Desperately seeking lyrics to "Belly of the Whale", by Burning Sensation; also would greatly appreciate clue as to where I could find a recording. I know it was released as a single and has been included in at least one collection disc. Any help?

> Desperately seeking lyrics to "Belly of the Whale", by Burning
> Sensation; also would greatly appreciate clue as to where I could find a
> recording. I know it was released as a single and has been included in at
> least one collection disc. Any help?

"Belly of the Whale" by Burning Sensations was only a minor hit here in the U.S. when it was released in the Summer of '83; in fact, it actually failed to crack "Billboard"'s "Hot 100" chart. But you're right, it was indeed issued as a commercial single (i.e., vinyl 45); unfortunately, "BotW" was apparently considered just a bit too quirky by American pop radio stations. At the time, lead singer/guitarist Tim McGovern described their sound as "Afro-billy".

In addition to the 7" single, there were two other ways you could get the song: Just as "BotW" was starting to take off in the Summer of '83, the band's label, Capitol, initially issued a 4-song EP on which it was included. The EP was simply titled "Burning Sensations" (Capitol 15009), and it was released on both 12" vinyl and cassette. A few months later, in the Fall of '83, shortly after the hype for "BotW" had died down, Capitol then came out w/ a full-length album from the band, which reprised most of the songs on the original EP. To add to the confusion, the full-length album was also s/t (Capitol 12300). Like the EP, this one was also issued on both vinyl LP and cassette (but no CD-remember, these were the days when CDs were just barely being introduced here in the U.S.!). Because Capitol came along w/ the full-length album, which was basically intended to replace the original EP, the EP was deleted in 1984; however, the full-length remained in print till about 1986. Due to minimal sales, both are fairly hard to find today. I myself have the cassette version of both releases. To the best of my knowledge, the full-length album has never been issued on CD anywhere in the world to date; but yes, like you, I've seen just "BotW" on some CD compilations of '80s hits (you might want to try the search engines at some of the popular internet CD sites).

"BotW" was a perfect example of an MTV-driven hit; the video channel actually put the clip for the song in "Medium" rotation (allegedly 2-3 plays per day) for about a two-month period, during June & July of '83. (Of course, these were the good ol' days of MTV!) The "BotW" video was pretty fun, too; in case you don't remember (or have never seen it), it featured the band, along w/ a bunch of other people, dancing around and sliding down this slide on the deck of a ship, surrounded by what was supposed to be the insides of a very large whale. I actually have the "BotW" clip on a 56-minute pre-recorded VHS video compilation that was released back in 1984 by Vestron MusicVideo. It contains the videos to 14 songs, all of which were released in 1982-83, including "Freeze-Frame" by the J. Geils Band, "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde, "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby, and "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band, among others. It's titled "Picture Music", and originally retailed for $29.95 back in '84. Of course, it's now long out-of-print. However, I do occasionally see used copies of this video floating around. In fact, just before typing this up, I went over and checked on eBay, as I've seen "Picture Music" offered there a few times in the past. Sure enough, there's at least one copy listed on there right now for just $6.95, and it has no bids as I write this: Check out item #155707663; the auction ends Tuesday morning (Sept. 7). Give it a shot!

As for the song's lyrics, well, I will respect WebMaster ChuckyG's wishes not to give them here, but IMO, most of the words in "BotW" are pretty easy to decipher. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I don't know of any web sites at this time that would have them posted, either. Hope this helps (this post ended up being a little longer than originally intended, LOL!)...