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about

This was recorded in my Rancho Deluxe Studio in 2010. I wrote the song in response to a friend's surprise revelation that a framed, glass back-lit representation of my first album 'Messages' (RCA, 1974) was STILL on the central pillar of London's Hard Rock Cafe in 2009. it's still there now, I believe (well, it was when I checked in 2017). That means that it's been there for 45 years! My titular metaphor reflects my feelings about the evil nature of the music industry - and, of course, it's a play on words.

lyrics

Look out for the hidden messages...

No nothing will ever be the same
You are the flotsam and jetsam of the past.
And people who refuse to play the game
will be guaranteed to always be the last.

In the queue where no-one knows your name
you are forgotten like 80s ghetto blasters,
it's so cynical and clinical, oh the shame
like a roller-coaster ride that's always going faster...

You've been framed - like a Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster,
You gotta play the game to please your masters.
Hung up on a wall for ever after, in the hall of fame of tears and laughter...
You've been framed, you've been named. It will never be the same.

In the middle of London's Hard Rock Cafe - look out for the hidden messages...

Seen in every portrait, there's a truth and there's a lie
and everything that you were taught is an idea coming from on high
(Look out for the hidden messages),
by the spin doctors of phoney thoughts, religions based on power,
hypocrisy from twisted minds who would crush anything that flowers
(Look out for the hidden messages).
In the queue where no-one knows your name,
you are forgotten like 80s ghetto blasters,
it's so cynical and clinical, oh the shame,
like a roller-coaster ride that's always going faster...

You've been framed - like a Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster,
You gotta play the game to please your masters.

Look out for the hidden messages....

Hung up on every wall for ever after, in the hall of fame of tears and laughter,
you've been Framed, you've been named. It will never be the same.

In the middle of London's Hard Rock Cafe - look out for the hidden messages.

You’ve been framed.

credits

from The Unplanned Obsolescence Of Thom Topham, released July 4, 2019
Keyboards, drum programming, bass, vocals and production by Steve Swindells.

Acoustic guitar by Jerry Richards.

Words and music by Steve Swindells.

Photo taken by the manager of London's Hard Rock Cafe in 2009.

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Steve Swindells Bath, UK

For my bio see (and 'like' me please): www.facebook.com/SteveSwindellsMusic

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