CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (19)

By: Tor Aarestad
August 19, 2020

One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of our favorite punk songs, c. 1974–1983.

“RETURN THE GIFT” | GANG OF FOUR | 1979

I came across Gang of Four’s caustic first LP, Entertainment, in the early 2000s. I was spending my daysweeksmonths caring for two young children while my wife worked brutal and unpredictable hours. An old friend who was a musician sent me several mix CDs, and “Return the Gift” was a hit in our household.

The song’s apparent simplicity is part of its effectiveness — the opening guitar notes a repeated back and forth between A and G (“A signature guitar figure that propels the song to infinity” according to singer Jon King) not quite in time until the rhythm section kicks in. Then King matches his pitch to the guitar, declaiming in loosely connected words without meaning that seemed to emerge from too much time in college reading the Frankfurt School — “you’re on the… price list!” — until the last half of the song when he plangently sings, “Please send me evenings and weekends” repeatedly. Occasionally, another voice spits out the words underneath King. This bifurcation of the song is what always got me and still does. Andy Gill’s aggressive, goading guitar playing unsettles the listener, creates tension; he is the critic, the dismantler of the world. Gill once said that Gang of Four had “anti-solos”, holes where music should be. All that tension and unrest throughout the song resolves into King’s romantic plea that closes the song.

In February, Andy Gill died. I pulled Entertainment off the shelf of desuetude and resumed listening. Soon after that, my children and I ended up at home together full time again. No milestones, no events, no school days or school nights, no end of the working day. Time does not pass, it extends ever outward. Please send me evenings and weekends.

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CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2020): Series introduction by Josh Glenn | Mimi Lipson on Flipper’s “Sex Bomb” | James Parker on The Jam’s “Going Underground” | Dan Fox on The Cramps’ “Human Fly” | Adrienne Crew on Bad Brains’ “I and I Survive” | Devin McKinney on Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never” | Deb Chachra on The Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love” | Mark Kingwell on The Demics’ “New York City” | Jessamyn West on Dead Kennedys’ “Kill the Poor” | Douglas Wolk on The Homosexuals’ “Soft South Africans” | Josh Glenn on The Freeze’s “This is Boston, Not L.A.” | Stephanie Burt on Sorry’s “Imaginary Friend” | Luc Sante on Public Image Ltd.’s “Public Image” | Miranda Mellis on X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” | Adam McGovern on The Clash’s “Washington Bullets” | Mandy Keifetz on Germs’ “Forming” | Gordon Dahlquist on The Sex Pistols’ “Problems” | Anthony Miller on The Soft Boys’ “I Wanna Destroy You” | Deborah Wassertzug on The Mekons’ “Where Were You?” | Tor Aarestad on Gang of Four’s “Return the Gift” | Marc Weidenbaum on The Pop Rivets’ “Dream of ’63” | David Smay on The Rezillos’ “(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures” | Vanessa Berry on The Cure’s “So What” | Chelsey Johnson on The Slits’ “Typical Girls” | Lynn Peril on Crass’s “Smother Love” | Mike Watt on The Dils’ “You’re Not Blank”.

MORE ENTHUSIASM at HILOBROW

CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (19)

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