Anyone have the lyrics for Get Out of London by Intaferon?  It's on the Living in Oblivion 80's compilation cd series disk 4.

Thanks in advance!

Madison :)

Have you found it at all my boyfriend has been looking for it for years if you have please contact me at zoolose@shaw.ca

INTAFERON = Brits Simon Fellowes & Simon Gillham
Single - "Get Out Of London" 
in Mary Kate & Ashley Olson movie "Winning London" (2001)
and done as a cover by The Pretenders in "The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002)

Hold Tight
One day morning wake up yawning
Break an egg, bust my head, maybe it's a warning
Ring on the bell says it's half past eight
Keys in my tea, hey i'm gonna be late
I'm walking on the pavement skipping,
On the lines so the bears won't eat me send me to the saltmines
Get on the bus but the bus don't start my feet are siten down my head on the tire
I can't open the window cuz there ain't no sun
I think somebodys tellin me to G-G-G-G-Get out of London

My feets keep movin and i don't wear any socks
Can't stop singing, head ting-a-lingin
I like my housetop, i think i hit a phonebox
Makin coufins out of bits of no woods,
Sellin tea to the counsil though i know it's no good to be a trader,
Calaberator, still i rather be a snitch then a cocktail waiter
Commit my crime now while I’mon my probation later
Okay allright i know i'm doin wrong but save it till tomarrow cuz i
G-G-G-G-G-Get out of london

Last night i left my carkeys i settled in to revern in a night of wed & bliss
I had a bee in my body tiger in my tany
I was on my maiden voyage spent my night with a saint
They call me jack of hearts did some one say a name
My mother was the queen of tarts my baby was a headslave
Parts sellin records to the red manufacter
I do myself in public just to get on the action turn to my face see my
Race is run my cars on fire got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Oh you don't wear a suit don't wear a smile,
Don't wear my spikes said i only go the mile keep my hand on my nine
My eye on my mind keep my heat at feet when i'm racin to the front line change bangs racin on the bits of afar
So i rock my body to the sound of the box the louder you scream the faster we go

It's an act of battery a boom-boom-boom hands
Still fluttering comein down soon head bangen judge thug night of fun slide on my knees
I got to G-G-G-G-Get out of London park straight as a crow waiting for my treasure at the lottery,
Blues in my pockets rain on the fair the weighs are buildin blacks on a bit of an air

Facein a photo a beauty is there tears on her cheek
She's livein a nightmare turn the page to a brand new leaf resolute,
Physcho dude,
Time to be a z okay we do this tons of times keep out of sync singin G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Everybody in the lines stuck waitin for the tube beg like a puppy dog,
Raise like a hedgehog when you come here
Let me tell you the truth tell you a wonder why they make us look good party
For my friends so they wouldn't be
Lonely they wouldn't let me in said it's membership only don't worry bout me
Cuz i'm doin fine standin on my head
And sittin on a door mine we get crazy three times a day i got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London.

-lyrics courtesy of Courtrose0813-

I'm assuming Kataz worked out the lyrics herself, and did a pretty good job considering how fast they're sung! However, a few howlers, which I have corrected below (in bold) courtesy of my slightly less than mint condition 12" single bought way back in 1983 (God I feel old) which helpfully prints the lyrics on the sleeve.

Hold Tight
Monday morning wake up yawning
Break an egg, bust my head, maybe it's a warning
Ring on the bell says it's half past eight
Kees on the TV, hey i'm gonna be late
I'm walking on the pavement skipping all the lines 
so the bears don't eat me send me to the saltmines
Get on the bus but the bus don't stop my feet are sitting downstairs my head on the top
I can't see out the window cuz there ain't no sun
I think somebodys tellin me to G-G-G-G-Get out of London

My feets keep movin and i don't wear any socks
Can't stop singing, head ting-a-lingin
Left my house, now I hang out in a phonebox
Making coffins out of bits of old wood,
Sell 'em cheap to the council though i know it's no good to be a traitor,
collaborator, still i'd rather be a snitch than a cocktail waiter
Commit my crime now pay my penalty later
Okay allright i know i'm doin wrong but save it till tomorrow got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of london

