Annie Get Your Gun (song) explained

Annie Get Your Gun
Cover:Squeeze annie get your gun cover.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Squeeze
Album:Singles – 45's and Under
Released:8 October 1982 (UK)
Recorded:1982
Genre:New wave
Length:3:22
Label:A&M
Producer:Alan Tarney
Prev Title:I've Returned
Prev Year:1982
Next Title:Last Time Forever
Next Year:1985

"Annie Get Your Gun" is a single released by Squeeze in 1982. It was not featured on any studio album, but has been included on a number of compilations, including Singles – 45's and Under. "Annie Get Your Gun" (which borrows its title from a popular musical) was the last single released by the band before they broke up, though they reunited in 1985.

Background

After the failure of the band's previous album, Sweets from a Stranger, Squeeze's record company, A&M, asked them to make a new single.[1] Glenn Tilbrook already had put together two songs, "Action Speaks Faster" and "Annie Get Your Gun". He then asked the rest of the band to pick the one to be recorded, resulting in "Annie Get Your Gun" being unanimously chosen. The band was then sent to producer Alan Tarney, for whom Tilbrook played the song. When the band was brought back by Tarney they found the producer had already completed the backing track to the song, only needing Tilbrook and Chris Difford's vocals.

Glenn Tilbrook reflected on the song's recording, "It was like we were in The Monkees. Alan did a very good job, but it was devastating for us because we could all play so well, although I didn't mind as much as the others because I was singing the lead vocal." Drummer Gilson Lavis, however, was insistent that he record a drum track.

The song reached number 43 in the UK Singles Chart,[2] but the song later gained fame as part of Squeeze's live set. The group performed "Annie Get Your Gun" on Saturday Night Live on 20 November 1982.[3]

Difford said that he did not know what the song was about and was "not sure [he] care[s] about it very much either". He concluded, "It's not a great song, but a good vocal performance".[4] The Los Angeles Times described the song as being "about the boisterous pleasures of rocking out".[5] Cash Box said that "it’s the devil-may-care rhyme schemes of masters Difford and Tilbrook that make this song.[6]

Track listing

  1. "Annie Get Your Gun" (3:22)
  2. "Spanish Guitar" (2:38)

Charts

Chart (1982–83)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] 52
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company)43

Live version

Annie Get Your Gun (live)
Cover:Squeeze annie get your gun live.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Squeeze
Album:A Round and a Bout
Released:April 1990 (US)
Recorded:?
Genre:Rock
Length:3:24
Label:I.R.S. Records & Deptford Fun City Records
Producer:Steve Forward & Glenn Tilbrook
Prev Title:Love Circles
Prev Year:1990
Next Title:Sunday Street
Next Year:1991

"Annie Get Your Gun" (live) was released as a single in the US from Squeeze's live album, A Round and a Bout. The CD included the band's entire debut EP, Packet of Three, as bonus tracks.

Track listing

  1. "Annie Get Your Gun" (live) (3:24)
  2. "Is It Too Late" (live) (3:22)
  3. "Back Track" (2:21)
  4. "Night Ride" (3:03)
  5. "Cat on the Wall" (3:13)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Tillbrook . Glenn . Difford . Chris . Drury . Jim . Squeeze: Song by Song . Sanctuary . 87–89.
  2. Book: Roberts, David . 2006 . . 19th . Guinness World Records Limited . London . 1-904994-10-5 . 522/3.
  3. Web site: Saturday NET . Prismnet.com . 2015-04-01 . 2015-04-01.
  4. Web site: Jackson . Tom . Chris Difford on his new memoir, and his memorable songs . Sandusky Register . 10 November 2019.
  5. Web site: Boehm . Mike . POP MUSIC REVIEW : Difford, Tilbrook Squeeze Out the Hits : The singing and songwriting team that leads the British band offers a pleasing blend of killer singles and newer material. . . 27 July 1991 . 11 November 2019.
  6. Reviews. Cash Box. January 8, 1983. 2022-07-07. 8.
  7. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 316.