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Solid Gold Easy Action

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"Solid Gold Easy Action"
Song
A-side"Solid Gold Easy Action"
B-side"Born To Boogie"

"Solid Gold Easy Action" is a song by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. It was released as a single in 1972 and reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart.[1][2] The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included on the 1972 Great Hits compilation album issued by EMI Records.

Lyrical content

While the song's musical style lies rooted in the Rock and roll of the 1950s, its lyrics are surrealistic and a typical example of Bolan's nonsense poetry. This song, like many of Bolan's hit singles, uses words such as "satisfaction" and "action", whilst mentioning predators such as foxes and tigers to give the song an undertone of sexuality. Combined with the rhythm and fast guitar strumming pattern on the song, Bolan creates an image of teenage sexual frustration that reflected the trends in contemporary popular culture. The break in the latter half of the song further emphasises this; "I know you're shrewd and she's a dude / But all I want is easy action" implying that the singer wants to have sex with the subject regardless of their gender and what others think about it.

Kerrang! magazine founder Geoff Barton, wrote in an article for Classic Rock magazine that the first two lines of the song, "Life is the same and it always will be / Easy as picking foxes from a tree", appeared to predict Marc Bolan's own death in 1977. The license plate of the car Bolan was in during the fatal collision with a tree was FOX 661L.[3] This is one of many supposed 'prophesies' surrounding Marc Bolan's death.[4]

Other versions

The song was covered by Department S, with backing vocals provided by Bananarama, as the b-side to the single "Is Vic There?" in 1981.[5] It was covered by The Fratellis in 2007 for the soundtrack of the film Hot Fuzz.[6] Kim Wilde performed the song live during the second leg of her Perfect Girl tour in November 2007.[7] In 2015 the song was used in an Asda advert in the UK.[8]. A portion of the song was featured in the third episode of the television series "The Good Guys".

Track listing

  1. "Solid Gold Easy Action"
  2. "Born to Boogie"

Note: There was a 12 second un-credited spoken intro on the b-side, previously known as "Xmas Message", which was entitled "Xmas Riff" when it was included in the Rhino Singles compilation.[9]

Chart performance

Chart (1972–1973) Peak
position
Australia (Go-Set Top 40)[10] 39
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[11] 13
France (SNEP)[12] 68
Invalid chart entered Germany2 6
Ireland (Irish Singles Chart)[13] 4
Norway (VG-lista)[14] 5
UK Singles (OCC)[2] 2

See also

References

  1. ^ Rice, Tim; Roberts, David (2001), Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, Guinness World Records, p. 435, ISBN 0-85112-156-X
  2. ^ a b "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  3. ^ Barton, Geoff (22 June 2012), 1977: Did Marc Bolan predict his own death?, Classic Rock, archived from the original on 25 June 2012, retrieved 30 May 2013
  4. ^ Gallucci, Michael (29 January 2013), Marc Bolan – Famous Musicians Who Correctly Predicted Their Own Death, Ultimate Classic Rock, retrieved 30 August 2014
  5. ^ Bananarama Aie A Mwana, Bananarama UK, retrieved 14 January 2011
  6. ^ Phares, Heather. Hot Fuzz – Cherry Tree at AllMusic
  7. ^ Solid Gold Easy Action, Wilde Life, retrieved 14 January 2011
  8. ^ "Spirit Global". Spirit Music Group. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  9. ^ "The T•Rex Wax Co. Singles A's And B's 1972-77 sleeve notes". Rhino Records. Always previously described as "Xmas Message", we've recently discovered (on a handwritten white label demo) that Bolan referred to this short, seasonal spoken-word piece as "Xmas Riff". So that's what this super funk message to his fans now becomes.
  10. ^ "Solid gold easy action in Australian Chart". Poparchives.com.au. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  11. ^ "T. Rex – Solid Gold – Easy Action" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  12. ^ "Solid gold easy action in French Chart" (in French). Dominic DURAND / InfoDisc. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013. Select "T. Rex" from the artist drop-down menu
  13. ^ "Solid Gold Easy Action in Irish Chart". IRMA. Retrieved 18 July 2013. Only one result when searching "Solid Gold Easy Action"
  14. ^ "T. Rex – Solid Gold – Easy Action". VG-lista.
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