Last night I lost my purity it started with a kiss, I settled in to revel in a night of bedded bliss
I had a bee in my bonnet, a tiger in my tank
I was on my maiden voyage but my liner just sank
They call me jack of hearts, some would say a knave
My mother was the queen of tarts my baby was a sex slave
Pa's selling weapons to the Red Army Faction
I burn myself in public just to get a reaction
Tattoo my face so my race is run
My car is on fire got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Don't wear a suit don't wear a smile,
Don't wear my spikes out on the golden mile
Keep my hand on my gun, keep my eye on my mines
Keep my heart on the beat when i'm running through the front lines
Chain Gang chasin' me but I'm quick as a fox
An' i rock my body to the sound of the box
the louder you scream the faster we go
It's an ack ack battery a boom-boom-boom
Helter Skelter flattery coming down soon
Pay packet, jug drug, babies buying fun,
Purdie's on speed I got to G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Run don't walk keep as straight as a crow, I'm waiting for my treasure at the Admiral Benbow,
Blues in my pockets, Reds in my bed, the weights are building bodies and the blacks are pumping lead

A Face in a photo, the beauty is bare tears on her cheek
She's living in a nightmare turn the page to a brand new leaf,
Resolute swagger loot time to be a thief,
Go to task wear a mask four ponies a ton,
Keep out of Sing Sing got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Everybody in the land turn into a sugartooth beg like a puppy dog,
Brains like a hedgehog
Gimme Ten P  and I'll tell you the truth, sell you a wonder drug, elixir of youth
Threw a party for my friends so they wouldn't be lonely
They wouldn't let me in said it's membership only don't worry bout me
Cuz i'm doin fine standin on my head
And sittin on a gold mine
Keep taking the nitro three times a day, Keep out of the cross fire and G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London.



Some slightly obscure references for those born more recently! "Kee's on the TV" is a reference, I believe, to a presenter who used to do breakfast TV in the 80's here in the UK. The Admiral Benbow is, I think, the inn at the start of "Treasure Island".

Hey, thanks for the *correct* lyrics.  I just did a couple of google searches, and finally found these *correct* lyrics after having found those sorely bungled lyrics at this link:  http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thewildthornberrysmovie/getoutoflondon.htm  <<<bad lyrics, wrong lyrics are there.

So apparently the Pretenders cover this tune for the Wild Thornberrys film of a couple years back.  I checked the 30 second clips available, and honestly--blech!  Intaferon's version is *******superior******* to Chrissie Hynde's rather bland, tired, rote rendition.  I wonder why they didn't use the Intaferon version in the film????

I also wonder if there's anyway to get those grossly inaccurate lyrics corrected at that website?  No matter, at least they were found here!  I was all excited when my search for "they call me jack of hearts" had a return, but one look at those lyrics at stlyrics,  and I knew something was *horribly* wrong.  What a joy to find the correct lyrics, afterall.


Thanks again! 

(and I wasn't even the person who originally asked!)

Hey wow!

I've been searching for these lyrics on and off for 3 years now. Its just hard to catch exactly what they're saying sometimes.


Kudos to you!

(My God, how did you do that.  But... thank you.  I had about half of that.  Would never have gotten "Pay packet, jug drug, babies buying fun" in a million years.  But that's it.)

Thank you Katz and Johnny Mindbox.  I had tried to decipher the lyrics myself and came pretty close, but without the lyrics from the 45 sleeve, I never would have gotten all the 'right' lyrics.  

Such a fun song. I don't know why I never heard this in the 80's, but adore it now on one of my 80's compilation cd's.

Thanks again!

Madison :)

Agreed.  I've had this on a "road trip" mix playlist for a long time.  It's even better with the complete lyrics.  (Plus, I can now freak out your non-UK friends by doing it karaoke-style.)

/man, anyone going on a road trip with me for the next three years probably hates me.

Hubby been downloading some tunes and I suddenly remembered this song existed - but the one version he tried to download wouldn't play.  Anyone got an mp3 link for this - particularly the intercontinentalballistic mix which is the version I remember from my teens! 

Here's hopin'

Kergy

I'm assuming Kataz worked out the lyrics herself, and did a pretty good job considering how fast they're sung! However, a few howlers, which I have corrected below (in bold) courtesy of my slightly less than mint condition 12" single bought way back in 1983 (God I feel old) which helpfully prints the lyrics on the sleeve.
Some slightly obscure references for those born more recently! "Kee's on the TV" is a reference, I believe, to a presenter who used to do breakfast TV in the 80's here in the UK. The Admiral Benbow is, I think, the inn at the start of "Treasure Island".


And I'm gonna, in bold, about three years after one of the posts that brought me to this board, post some analysis to the lyrics of Intaferon's "Get Out Of London".

