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I specifically chose to feature a live version of today’s song because it’s so much more crazy, fierce and wired; I mean the album version is great, but this performance just gives it fire! The rhythm section is insane and I can’t get enough of Les Pattinson’s bass (a bass line to learn perhaps) and Pete de Freitas’ wild drumming!
Crocodiles is the title track from Echo & The Bunnymen’s debut album which was released in 1980 via Warner Bros subsidiary label, Korova. The album received plenty of praise upon its initial release, but how could it not, here we have a fantastic post-punk record bursting with darkness and heavily laden with gorgeous heavy bass!
In the year of the album’s release the NME described McCulloch’s lyrics as being “scattered with themes of sorrow, horror, and despair, themes that are reinforced by stormy animal/sexual imagery,” a description that perfectly encapsulates the intended feel of the record. To reflect the desired mood of the album, the cover imagery was carefully selected, featuring a picture taken by photographer Brian Griffin in the woods near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. Depicting darkness and sorrowfulness, the photo was also taken at night to further reinforce the theme of introspection, despair and confusion. If McCulloch had originally had his way with the cover, however, he would have included burning stakes, but given the possible KKK connotations, they settled for moody lighting instead!! Still, pleased with the final image, McCulloch was reported to have claimed that the “cover is better to look at than the Mona Lisa”
Listen/watch and enjoy above!
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