Easter Theatre
"Easter Theatre" is a song written by Andy Partridge of the English rock band XTC, released as the lead single from their 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1. According to Partridge, the lyrics were an attempt to match a "muddy" ascending chord progression. "There's the little melodic figure at the beginning, which I thought sounded medieval and earthy, combined with placid, droning high keyboard chords, which sound like you're floating—so it suggested floating over a land."[1]
| "Easter Theatre" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by XTC | ||||
| from the album Apple Venus Volume 1 | ||||
| Released | 2 April 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 1998 | |||
| Length | 4:37 | |||
| Label | Cooking Vinyl | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Andy Partridge | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| XTC singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio sample | ||||
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He considered "Easter Theatre" one of the few "perfect songs" of his career, feeling that he had "exorcized a lot of those kind of Lennon-and-McCartney, Bacharach-and-David, Brian Wilson type ghosts out of my system by doing all that."[2] He jokingly apologized for "the fake Brian May guitar solo ... I thought it was really incongruous, but everyone thought I should leave it."[3] Demo and instrumental versions of the song appear on Homespun (1999) and Instruvenus (2002), respectively.
Personnel
XTC
- Andy Partridge – vocals, guitar
- Colin Moulding – bass, backing vocals
- Dave Gregory – mellotron, acoustic guitar, keyboard programming
Additional performers
- Prairie Prince – drums, percussion
- Steve Sidwell – trumpet
References
- Rooksby, Rikky (2006). Lyrics: Writing Better Words for Your Songs. Backbeat Books. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4768-5344-4.
- Bernhardt, Todd (27 June 2010). "Andy answers fans' questions about guitar playing and players -- Part I". Chalkhills.
- Swenson, Kyle (April 1999). "Orchestral XTC". Guitar Player.