The Shirts ‎– The Shirts (1978)

The Shirts is the debut album by the American new wave band The Shirts, released on July 14, 1978, on Harvest (UK, Europe) and Capitol (US). They recorded the album in London with Wire producer Mike Thorne. It features ten originals by the six-piece band, including the UK scene hit “Show Me Your Plans.” Musically, the album weds elements of contemporary Blondie and Deaf School with progressive art-rock instrumentation.

A1. “Reduced to a Whisper”

3:28 | new wave, art rock | medium-uptempo, contrapuntal, harmonized
Written by The Shirts

I met a beggar
And I was bitter
He pulled the lever
Now I’m a whistler

I fall through tomorrow
I saw what should not be seen
My mind could not contain it
I’m reduced to whispering

I walked on the water
Transfigured at 33
Could you spare a quarter
I’m reduced to poverty

Now I’m a beggar
But it don’t matter
I hold the lever
I hear the whisper

I ride past the border
Your face is a magazine
I change my subscription
I’m reduced to mystery

I met a beggar, etc.

The narrator sees visions of a much different future, possibly for the better or worse.

“Reduced to a Whisper” is a mid-tempo rocker with a circular four-note guitar theme in B major. Harmonized unison vocals. Zeeek Criscione subverts each section with syncopated patterns (verse) and booming bass drums (bridge).

Middle: open-cadence, four-note descending octave (in A; muted thirds from second guitar). Modulates (to B) with tense close-cadence bars (Clash-like, ala “London’s Burning”). Twin-guitar wind-up to a flowing passage (in E) with cowbell and ‘lyrical’ leads.

Final verse: recap. Modulates to C♯ for harmonized finale.

A2. “Tell Me Your Plans”

3:10 | ballad | baroque, romantic, harmonized
Written by Artie La Monica

Please, tell me your plans; No, don’t tell me your plans
‘Cause I’ll just get in your way
I’ll, I’ll go for a ride; Yes, I’ll go for a ride
But I won’t say anything

I didn’t mean to be a soliloquy
And you know I just want some answers
Concerning my life that’s in your hands sir

Please, give me some news; Come on give me some clues
And I’ll keep my trust in you
Don’t treat me this way; If you want me to stay
Or I’ll just go run away

I’ll go running back to L.A., someday
And I’ll write you a letter; a nasty letter
Someday, someday

Please, tell me your plans; No, don’t tell me your plans
‘Cause I’ll just get in your way

And I’ll grow old by the fire
Thinking how much, you were a liar
I’m gonna go away, go away; yes, go away, etc.

The narrator has mixed emotions about the undisclosed intentions of a love interest, who might stay or depart, alone or in other company. On some level, the narrator wants to preempt abandonment and beat that person to the punch.

“Tell Me Your Plans” is a medium-slow ballad with unison female/male vocals and a prominent harpsichord-synth theme (in D major). The rhythmic structure is a quasi-Fifties shuffle with triplets — two counts of 3/4 on every bar of two: a pattern used in early rock classics by Fats Domino (“Blueberry Hill”), Ritchie Valens (“Donna”), and late-Seventies hits by Walter Egan (“Magnet and Steel”) and Robert John (“Sad Eyes”).

A3. “Empty Ever After”

3:52 | post-punk | dark, intense, frontal bass
Written by Robert Racioppo

If I could, maybe I would
Live like you say everybody should
But I can’t change or rearrange
My life, so it fits your bill of goods

Then I would be
Empty ever after
From my shoes, up to the rafters
Disregard my laughter
I’ll be empty ever after

Brighty-eyed boy, comes to town
Didn’t have much left, but he spread it around
Courted fame, but married pain
Wound up among other vacancies
Vacant, says he’s

Put it in a place
Stronger than Fort Knox
Keep it where it can survive the shocks
Heart and soul – it’s all you go
Don’t you give it away
Don’t you be…

An inverse of the idiom “happy ever after.” The narrator refuses to conform to the expectations of others and points to the “brighty-eyed boy” as a cautionary tale. The “Fort Knox” is an internal fortress for the individual’s free will.

