Justified & Ancient
| "Justified and Ancient" | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Single by The KLF | ||
| Released | November 1991 | |
| Recorded | Trancentral | |
| Genre | House music | |
| Length | 3:37 (Stand by The JAMs) | |
| Label | KLF Communications (UK) | |
| Producer(s) | Drummond/Cauty | |
| Chart positions | ||
|
| ||
Justified and Ancient is a song by The KLF which was remade by the band several times, the best-known version being the 1991 pop-house hit single subtitled "(Stand by The JAMs)", featuring the vocals of country music singer Tammy Wynette. This version was an international hit, reaching # 2 in the UK Singles Chart, # 11 in the US Billboard Hot 100, and hitting # 1 in eighteen countries. It was also the final single to be aired commercially by The KLF.
Context
The title "Justified and Ancient" refers to The KLF's pseudonym and earlier incarnation, "The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu" (The JAMs). The JAMs took their name from - and mirrored - a fictional subversive cult from the 1960s intellectual conspiratorial novels The Illuminatus! Trilogy. Just as the fictional JAMs made it their remit to propagate chaos and confusion, so too did the real JAMs and The KLF. Their attempts to subvert the music industry and other establishments were frequent, unconcealed and controversial. The song "Justified and Ancient" is a statement of identity and rebellious intent. Moreover, it deliberately understates this intent. In contrast to the provocative and abrasive lyrics of The JAMs' album 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), on which "Justified and Ancient" first appeared, the song has a soft and innocuous tune, and quaint lyrics:
"We don't want to upset the apple-cart, and we don't want to cause any harm, but if you don't like what we're going to do, you'd better not stop us 'cause we're coming through."[1]
Evolution
Template:Sample box start variation 2 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end The words and music of "Justified and Ancient" feature several times in the work of The KLF and The JAMs, including their first album and their last single.
The melody and one repeated lyrical verse of the song first appeared as part of "Hey Hey We Are Not The Monkees" from The JAMs' debut album, 1987: What The Fuck Is Going On?[1]. All of the album's most prominent characteristics are notably absent in this part of "Hey Hey...", which has female vocals (as opposed to the rapping of The JAMs' Scottish co-founder Bill Drummond), inoffensive lyrics, and it is free from plagiarised samples of other artists' recordings. Also in contrast, "Hey Hey" itself begins with a minute's worth of typical human sexual intercourse noises, arranged as a rhythm. It progresses into a cryptic and bleak spoken verse from Drummond and descends into a cacophone of samples from "The Monkees Theme". An abrupt cut takes the track into the gentle "Justified and Ancient" vocal line, which is syncopated similarly to African music and is at first a cappella.
In 1990, the recording re-appeared on The KLF's ambient album, Chill Out, in a part of the composition titled "Justified and Ancient Seems a Long Time Ago". This time the song provides a complement rather than a contrast to the mood of the album, which is passive and contains various authentic ethnic sounds.
In March 1991, a full song called "Justified and Ancient" appeared on The KLF's album The White Room. Sung by Black Steel, the song begins and ends the album. This version retains the lyrics and melody, adds an additional verse, and full song structure and instrumentation is present, in an arrangement akin to a lullaby. Where the song starts the album, it is interrupted at the point "...they're coming through" by urgent "Mu Mu!" samples and blazing machine guns that open the house track "What Time Is Love?". At the end of the mellower second half of the album, the song is presented in its entirety.
Single
In November 1991, the single "Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" was released, featuring the lead vocals of country music singer Tammy Wynette, introduced in the sleevenotes as "the first lady of country". This was an upbeat and funky version of the song, the subtitle referencing Tammy Wynette's solo hit "Stand by Your Man", and the inclusion of subtle pedal steel guitar also referencing Wynette's country origins. This was the final single to be aired commercially by The KLF, following the US release of "America: What Time Is Love?".
