Chapter Four
In My Life
Nope, not a cover of the fabs’ sappy baroque popper from Rubber Soul. It is though, perhaps, a barbed response.
“I wanna spend all my money with the richest man. I wanna know how it feels, to starve with the poor, picking out of garbage cans”.
It is brooding, dark and foreboding, asking fundamental questions about our very existence and our purpose in this “sick, sick world”. Like a teenage mystic in the throws of extreme acid/dope paranoia, the singer resembles someone either on the verge of a mental breakdown, or a crystal clear white light revelation about The Meaning Of Life.
“I wanna know the feeling, of not feeling anything, at all.”
But who cares about lyrics, what’s the sound like. Explosive! Malevolent prime Brit pop-art mixed up with demented US psych punk. Several guitars battle with minor chords, sustain and a fuzz box, going all eastern psychedelic in the manic break. But anyone with Choc Soup 3 or one of the final Rubbles, should already know this. The B side is very ordinary, and may as well be the work of a different band.
Who were Chapter Four? Possibly an offshoot from Jay and the Americans, possibly not. As far as I can tell, this 45 was their sole effort and only ever released in the UK. One of the few pieces of information I’ve managed to find, suggests this was just released to fulfil publishing/ contractual obligations or something. Criminal.
“I wanna know about going to sleep knowing I’ll wake, to no tomorrow.”