WEEDY EIGHTIES WHITE PEOPLE SINGING ABOUT SOUL STARS 3: China Crisis - “Black Man Ray”
WEEDY EIGHTIES WHITE PEOPLE SINGING ABOUT SOUL STARS 3: China Crisis - “Black Man Ray”
“Black Man Ray” is Ray Charles, who China Crisis apparently believe in. Now Ray Charles’ blackness is not a secret, so why did China Crisis see fit to remind us of it on their incomprehensibly awful single? My theories:
i) They were talking about the photographer Man Ray, and asserting that he was black. Which he wasn’t. But this was the 80s and all sorts of people were black back then - Shakespeare, Rick Astley, etc. - generally at the behest of ‘loony lefties’ who The Sun had made up.
ii) The song was meant to be a double A-Side with “White Man Ray” about snooker ace Ray Reardon but it was dropped when China Crisis decided they preferred Dennis Taylor and his clever upside-down glasses.
iii) It was a reference to the much rumoured secret weapon of the South African apartheid regime, The Black-Man Ray. Fashioned almost definately from Nazi technology this weapon was supposedly able to fire into a crowd of people of various ethnicities and just pick out those of African origin. China Crisis, not content to constantly remind the world of the crisis in China, we also warning the world of a great evil in Africa.
iv) Ray Charles being blind, the lads from China Crisis thought he might not know he was black and decided to remind him. It would explain an awful lot of the discrimination he would have put up with in his youth so you think someone, like his parents, might have told him but it was nice of CC to be so thoughtful. A bit like the Beatles did with Lady Madonna.
If only Ray Charles had been deaf as well they might have got away with it, too.
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LeboviciAB84 on January 5th, 2007
“iv)Ray Charles being blind, the lads from China Crisis thought he might not know he was black and decided to remind him. It would explain an awful lot of the discrimination he would have put up with in his youth so you think someone, like his parents, might have told him but it was nice of CC to be so thoughtful. A bit like the Beatles did with Lady Madonna.”
Aceness abounds!
Lou spowls on March 14th, 2007
Ray was a Liverpool man of Nigerian descent who managed an Arts Based Youth Training Scheme in the late 70’s to mid 80’s.
The premises he ran offered young groups - China Crisis among them - the chance to rehearse and record.
However, petulant youth quite often conflicted with authority, which helped set up more than one crisis.
Music Fan on March 14th, 2007
SHUT YOR STUPID CUNTY MOUTH HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ELVIS HE IS THE KING YOU ARE JUST SHIT WRITER ON THE DOLL YOU CANT EVEN AFFORD PROPER BURGERS HAVE TO GO TO MICK DONALD’S FOR YOUR BURGERS WITH GREEN SAUCE TUPENCE ELVIS ATE WORLD’S BEST BURGERS THAT IS WHY HE IS BUGGER KING!
nmb b on June 1st, 2007
jm
frankgrimes on July 8th, 2007
tanya ill try to say this using small words,because i unlike you have a life,and i dont want to waste any of it searching out big words like sonambulent and maloderous. these big words do not fool anyone into thinking you are clever,what you say is more a giveaway. it takes more skill to build, than to tear down.as for saying you hate music full stop,i feel sorry for you .get some therapy im sure you need it
FT's Alan on July 8th, 2007
anyone wondering, “sonambulent” and “maloderous” are used in the related article: Day 62: China Crisis - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 LOUSY TUNES.
tanya HAS spelled ‘malodorous’ correctly in the original article, but not ’somnambulent’ — which is as quoted above
Marcello Carlin on April 1st, 2008
I did enjoy their follow-up, “Wake Up (King In A Catholic Style)” which was a wonderful fan fiction fantasy about the “Love And Pride” hitmaker dressed up as the Pope and deciding to ban condoms despite subsequent big hits like “Taste Of Your Tampon.”
Drew Snider on July 17th, 2008
Just came across this after hunting the tune down (yes, on purpose). The tune reminded me of days in “rock” radio, when many of us still thought digital watches were a neat idea. And there was the overarching question, WHAT IN BLAZES WERE THEY SINGING ABOUT? Thank you, Tanya, for straightening me out on that score: I’m not SUPPOSED to know! I was starting to feel inadequate. Question: what’s worse than the song? The video!