The lyrics to Genius Of Love, sung by Weymouth, backed by her siblings Lani and Laura, are a stream of consciousness tale told by a female prisoner, dreaming of happier times with her boyfriend (the ‘Genius of Love’ in question) – while the reasons for her jail-bound status are unclear, references to going “insane when we took cocaine” hint at a potentially dark undertone. “It was very relaxed and sexy while still maintaining a raw, hard edge.” “We loved this song in part because it was played at a slower, funkier tempo by far than so many other dance tracks of the period,” he said. The short keyboard riff that commences the track, performed by The Wailers’ Tyrone Downie (who is reportedly the ‘ My Jamaican Guy‘ in Grace Jones’ celebrated track), soon makes way for a funk-soaked odyssey that is straight out of the Parliament Funkadelic playbook, as well as the emerging hip hop scene at the time – artists such as George Clinton, Kurtis Blow and disco producer Hamilton Bohannon all get referenced, as well as, most notably, “James BROWN.!”Īs Frantz revealed in Remain In Love, the track’s groove was inspired by Zapp’s More Bounce To The Ounce, released in 1978 and produced by funk legends Roger Troutman and Bootsy Collins. “We had no money, and we decided to work up our own songs instead of accepting the session work we were being offered.” “ Tom Tom Club was intended solely to support me and Chris – to put food on the table,” Weymouth explained in an interview with Bass Player magazine in 2006. We didn’t need to compete with our own band. Produced by Stephen Stanley at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, The Bahamas, weighing in at a meaty five minutes and 34 seconds, and drenched in Caribbean sunshine, Genius of Love would go on to be one of the most influential and sampled tracks of the new wave era.Īs Frantz explained in his excellent memoir, Remain In Love, released earlier this year, the group were “determined to make music that sounded nothing even remotely like Talking Heads.
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