The "Justified and Ancient" single marked a departure from The KLF's previous "Stadium House" trilogy of hits, which were driven by hooks and riffs and emulated a live performance by using sampled crowd noise. In contrast, the riffs, samples and rap of "Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" were secondary to its conventional song structure of verses and choruses.
A longer mix of this arrangement, "Justified and Ancient (All Bound for Mu Mu Land)", dispensed with the pedal steel and substituted Wynette's lead vocals with those of Maxine Harvey, a regular contributor to The KLF's material.
Many commentators were suspicious that the surprising pairing of Wynette with The KLF was a marketing ploy (as which The KLF's actions were often interpreted). Other commentators pointed to The KLF member Bill Drummond's fondness for country music as motivating the collaboration, or to the fact a period of almost exactly 23 years[2] separated the first airings of "Stand by Your Man" and "...(Stand by The JAMs)"[3].
In April 1992, Wynette collapsed while on tour in Australia; for this she cited overwork during the promotion of "Justified and Ancient".[4]
Reviews and reaction
The single reached # 2 in the UK Singles Chart, being held off the Christmas # 1 spot by the re-release of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" also reached # 11 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and # 3 in the Australian singles chart. The UK music press received the release generally positively: it was "single of the week" in New Musical Express (NME) and Melody Maker[5]. NME noted the "beautiful ethnic chorus lines! Ice Cream Vans! F--king awful lyrics!" [censorship preserved], and found that although the single "...lacks the sheer frantic rush of 'Last Train To Trancentral' ..., The KLF model a spiritual crown which elevates them several tower blocks above their amateur peers."[6]
Following their collaboration with Tammy Wynette, and the subsequent appearance of Glenn Hughes on "America: What Time Is Love?, The KLF were, according to mixer Mark "Spike" Stent, swamped by phone calls from fading music stars, including Neil Sedaka and Sweet, who were eager to work with The KLF to revive their careers.[7] This side-effect of The KLF's collaborations was at odds with their aim to subvert the music industry, as noted by GQ magazine in 1995. GQ published a retrospective of The KLF's career and interview with Bill Drummond, and suggested that such collaborations were a contributory factor in The KLF's abandonment of music: "[Bill Drummond's] distaste for the machinery of pop was at war with the creative populism of KLF", and "KLF had become bona fide pop miracle workers... It was all spinning way out of Drummond's control".[8]
Themes
Promotional material and antics for "(Stand by The JAMs)" used iconography of ice cream and an ice cream van, while the lyrics coined the phrase "Make mine a '99' ". Indeed, a working title for the "Justified and Ancient" project was allegedly "The Ice Cream Men"[9]. Several months prior to the single's release, The KLF appeared at the Liverpool Festival of Comedy, where they sold ice creams to the audience while, on stage, figures swathen in grey and yellow robes chanted "justified...ancient..."[10].
The ice cream van, introduced upon release of The JAMs single "It's Grim Up North"[11], superceded Ford Timelord as The KLF's vehicle of choice. The van appeared with the The KLF on stage when they 'performed' "Justified and Ancient" on Top of the Pops, with Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty (The KLF) dressed as ice cream cones and Tammy Wynette appearing behind them on a large screen.
The "ethnic chorus line" to which NME referred is the refrain "All bound for Mu Mu land", a reference to the Lost Continent of Mu, which is identified with the fictional land Lemuria in The Illuminatus! Trilogy novels. Some research suggests that underwater archeological remains located off the coast of Japan may be Mu. Indeed, at the end of the "Justified and Ancient" music video, The KLF exit in a submarine.