“Empty Ever After” opens with a thick, deep bassline (in A minor) against a pounding bass drum. The rhythm section dominates while the guitars add faint sizzle and clipped chords. The final third succumbs to a windy vortex of hyperactive drums, hazy sounds, and faded echoes.

The arrangement is akin to early Siouxsie & the Banshees (“The Staircase (Mystery)”) or a slower Adverts song (“On Wheels”). Annie’s upper-register echoes X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene. Toward the closeout, Mike Thorne imparts sonic layers akin to his work with Wire on cuts like “Strange” and “I Feel Mysterious Today.”

A4. “Teenage Crutch”

3:00 | punk, new wave | upbeat, youthful, aggressive
Written by Robert Racioppo, Ronald Ardito

People always asking me
When you gonna take life seriously
You can not forever be like a teenager
Hey, give it up

I tell them I take my chance
I’ll be playing till the last
Drop of energy is drained
And I’ll do it again

The fact remains, I try to make it plain
From dust I come, to dust I go
In between, I rock and roll
I’ll be playing till my fingers rust
With the devil: the teenage crutch

Tables turn often over
Me, I dine on solid square
Dreams I cut, from quarry’s where
You’ve got to fight for breath
I never rest

When behind my back I hear
Bones that shake, skulls that sneer
Chuckles spread from ear to ear
It’s becoming late, the fact remains
I try to make it plain

We’re not askin’ too much
Just give us teenage crutch

The narrator/s cope with adult labor but hold onto youthful ideals and past-times. This adolescent fallback (“teenage crutch”) defends the credo of youth as the ultimate state. The sentiment resembles “Youth Youth Youth” by Generation X, in which Billy Idol rejects “security” and “responsibilities.”

“Teenage Crutch” opens with a distant, frantic 16-note piano string (?, in G). Pogo-pulse precision yields banshee yelps and sliced/double-down bar chords (G… E♭… C… G). The augment fifth (E♭, unusual in three-chord rock songs) heightens the urgency. The unison verses (in C) make another unusual twist (C… G-A♭… D-E♭…), arriving at the minor third (E♭) through an augmented fifth (A♭). (An ordinary three-chord rocker would forgo flats for conventional 1-5-3 progressions.) The verses resolve on a quasi-Hawaiian lead motif (in G7) against pounding drums. They counter-shout to a crescendo (at 1:58), swallowed by a droning minor-third over G. The guitar revs up as the pogo beat accelerates against manic vocables and faint, lightning leads.

Musically, the song’s lilting distaff intensity resembles Deaf School on “All Queued Up,” a punk song sung by Bette Bright on their 1978 third album English Boys, Working Girls.

A5. “10th Floor Clown”

4:24 |

Written by Artie La Monica, Robert Racioppo, Ronald Ardito

I’m a circus clown, on the 10th floor
Very obscure, in a warehouse
Watch and see me jump, plummet to the ground
Without sound, it’s crowded here

Everybody knows, when the whistle blows
It’s time for you to go; yes go, yes go
Crowned the king of fear, I shall board my throne
Write my lifeless poem, to the streets below

Am I still alive or
Have I entered to the void
‘Cause I’m walking
Three feet in the air
And everything is circular

Down the tubes I go, it’s done
And there’s no way of turning back
Then I see it all so plain
Death, like life
It’s all the same
I’m a circus clown, on the 10th floor
Very obscure, in a warehouse

B1. “The Story Goes”

4:00 |

Written by Artie La Monica, John Piccolo

The leather chair, my mind and my soul
I try to reach out for the stereo
My eyes are dark, I need my sleep
I feel the warmth, but it’s out of my reach

Oh, oh, the story goes, it goes on
I make no bones, I put my hat on my head
And take another step

I hold my breath, I build up the walls
I’m freezing my life, as my visions soar
The road is paved with vacuum sides
The plot it unfolds, now it’s chapter five

