Ringo Starr on Born to
Boogie
As told to Andrew Tyler, Disc Magazine,
9 December 1972
“Bolan struts, man, and I like that about him a lot. A lot of
people, when they first meet him, can be put off because his attitude
is very bobby. He comes in telling you. He doesn’t ask much,
he tells a lot and I love that about him. He comes in with an acetate
saying ‘300,000 in five days, number one in two weeks’…
and it was just fantastic for me that this guy with so much confidence
could just come striding in.”
Having heard that Bolan was having his Wembley concerts filmed, Ringo
contacted him: “’Look, I’m a film company, why don’t
we do it together… you up there and I’ll film you and
we’ll go all along together.’ I had him round to the editing
suite and I’d say ‘Look, this is what we’re doing;
what do you say?’ Some of the shots he didn’t like cos
it’s him up there and he has to take care of himself as well.
“I was getting pretty bored with what was going on at the time
and he was the first one, whatever anybody says, to get the kids back
out of their seats, jumping and screaming about. That was what happened
when I was doing it. Whatever happens, he was the one who started
the ball rolling again, and it’s always nicer to associate yourself
with the first. “There I was just gawking [at Wembley], cos
I loved him up there. He’s exciting and just to see all those
people dressed like him again… I mean, it’s the same trip…
It’s great, I also love Bowie and all the showbands. It’s
getting back to showbiz, as we read someone saying in your paper this
week.
“About 80% [of the movie] is the Wembley show, and 20% are like
vignettes, little sketches of things we wrote on the spot and just
performed. We just said ‘We’ll go out with the camera…
get us a car and some other props and work them on the day.’
“Every pop concert is now being filmed and the problem with
that is you can never create the atmosphere in the cinema that you
do at the concert. With this film I wanted to take it away from that
and that’s why we put in the sketches. One is a musical, one
is Marc and I sitting in the back of a car singing a three-liner he
wrote on the day and another is where we try to do that well-known
phrase ‘some people like to rock, some people like to roll’
which we both found on the day was impossible. We kept cracking up
so badly. It was a real crack-up… not forced or anything so
it looks nice and I put it in.
When I’m performing it’s really hard to shoot yourself
but there isn’t a shot in there that we didn’t talk about
and set up first. What we tried to do was incorporate a few more facets
of Marc Bolan that people haven’t seen, like him saying his
poetry, both of us doing these sketches and the music and, of course,
the reaction to the music from the crowd.”
top
Born to Boogie Score
| Composition |
Composer |
Publisher |
Time |
| Marc’s Intro |
Marc Bolan |
Warrior Music
Projects Ltd |
0.15 secs |
| Jeepster |
Marc Bolan |
Essex Music Int. Ltd |
5.00 secs |
| Baby Strange |
Marc Bolan |
Warrior Music
Projects Ltd |
4.32 secs |
| |
|
|
|
| Tutti Frutti |
Richard Penniman/ Dorothy La Bostrie |
Venice Music Ltd |
1.21 secs |
| Children Of The Revolution |
Marc Bolan |
Warrior Music
Projects Ltd |
3.45 secs |
| Look to the Left |
Marc Bolan |
Warrior Music
Projects Ltd |
0.19 secs |
| Spaceball Ricochet |
Marc Bolan |
Warrior Music
Projects Ltd |
4.12 secs |
| Some People Like to Rock (lyric extract ‘Let’s have a party’) |
Jessie May Robinson |
Carlin Music Corp. |
0.12 secs |
| Telegram Sam |
Marc Bolan |
Wizard Artists Ltd |
4.11 secs |
| Some People Like to Rock (lyric extract ‘Let’s have a party’) |
Jessie May Robinson |
Carlin Music Corp. |
0.12 secs |
| Cosmic Dancer |
Marc Bolan |
Essex Music Int. Ltd |
3.51 secs |
| Some People Like to Rock (lyric extract ‘Let’s have a party’) |
Jessie May Robinson |
Carlin Music Corp. |
0.12 secs |
| Jeepster |
Marc Bolan |
Essex Music Int. Ltd |
1.15 secs |
| Hot Love |
Marc Bolan |
Essex Music Int. Ltd |
0.55 secs |
| Get It On |
Marc Bolan |
Essex Music Int. Ltd |
1.37 secs |
| The Slider |
Marc Bolan |
Wizard Artists Ltd |
1.54 secs |
| Union Hall Poem (Spoken Word) |
Marc Bolan |
Wizard Artists Ltd |
0.15 secs |
| Hot Love |
Marc Bolan |
Essex Music Int. Ltd |
3.33 secs |
| Get It On |
Marc Bolan |
Essex Music Int. Ltd 11.20 secs |
|
| Chariot Choogle |
Marc Bolan |
Wizard Artists Ltd |
3.00 secs |
Lyrics to the Songs featured in Born to Boogie
Jeepster
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
You’re so sweet
You’re so fine
I want you all and everything
To be mine
’Cos you’re my baby
’Cos you’re my love
Girl I’m just a Jeepster
For your love
You slide so good
With bones so fair
You’ve got the universe
Reclining in your hair
Just like a car
You’re pleasing to behold
I’ll call you Jaguar
If I may be so bold
The wild winds blow
Upon your frozen cheeks
The way you flip your hip
It always makes me weak
Your motivation
Is so sweet
Your vibrations
Are burning up my feet
Girl I’m just a Jeepster
For your love
Girl I’m just a vampire for your love
I’m gonna suck you
© Essex Music International Ltd 1971
top
Baby Strange
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
I see you walking
I see you talking
With all of my friends
I’m shadowed under you’re like some thunder
I wanna be your friend
I wanna call you
I wanna ball you all night long
In winds of passion my whip is lashing
I wanna get you and then
OOO you’re strange
Don’t lame me baby strange
Don’t lame me baby
The city’s shaking
I ain’t faking baby this is the end
I’m overloaded my head’s exploded
