not sure, but undoubtedly he was playing this smelly old Spanish guitar, and I'd sat down with a notebook opposite him. I think we started writing it in my parents' house, and it just came out. It was one of those lucky songs that didn't take a fortnight to write. We knew what the feeling of this thing was, which is kind of weird because the lyric is essentially about a fictitious black and white movie from the era of James Cagney. We were big movie buffs in those days, me and Lol, so it was one of those kind of films... you know, with a prison riot, and there's always a padre there, and a tough cop with a megaphone. It was caricaturing those movies. But the chorus talks about rubber bullets, which weren't invented until the 1970s by the British government to quell the troubles in Northern Ireland. So it didn't make any sense at all. But it just worked." Some radio stations refused to play this because of the controversy over the British army using rubber bullets in its efforts to bring peace to troubled Northern Ireland. The band's protests that the song actually dealt with a riot in an American prison fell on deaf ears. This is the only UK #1 disgraced producer Jonathan King has been involved in, it was on his UK label. King was convicted of sexual offenses against minors. Report this ad Album version runs 5:15 with an extra chorus and some lyrics edited out from the 3:30 single version, including the lines: We all got balls and brains But some's got balls and chains This won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Beat Song. This was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, which was part-owned by Stewart, the band's guitarist and engineer. This was used as the theme song to the pilot episode of the American animated TV series Superjail, which aired in May 2007. >>

I went to a party at the local county jail
All the cons were dancing and the band began to wail
But the guys were indiscreet
They were brawling in the street
At the local dance at the local county jail

Well the band were playing
And the booze began to flow
But the sound came over on the police car radio
Down at Precinct 49
Having a tear-gas of a time
Sergeant Baker got a call from the governor of the county jail

Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
I love to hear those convicts squeal
It's a shame these slugs ain't real
But we can't have dancin' at the local county jail

Sergeant Baker and his men made a bee-line for the jail
And for miles around
You could hear the sirens wail
There's a rumor goin' 'round death row
That a fuse is gonna blow
At the local hop at the local county jail (whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do?)

Whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do?

Sergeant Baker started talkin' with a bullhorn in his hand (bullhorn in his hand, bullhorn in his hand)
He was cool, he was clear, he was always in command (always in command, always in command)
He said "Blood will flow, here Padre
Padre you talk to your boys"
"Trust in me
God will come to set you free"

Well we don't understand why you called in the National Guard (National Guard, the National Guard)
When Uncle Sam is the one who belongs in the exercise yard (exercise yard, the exercise yard)
We all got balls and brains
But some's got balls and chains
At the local dance at the local county jail

Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
Is it really such a crime
For a guy to spend his time
At the local dance at the local county jail
At the local dance at the local county jail (whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do?)

Whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do?