Personnel
The White Room version
- Bill Drummond - production, performance, programming
- Jimmy Cauty - production, performance, programming
- Black Steel - vocals, bass guitar
- Nick Coler - keyboards
- Tony Thorpe - break
Single versions
The recordings were, according to the "Justified and Ancient" sleevenotes, "exhumed, explored and exploited by The KLF", with Jimmy Cauty playing electric guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. Additional contributors included:
- Tammy Wynette - lead vocals "(Stand by The JAMs)"
- Maxine Harvey - lead vocals "(All Bound for Mu Mu Land)", lead chorus "(Stand by The JAMs)"
- Ricardo Da Force - rap
- Scott Piering - narration
- Nick Coler - keyboards and programming
- Rusty Pence - pedal steel "(Stand by The JAMs)"
- Tony Thorpe - 'groove consultant'
- Mark 'Spike' Stent - mixing "(Stand by The JAMs)", "(All Bound for Mu Mu Land)"
Formats and track listings
"Justified and Ancient" was given an international release as a single on 25 November 1991. In each case, all tracks are versions or mixes of this song, as tabulated below. The versions subtitled "(Let Them Eat Ice Cream)" and "(Make Mine a '99')" are remixes of "Justified and Ancient (All Bound for Mu Mu Land)".
| Format (and countries) | Track number | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 7" single, cassette single, CD single (Japan) | s | W | |||
| 12" single (UK, Italy) | A | m | s | L | |
| 12" single (elsewhere) | A | m | s | L | |
| CD single (US) | s | S | W | A | L |
| CD single (France) | A | m | s | L | W |
| CD single (Belgium) | s | W | A | m | L |
| CD single (elsewhere) | s | W | A | M | L |
Key
- s - "Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" (3:37)
- S - "Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" (12" Version) (5:31)
- A - "Justified and Ancient (All Bound for Mu Mu Land)" (7:45)
- L - "Justified and Ancient (Let Them Eat Ice Cream)" (6:31)
- m - "Justified and Ancient (Make Mine a '99')" (Edit) (3:17)
- M - "Justified and Ancient (Make Mine a '99')" (5:52)
- W - "Justified and Ancient (The White Room Version)" (5:04)
References
- Library of Mu press archive - a library of KLF-related press clippings
- Discogs.com, KLF Communications discography
- Longmire, Ernie et al (2005). KLF discography [12]
- Author unknown (1991). "The KLF: Enigmatic dance duo" (feature and discography up to that time), Record Collector Magazine, April 1991.
Footnotes
- ^ a b "Hey Hey We Are Not The Monkees" lyrics (link). Retrieved 29 March 2006.
- ^ Drummond and Cauty's extensive referencing of The Illuminatus! Trilogy included the overt and covert placement of the number 23 throughout their output and activities. See The KLF article for more information.
- ^ Staunton, T., "Stand By Your Van", New Musical Express, 23 November 1991(link).
- ^ "Tammy lays blame on KLF", The Sun, 6 April 1992.
- ^ "Justified and Ancient" review, Melody Maker, 7 December 1991.
- ^ Williams, S. "Justified and Ancient" review, New Musical Express, 7 December 1991 (link).
- ^ Stent, M., in Shaw, W., "Who Killed The KLF?", Select, July 1992 (link).
- ^ Shaw, W., "Special K", GQ magazine, April 1996 (link).
- ^ Wilson, H. (1991), "Last Triumph to Trancentral", Road Rocket magazine, 1 September 1991 (link)
- ^ "Freak Show", i-D, December 1994 (link). The magazine reported that this appearance was the day after the KLF's burning of a wicker-man and the making of their film Waiting on the Isle of Jura; the group onstage were reportedly the same journalists and members of The KLF's entourage who had been transported to Jura for that performance.
- ^ "Having stepped from the wreckage of their 1968 Ford Galaxy American police car Rockman Rock and Kingboy D (The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu) found their ice cream van". KLF Communications, sleevenotes, "It's Grim Up North" JAMS 028R, October 1991.
- ^ Compiled by Ernie Longmire, this has been the authoratative KLF discography on the internet for some 10 years or more and has been the subject of long-term scrutiny and peer review by KLF fans and collectors. It is now maintained by the fan site klf.de.