I wanna get you and then
© Wizard (Bahamas) Ltd 1972
top
Children Of The Revolution
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
Well you can bump and grind
It is good for your mind
Well you can twist and shout
Let it all hang out
But you won’t fool
The Children of the Revolution
No, you won’t fool
The Children of the Revolution
No, no,no
Well you can tell a plane
In the falling rain
I drive a Rolls Royce
‘Cos it’s good for my voice
But you won’t fool
The Children of the Revolution
No, you won’t fool
The Children of the Revolution
No way
© Wizard (Bahamas) Ltd 1972
top
Spaceball Ricochet
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
I’m just a man
I understand the wind
And all the things
That make the children cry
With my Les Paul
I know I’m small
But I enjoy living
Anyway
Book after book
I get hooked
Everytime the writer
Talks to me like a friend
What can I do
We just live in a zoo
All I do is play
The spaceball ricochet
Deep in my heart
There’s a house
That can hold
Just about all of you
I bought a car
It was old but kind
I gave it my mind
And it disappeared
I love a girl
She is a changeless angel
She’s a city it’s a pity
That I’m like me
I said how can I lay
When all I do is play
The spaceball ricochet
© Wizard (Bahamas) Ltd 1972
top
Telegram Sam
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
Telegram Sam
Telegram Sam
You are my main man
Golden Nose Slim
Golden Nose Slim
I knows where you bin
Purple Pie Pete
Purple Pie Pete
Your lips are like lightning
Girls melt in the heat
Telegram Sam
You’re my main man
Telegram Sam
You’re my main man
Bobby’s alright
Bobby’s alright
He’s a natural born poet
He’s just outa sight
Jungle Faced Jake
Jungle Faced Jake
I say make no mistake
About Jungle Faced Jake
Automatic shoes
Automatic shoes
Give me three-D vision
And the California blues
Me I funk but I don’t care
I ain’t no square with my corkscrew hair
Telegram Sam
I’m a Howlin’ Wolf
For you
© Wizard (Bahamas) Ltd 1972
top
Cosmic Dancer
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
I was dancing when I was twelve
I was dancing when I was twelve
I was dancing when I was aaah
I was dancing when I was aaah
I danced myself right out the womb
I danced myself right out the womb
Is it strange to dance so soon?
I danced myself right out the womb
I was dancing when I was eight
I was dancing when I was eight
Is it strange to dance so late?
Is it strange to dance so late?
I danced myself into the tomb
I danced myself into the tomb
Is it strange to dance so soon?
I danced myself into the tomb
Is it wrong to understand
The fear that dwells inside a man
What’s it like to be a loon?
I liken it to a balloon
I danced myself out of the womb
I danced myself out of the womb
Is it strange to dance so soon?
I danced myself into the tomb
© Essex Music International Ltd 1971
top
Hot Love
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
Well she’s my woman of gold
And she’s not very old, a-a-ha
Well she’s my woman of gold
And she’s not very old, a-a-ha
I don’t mean to be bold
But may I hold your hand
Well she ain’t no witch
And I love the way she twitch, a-a-ha
Well she ain’t no witch
And I love the way she twitch, a-a-ha
I’m a labourer of love
In my Persian gloves, a-a-ha
Well she’s faster than most
And she lives on the coast, a-a-ha
Well she’s faster than most
And she lives on the coast, a-a-ha
I’m her two penny prince
And I give her hot love, a-a-ha
Take it out on me moma
© Essex Music International Ltd 1971
top
Get It On
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
Well you’re dirty and sweet
Clad in black
Don’t look back
And I love you
You’re dirty and sweet oh yea
Well you’re slim and you’re weak
You got the teeth
Of the Hydra upon you
You’re dirty sweet
And you’re my girl
Get it on
Bang a gong
Get it on
You’re built like a car
You got a hubcap
Diamond star halo
You’re built like a car
Oh yea
You’re an untamed youth
That’s the truth
With your cloak full of eagles
You’re dirty sweet
And you’re my girl
Well you’re windy and wild
You got the blues
In your shoes and your stockings
You’re windy and wild
Oh yea
You’re built like a car
You got a hubcap
Diamond star halo
You’re built like a car
Oh yea
You dance when you walk
So let’s dance
Take a chance, understand me
You’re dirty sweet
And you’re my girl
Get it on
Bang a gong
Get it on
Well meanwhile
I’m still thinking
© Essex Music International Ltd 1971
top
The Slider
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
I could never understand
The wind at all
Was like a ball of love
I could never understand
The cosmic sea
Was like a bumble bee
And when I’m sad
I slide
I have never kissed
A car before
It’s like a door
I have always always
Grown my own before
All schools are strange
And when I’m sad
I slide
I have never never
Nailed a nose before
That’s how the garden grows
I could never understand
The wind at all
Was like a ball of love
And when I’m sad
I slide
Watch me now
I’m gonna slide
© Wizard (Bahamas) Ltd 1972
top
Chariot Choogle
Written and composed by Marc Bolan
Girl you are a groove
You’re like the planets when you move
See the winter coming
In a two-finned Caddy
Gonna walk upon the waters
Go ooo yeah
Girl you gotta cook
You got the chariot by the hook
I’m riding in the rain
Got my blue suede shoes
Gonna give up all my pain
And go ooo yeah
Baby you know who you are
Baby you know who you are
Don’t you know who you are
Standing on your porch
You wear your pleasure like a torch
Hiding in the road
Like a Pasolini toad
Gonna give up all my load
And go ooh yeah
© Wizard (Bahamas) Ltd 1972