Oh, oh we’re all alone
And there’s people here, and people there
And you put out your hand, and all they do is stare

Oh, oh, the story’s old, they try to train out minds and steal out close
They say they do, do, do, do, and then they don’t, don’t, don’t

B2. “Lonely Android”

3:55 |

Written by Artie La Monica, Robert Racioppo

I’m a lonely android, looking for an asteroid
To live on, to sleep, baby, to creep on
Can I be one of your toys? I won’t make any noise
I won’t holler, I won’t bother you, no, no

You talk about the weather
I talk about the martian invasion

Well, I went right through the mirror
Like it or not, I had to stay there
I was exiled, in the penthouse of the madhouse
Now, I sing while my arms are strapped
And I dream, while my mind is trapped in a whirlwind
And there’s tigers in the kitchen

Can do, can do
No can, can do
Can do, no can, can do

I’m a lonely android, la la la
I’m a lonely android, dra dra dra

You talk about the weather
I talk about the…

B3. “Running Through the Night”

3:46 |

Written by Ronald Ardito

I was cold, out on some crazy road
Till I fell upon the ground
And I suppose that I didn’t really know where to go
Till you came and took control
Since you’ve gone, I just can’t keep going on
See – you’re the only one, who can take me to the sun

You keep me running through the night
I got you fixed upon my sights
You keep me hooked upon your light
You keep me running through the night

I was told, that your love was elusive
And it’s not for me to hold
But I won’t hear it, without your touch, there just isn’t much
To keep me hanging on
And I still dream, of that day I can throw away
All the rotten things I’ve seen, it isn’t just a dream

You keep me running through the night
I got no place to hide
I’ve got your fixed upon my sights
Takin’ me for a ride
You keep me hooked upon your light
I can’t describe the sight
You keep me running through the night

B4. “They Say the Sun Shines”

3:29 |

Written by Robert Racioppo

They say the sunshines
I don’t believe it
They say the sunshines
I don’t believe that it’s so
No anymore, not anymore
It don’t shine, sun don’t shine

They say the sunshines
I carry flashlights
They say the sunshines
I only see night
I’m quite objective
The sun’s reclusive
It hides, behind the stars, behind the stars

Sun don’t shine
Don’t shine anymore
Sun don’t shine anymore

B5. “Poe”

3:47 |

Written by Robert Racioppo, Ronald Ardito

When the world drifts away
And you’re lost and you’re dazed
I’ll be here with my raincoat
I’ll be here with my pillow
I’ll be here with my… Poe

Lock the door, turn the key
Open minds, bother me
Let me fall, on my driftcloud
Let me lie, on my bedclothes
Let me live, let me die

Come on me, come on you
Come on all you lovely droogs
Come on sing, come on say
Come on, throw your life away

Tracklist:
A1. “Reduced to a Whisper” (3:28)
A2. “Tell Me Your Plans” (3:10)
A3. “Empty Ever After” (3:52)
A4. “Teenage Crutch” (3:00)
A5. “10th Floor Clown” (4:24)
B1. “The Story Goes” (4:00)
B2. “Lonely Android” (3:55)
B3. “Running Through the Night” (3:46)
B4. “They Say the Sun Shines” (3:29)
B5. “Poe” (3:47)

Credits:
Bass, Guitar, Vocals – Robert Racioppo
Drums, Vocals, Percussion – John (Zeeek) Criscione
Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards – Arthur La Monica, Ronald Ardito
Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals – John Piccolo
Vocals – Annie Golden

Mastered By [Cutting] – Ken Perry
Mixed By – Paul Hardiman
Photography – Peter Vernon
Producer – Mike Thorne
Design [Shirts Logo] – Larry Racioppo
Engineer [Additional Overdubs] – Pat Stapley
Engineer [Backing Tracks, Lead Vocals] – Gary Edwards
Engineer [Backing Vocals, Instrumental Overdubs] – Roger Bechirian

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