Hold Tight
Monday morning wake up yawning
Break an egg, bust my head, maybe it's a warning
Ring on the bell says it's half past eight
Kee's on the TV, hey i'm gonna be late, (A reference to Robert Kee, a personality on UK TV-am)
I'm walking on the pavement, skipping all the lines, so the bears don't eat me, (From A A Milne's (of Winnie the Pooh fame) poem, "Lines and Squares", published in 1924 as part of When We Were Very Young, in which Christopher Robin explains that there are bears who "wait at the corners, all ready to eat / the sillies who tread on the lines of the street" - thanks to  johnny mindbox for this one!)
send me to the salt mines (sent to the salt mines == colloquialism for "assigned to a bad job, poor working conditions, hard labor, slave labor, etc")
Get on the bus but the bus don't stop
My feet are sitting downstairs, my head on the top
I can't see out the window cuz there ain't no sun
I think somebody's tellin' me to G-G-G-G-Get out of London

My feets keep movin' and I don't wear any socks
Can't stop singing, head ting-a-lingin'
Left my house, now I hang out in a phonebox (phonebox == British English for what Americans would call a phone booth)
Making coffins out of bits of old wood,
Sell 'em cheap to the council though I know it's no good (council flat == British equivalent to Section 8 / welfare housing)
To be a traitor, collaborator,
Still I'd rather be a snitch than a cocktail waiter
Commit my crime now, pay my penalty later
Okay, all right, I know I'm doin wrong, but save it till tomorrow got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Last night I lost my purity, it started with a kiss,
I settled in to revel in a night of bedded bliss
I had a bee in my bonnet, ("Bee in my bonnet" is a UK/US-English idiom for "I was frustrated")
a tiger in my tank ("Tiger in my tank" refers to an old Esso gasoline advertising campaign; the company gave out tiger tails that customers attached to their cars in/near the gas cap.)
I was on my maiden voyage but my liner just sank (A double entendre to impotence/performance anxiety and the Titanic)
They call me jack of hearts, some would say a knave
My mother was the queen of tarts, my baby was a sex slave
Pa's selling weapons to the Red Army Faction (the Red Army Faction was a European-based left-wing terrorist group)
I burn myself in public just to get a reaction (possibly a reference to the monk who burned himself in protest against the Vietman war?)
Tattoo my face so my race is run
My car is on fire got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Don't wear a suit, don't wear a smile,
Don't wear my spikes out on the golden mile (the Golden Mile refers to at least one of the Wiki'd locations, perhaps the one in Belfast -- a working-class area full of pubs, where dressing in a suit, smiling at drunken partiers, or wearing spikes/studs might attract undue hostile attention.)
Keep my hand on the gun, I keep my eye on the nines (line edited Dec. 2009)
I keep my heart on the beat when I'm running through the front lines (line edited Dec. 2009)
Chain Gang chasin' me but I'm quick as a fox
An' I rock my body to the sound of the box
(The louder you scream the faster we go) (A Waltzer was the British term for the amusement ride known in America as the Tilt-a-Whirl, and at least one page confirms that to The louder you scream, the faster we go was the canonical barker's cry to attract riders))
It's an ack ack battery a boom-boom-boom (ack-ack == WW2 term for anti-aircraft fire)
Helter Skelter flattery coming down soon ("Helter Skelter" most likely used in the sense of "confused, confusedly" -- an amusement park ride provided the inspiration for the concept of "confusion", which the Beatles picked up on for their White Album track, and from there, the concept of "chaotically, unpredictably, without order" was used by Charles Manson - thanks karen)
Pay packet, jug drug, babies buying fun,
Purdie's on speed I got to G-G-G-G-Get out-

Run don't walk, keep as straight as a crow, (the most direct route; as straight as the crow flies)
I'm waiting for my treasure at the Admiral Benbow, (The Admiral Benbow Inn from the 1883 novel "Treasure Island")
Blues in my pockets, Reds in my bed, ("Blues" and "reds" were slang terms for Valium and Secobarbital, respectively)
the weights are building bodies and the blacks are pumping lead

A face in a photo, the beauty is bare,
Tears on her cheek, she's living in a nightmare,
Turn the page to a brand new leaf,
Resolute swagger loot, time to be a thief,
Go to task, wear a mask,
four ponies a ton, (According to Urban Dictionary, a pony is London slang for GBP25, and a ton is - oddly enough - 100 pounds - so yes, there are four ponies in a ton.)
Keep out of Sing Sing, (the notorious Sing Sing prison)
Got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Everybody in the land turn into a sugartooth
Beg like a puppy dog, brains like a hedgehog
Gimme Ten P and I'll tell you the truth, sell you a wonder drug, elixir of youth (Ten P == Ten Pence (thanks, karen!))
Threw a party for my friends so they wouldn't be lonely
They wouldn't let me in, said it's membership only
Don't worry bout me, cuz I'm doin' fine
I'm standin' on my head and sittin' on a gold mine
Keep takin' nitro three times a day, Nitroglycerine is often prescribed as a vasodilator; for example, to prevent chest pains due to angina
Keep out of the crossfire and G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London.

