Lazy (X-Press 2 song)

"Lazy" is a single by British house duo X-Press 2, featuring vocals from American singer and Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. It was written and produced by X-Press 2 and co-written by Byrne. The song was released on 11 March 2002 through Skint Records and reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, held off number one by "Unchained Melody" by Gareth Gates,[2] and spent four weeks in the UK top 10.

"Lazy"
Single by X-Press 2 featuring David Byrne
from the album Muzikizum
Released11 March 2002
Recorded2001
GenreDeep house[1]
Length6:58 (album version)
4:17 (radio edit)
LabelSkint
Songwriter(s)X-Press 2, David Byrne
Producer(s)X-Press 2
X-Press 2 singles chronology
"Smoke Machine"
(2001)		 "Lazy"
(2002)		 "I Want You Back"
(2002)

"Lazy" won the Ivors Dance Award at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2003.[3] Byrne later included an orchestral re-recording of the song on his 2004 solo album Grown Backwards, and performed the song during his American Utopia tour.

Background

David Byrne initially approached X-Press 2 to ask them to be his backing band, but they turned the offer down. They confessed, "We had to tell him we're just a bunch of studio gits."[4] As Byrne told Drowned in Sound, "I love the idea of a throbbing beat, and a dancefloor filled with energised bodies, and the singer proclaiming the merits of laziness."[4] Byrne recorded his vocals at his home in New York and then sent them to X-Press 2's recording studio as an email attachment.[5]

Critical reception

Writing in The Guardian, Gary Mullholland called the song "a cheery dance-pop record",[6] whilst Helen Brown praised it as a "glorious dancefloor collaboration".[7]

Music video

The music video is directed by Howard Shur. It features an extremely lazy man (played by American actor Bob Stephenson) who has created a series of contraptions that enable him to go through his daily routine without moving at all. The video begins two shots of a bath with a green hosepipe covering the tap. Then the video shows a transparent pipe in the toilet, with what appears to be urine flowing through it; the camera follows the pipe all the way back to the man, who is urinating into it while sitting on a sofa. He pulls a number of levers with different labels on them, such as "Coffee", "Eggs" and "Toast". He also leans back and has a shower wash his hair automatically, after which it is dried by a hair dryer and combed. The man then presses a button which activates a remote-controlled car (or "robot", as it is referred to in the video). As it collects his breakfast, he lies on his side and begins watching TV, but can't find anything on that is worth watching, so he pulls another lever which is labelled "Video"; this results in a robotic arm pushing a video labelled "X-Press 2" into the VCR. The video plays a workout video called "XPress-ercise 2", which features four women in thin black outfits. Upon seeing this, the man likes it and sits up. He uses another robotic arm to pick up the phone and hold it to his ear so that he can call someone. As the robot arrives with breakfast, it malfunctions, and stops just outside the man's reach. In response, the man hangs up the phone and stretches to reach the food, but falls off the sofa. Looking to his right, he sees a half-eaten Snickers which is covered in dust. Not wanting to stand up and collect his toast, eggs and coffee and continuing to have no luck stretching for them, he grabs the Snickers and starts eating it. The camera zooms outwards as he falls to sleep on the carpet.[8]

Live performances

During a performance on Top of the Pops, X-Press 2 sat on a bunk bed and at a desk.[1]

Charts

See also

References
  1. Coultas, Jimmy (27 January 2014). "X-Press 2 Interview". Skiddle. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  2. "Gates stays at number one". BBC News. BBC. 14 April 2002. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  3. "Ivor Novello Awards 2003: Winners". BBC.
  4. Smith, Jon (21 April 2002). "Single Review: X-Press 2, David Byrne - Lazy". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  5. Allen, Jeremy (9 March 2018). "The Guide to Getting into David Byrne". Vice. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  6. Mulholland, Garry (18 September 2005). "'Give It' by X-Press 2 feat. Kurt Wagner". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  7. Brown, Helen (20 October 2005). "Perfect playlist: Talking Heads". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  8. "X-Press 2 Ft. David Byrne - Lazy [OFFICIAL VIDEO]". YouTube. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  9. "Issue 636" ARIA Top 100 Singles. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  10. "Ultratop.be – X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  11. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 20 no. 18. 27 April 2002. p. 11. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  12. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Lazy". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  13. "Top 10 Dance Singles, Week Ending 18 April 2002". GfK Chart-Track. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  14. "Italiancharts.com – X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy". Top Digital Download. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  15. "Dutchcharts.nl – X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  16. "Charts.nz – X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  17. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  18. "10 Things You Never Knew About... David Byrne". Clash Magazine. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  19. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  20. "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  21. "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  22. "X-Press 2 Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  23. "2002 UK Year-end Charts" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
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