Racecar Is Racecar Backwards

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Racecar Is Racecar Backwards is the debut full-length album by the British rock band Reuben. It was recorded between July and November 2003, and was produced by Jason Wilson at Stakeout Studios when it was based in Chobham. The album produced a single, "Freddy Krueger", which placed 53rd on the UK rock music charts.

Three tracks were intended for the album but not included: 'Approaching By Stealth' and a new version of 'Alpha Signal Seven' were later released on Reuben's compilation album, We Should Have Gone to University; the third, provisionally entitled 'Hell', which was produced by slowing down the song 'Oh The Shame' to half speed from the string section onwards, was never released.

Track listing

1. "No One Wins the War" – 3:41
2. "Horror Show" – 2:58
3. "Stuck in My Throat" – 3:27
4. "Oh the Shame" – 2:09
5. "Fall of the Bastille" – 4:09
6. "Freddy Kreuger" – 2:28
7. "Tonight My Wife Is Your Wife" – 3:07
8. "Eating Only Apples" – 2:03
9. "Our Song" – 1:56
10. "Let's Stop Hanging Out" – 2:54
11. "Missing Fingers" – 4:00
12. "Song for Saturday" – 2:55
13. "Moving to Blackwater" – 2:49
14. "Wrong and Sorry" – 3:21
15. "Parties Break Hearts" – 2:34
16. "Dusk" – 3:55

Personnel

• Jamie Lenman – Guitars, vocals, piano
• Jon Pearce – Bass, vocals
• Guy Davis – Drums

Additional musicians

• Nic Slack – Piano on 'No-One Wins the War'
• Neil Lancaster – 7-String guitar on 'Moving to Blackwater' and 'Freddy Kreuger'
• The Galaxy Quartet – Strings

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2004	UK album chart	88

Singles

Date	Single	UK Singles Chart
January 2003	Let's Stop Hanging Out	90
October 2003	Stuck in My Throat	76
June 2004	Freddy Kreuger	53
August 2004	Moving to Blackwater	59

Notable songs

"Song For Saturday"

• The main riff was made up on the spot by Jamie when the band's manager asked to hear their new song in soundcheck. The new song they were supposed to play was Eating Only Apples, but their manager was disappointed that the joke riff wasn't part of it.

"Eating Only Apples"

• Before making an appearance on this album, this song was first a b-side on the band's debut single, "Scared of the Police".
• Originally called 'Tonight My Wife Is Your Wife', but Andy Ross from Food records was so upset when the name of the song was changed to something more relevant to the subject matter, the band promised to call another song 'Tonight...'

"Stuck in My Throat"

• The version of this song that appears on the album was re-recorded with the rest of the tracks after the single version was finished and before work on the album started, in order to meet the release deadline imposed by Integrity records.
• Both the single and album version are exactly the same tempo and can be played in perfect unison side by side.

Lyrics

The line 'party hardy marty' in 'Parties Break Hearts' was copied from the last scene in the film Scrooged, starring Bill Murray. Although the lyrics hadn't been finalised in early performances, the 'Hell Is for Heroes' line in 'No One Wins the War' was written a few weeks before the two bands toured together. The line was subsequently changed to something new about Hell Is For Heroes on most nights of the tour, and in later performances.