Good job on explaining some of the British phrases Foo Bar.  I odn't know the song at all but wondered if you might be off in a couple of places.

1 Helter Skelter is also a funfair ride so that might be what is meant here?
2 Ten p probably means ten pence not ten pounds.  The nickname for ten punds is usually tenner

Good job on explaining some of the British phrases Foo Bar.  I odn't know the song at all but wondered if you might be off in a couple of places.

1 Helter Skelter is also a funfair ride so that might be what is meant here?
2 Ten p probably means ten pence not ten pounds.  The nickname for ten punds is usually tenner


Didn't know about #1, but that's definitely correct -- lines right up with the chaos of being in an AA barrage.  I should have throuht about #2 before I jumped to my original conclusion -- even not being fully up on my British idiom, ten "cents" makes a lot more sense in the context of the lyrics than ten "bucks", especially in the 80s.  Meanwhile, that bit about british money slang also led me on a nice little chase through the web that explained "four ponies a ton", which had up until now completely bewildered me.  Yay!

Meanwhile, that bit about british money slang also led me on a nice little chase through the web that explained "four ponies a ton", which had up until now completely bewildered me.  Yay!


There's quite a lot of British money slang.  I'm not sure why £25 should be called a pony or why £500 is a monkey.  :-\\  Some slang used in older films might be harder to find because it referred to the pictures on the notes which have changed quite a lot over the years.

I do remember this song stirring up a fair bit on controversy with its promotion...

It all centered on some prominent London-based DJs and music industry wallahs being sent 'anonymous' postcards bearing the legend 'Get Out Of London' and nothing else...

I think it even frightened one or two, thinking they were potential victims of some sinister plot!

In the end, it failed miserably...'Get Out Of London' didn't even chart!

I'm walking on the pavement skipping all the lines (supersition about stepping on cracks on the sidewalk bringing bad luck)
so the bears don't eat me send me to the salt mines (sent to the salt mines == colloquialism for "assigned to a bad job, poor working conditions, hard labor, slave labor, etc")


Not being very familiar with UK expressions and sayings, I wonder what's with the bears? ??? Is this a reference to the saying "If the bears don't eat you, it's home/it must be home" that I've stumbled across once or twice? And if so, what exactly does that mean?

The bears eating you is a reference to a poem by A A Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame) called "Lines and Squares" in the "When we were very young" collection - it's a poem in which Christopher Robin explains that there are bears who wait at corners to eat "the sillies who tread on the lines of the street".

Goodness knows where he got the idea from though!

The bears eating you is a reference to a poem by A A Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame) called "Lines and Squares" in the "When we were very young" collection - it's a poem in which Christopher Robin explains that there are bears who wait at corners to eat "the sillies who tread on the lines of the street".

Goodness knows where he got the idea from though!


Dude!  Thanks!  That nails it, both the skipping-the-lines and the bears!  I've updated my post accordingly.

I remembered the superstition against stepping on cracks in the sidewalk ("skipping all the lines"), but I was thinking of the US equivalent, as popularized in Devo's Whip It ("Step on a crack, break your mama's back").  I also remember a lot of fairy tales involving bears as the typical forest villain (Goldilocks, etc...), but I never quite put the two together, and so I never had anything to answer Henk's question.  Your pointer to the Milne poem is the only thing that explains both references, and thanks for contributing!  (I can't give you karma, but I can at least link to the poem!)

And someone on this thread on a neighboring message board was gracious enough to link to the original song!

Not brilliant but quirky and fun.  Great video too - shown on Max Headroom and probably nowhere else.

And someone on this thread on a neighboring message board was gracious enough to link to the original song!



Sadly, this link no longer exists... and I'm still looking for this song as an mp3. 

Anyone able to help?

Here's hopin'
Kergy

Anyone able to help?


The Google knows all, the Google sees all.

Anyways, some guy in 2007 posted about it (and a poster on that thread had the misheard lyrics I've ever heard for Get Out of London) and he linked to a blog that talked about the history of the Intaferon song.

OK, Brits, is there an expression "keep your eye on the nines"?  Because amongst the misheard lyrics, he got one pretty close, and I think he might have that one line a bit closer than we did.

Old And Busted: (December 2007)
Keep my hand on my gun, keep my eye on my mines
Keep my heart on the beat when I'm running through the front lines
- (which probably got cut/pasted into this 2008 thread here).

