Written by Kevin Godley, Lol Creme, and Graham Gouldman and produced by 10cc, “Rubber Bullets” was the band’s first number one single in the UK Singles Chart, spending one week at the top in June 1973. It also reached No. 1 in Ireland and No. 3 in Australia, but it fared relatively poorly in the United States where it peaked at only No. 73. The single achieved sales of over 50,000 copies in Australia, being eligible for the award of a Gold Disc.
10cc are an English rock band founded in Stockport, England, who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians – Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme – who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the name “10cc” in 1972.
10cc featured two songwriting teams, one “commercial” and one “artistic”. Stewart and Gouldman were predominantly pop songwriters, who created most of the band’s accessible songs. By way of contrast, Godley and Creme were the predominantly experimental half of 10cc, featuring an “art school” sensibility and cinematically-inspired writing.
Every member of 10cc was a multi-instrumentalist, singer, writer and producer, and the writing teams frequently switched partners, so that Godley/Gouldman or Creme/Stewart compositions were not uncommon (although compositions credited to Creme/Gouldman and Godley/Stewart are rare, only found on 1974’s Sheet Music). After Godley and Creme left the band in 1976, Gouldman and Stewart were the main creative forces behind 10cc. Stewart left the band after 1995, and Gouldman continues to lead a touring version of 10cc.
Most of the band’s albums were recorded at their own Strawberry Studios (North) in Stockport and Strawberry Studios (South) in Dorking, with most of those engineered by Stewart. 10cc was co-managed by Ric Dixon and Harvey Lisberg at Kennedy Street, who had represented the individual members of the band since the mid-1960s.
Rubber Bullets (1973)
I went to a party at the local county jail
All the cons were dancing and the band began to wail
But the guys were indiscreet
They were brawling in the street
At the local dance at the local county jail
Well the band were playing
And the booze began to flow
But the sound came over on the police car radio
Down at Precinct 49
Having a tear-gas of a time
Sergeant Baker got a call from the governor of the county jail
Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
I love to hear those convicts squeal
It’s a shame these slugs ain’t real
But we can’t have dancin’ at the local county jail
Sergeant Baker and his men made a bee-line for the jail
And for miles around
You could hear the sirens wail
There’s a rumor goin’ round death row
That a fuse is gonna blow
At the local hop at the local county jail
Whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do
Sergeant Baker started talkin’
With a bullhorn in his hand
He was cool, he was clear
He was always in command
He said “Blood will flow;
Here Padre
Padre you talk to your boys…”
“Trust in me –
God will come to set you free”
Well we don’t understand
Why you called in the National Guard
When Uncle Sam is the one
Who belongs in the exercise yard
We all got balls and brains
But some’s got balls and chains
At the local dance at the local county jail
Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets
Is it really such a crime
For a guy to spend his time
At the local dance at the local county jail
At the local dance at the local county jail
Whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do about it, whatcha gonna do
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