New Hotness: (December 2009)
Keep my hand on the gun, I keep my eye on the nines,
I keep my heart on the beat when I'm running through the front lines
- (I've just listened to this section a few more times, and am pretty sure about "the gun", 100% sure about both the "I"s, and if anyone can give me a reference to a British idiom "eye on the nines", I'd be 100% convinced about that, too.)

By way of reference, "Dressed up to the nines" implies well-dressed (or "the whole nine yards" of ammunition, but the reference may be to US forces), and while the etymology of "to the nines" is unclear, the verse in question is about proper attire in a dangerous neighborhood.  So I'm going with "eye on the nines", not "eye on my mines" unless someone can come up with proof to the contrary, or some better evidence for my change than what I found.

Two years is a long time to change two lines, but that's just how we roll on inthe00s.  Lyrics must be figured out to perfection, even if it takes us forever.

OK, Brits, is there an expression "keep your eye on the nines"?  .


Not that I can think of.

And I'm not quote sure that 'dressed to the nines' as a phrase would be abbreviated to that.

It might be either Cockney rhyming slang or a gang name?

so I asked about "keep you eye on the nines" on the BBC Word of Mouth discussion board.  Someone there suggested it might be this semi-automatic.  Elsewhere in this thread someone suggested the line might be "keeping my eyes on my nines" which could be the weapon or maybe his size nine feet!

Not that I can think of.

And I'm not quote sure that 'dressed to the nines' as a phrase would be abbreviated to that.

It might be either Cockney rhyming slang or a gang name?


Let's see how we all did!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u3UNwybclo
  - Intaferon, Get Out of London, original version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRqZLxbwz-Q
  - Electrocuties feat. Daisy Baldry, Get Out of London, 2007 (?) cover/video project.

Okay, she's got us all pretty much beaten, because she didn't just learn the lyrics (there's an edit or two in there for class requirements, presumably, but I haven't actually taken the time to reconcile all her lyrics with the ones we came up with a few years ago), she also got together with a couple of her friends and not only sang 'em, they made their own video out of 'em, and it is magnificent!

Spammer reported. 8)

Hello all,

I remember finding this page many years ago and it was a terrific help in allowing me to sing along with a criminally underrated gem of pop music.  I’ve taken it a step further and made a video so everyone can join in.

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/KqiSMB-fNk0

hello i'm new user.

regards
jessica patel

Hello again,

I've made several other lyrics videos in the time since I made the one for Get Out of London and learned the software a little better, so I decided to spruce it up some.  The new version is posted here:

https://youtu.be/BWvXKQjd2a4

I'll eventually take down the original.  If you are interested in my other videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngRgcyw_5H-702Lz1RKDE5e937tHn_vE

So far, I've made videos for Love and Rockets, Bow Wow Wow, Blancmange, Voice of the Beehive, Zero Zero, James, and Howard Jones.

Hello again,

I've made several other lyrics videos in the time since I made the one for Get Out of London and learned the software a little better, so I decided to spruce it up some.  The new version is posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWvXKQjd2a4

I'll eventually take down the original.  If you are interested in my other videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngRgcyw_5H-702Lz1RKDE5e937tHn_vE

So far, I've made videos for Love and Rockets, Bow Wow Wow, Blancmange, Voice of the Beehive, Zero Zero, James, and Howard Jones.


Man, does that take me back. 

If you're feeling inspired, we may also have helped crack Double Dutch Bus before it established itself at genius.com's site, although proper credit goes to whoever did the legwork at the now-defunct leoslyrics in 2007.  (Google's cache has also expired.) 

The availability of lyrics on the internet has come a long way from the prehistoric time when lyrics sites flourished and the dark ages when the archives were cease-and-desisted out of existence for a few years by shortsighted licensing agencies.  Eventually the rightsholders came to realize that it was more profitable to either turn a blind eye to it or to license the right to distribute lyrics for a reasonable fee, but it took the better part of 20 years for it to happen.  YouTube fought the same battle, and while far from perfect, both sides seem to be making money out of the deal, and most anything you wanted to hear can be heard after a few minutes' searching.  When this thread started, there wasn't even a YouTube, nor was there any way of including the audio (let alone video) for the song so that others could help.  People just worked with their locally-stored MP3s/CDs/vinyl and others had to take their word for it or dig up their own copies out of physical storage for comparison.  We've got it a lot easier now, and that's wonderful!  Keep on digging up those songs with obscure/misheard/incorrectly-transcribed lyrics and keep on crankin' 'em out.  If there are any tracks you need help with, post 'em up and we'll try to help.

I'm sorry I missed your 2016 effort, but you have my deep gratitude for picking up where we left off 10 years ago and closing the circle.