Malcolm McLaren (22 January 1946, London, UK – 8 April 2010, Switzerland) h… Read Full Bio ↴Malcolm McLaren (22 January 1946, London, UK – 8 April 2010, Switzerland) had a varied career starting from Art School dropout to Kings Road merchant, moving into band manager, socio-political instigator, quasi-musician himself, wry social commentator & influential media manipulator. In the late 1960s he started designing clothes and by 1972 he opened a clothing boutique in London with his then girlfriend, Vivienne Westwood.

In 1975, after a failed stint at managing & relaunching the image of the notoriously hard living and chaotic band the New York Dolls, Malcolm nurtured the formation of one of the most infamous punk bands in history, The Sex Pistols. He became their manager, and controlled their contracts, as well as most importantly to him, their image in the media. The venture ended in a disastrous US tour, and a film called "The Great Rock And Roll Swindle" that featured McLaren, and glorified his untraditional Situationist PR approach and manipulative Svengali-esque role in the band's career.

In the '80s, after the Sex Pistols had long broken up, Malcolm became the manager of another band, Adam and the Ants which veered away from punk's coarse format via new romantic pirate garb and poly rhythmic African style drumming. When Adam Ant rebelled and left the band, Malcolm repackaged the musicians with a 14 year old Anglo/Burmese girl named Annabella Lwin to form the band Bow Wow Wow. He soon used his headline making skills to propel the band and their underage lead singer to the top of the charts with a nude album cover scandal.

In the early 1980's, Malcolm began producing his own records, beginning with the hits "Buffalo Gals" and "Double Dutch" from the groundbreaking 1983 album "Duck Walk" which used NYC hip hoppers and scratch DJ's The World Famous Supreme Team, as its foundation. Future members of Art of Noise performed on, produced, and/or jointly composed various tracks. He next turned to opera, masterminding a pop adaptation of "Madam Butterfly" on the album "Fans" using an assortment of female vocalists, and skilled musician Robby Kilgore on the tracks.

McLaren has released numerous other albums and tracks since, including contributions to the movie soundtracks of Carry On Columbus, and Kill Bill 2, but his musical career peaked with his 1980's works. McLaren's original "Double Dutch" era material has since been reappropriated and sampled by sucessful artists including Mariah Carey, Eminem, Amerie and De La Soul.

In his later years, McLaren occasionally contributed to newspapers and magazines, directed and produced films and appeared on British reality television programmes. He died on the morning of 8 April 2010, following a battle with cancer.

Jive My Baby
Malcolm McLaren Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Tina
Tina says you can dress her
She loves you
She loves to Jive my Baby

Tina
Tina says you can dress her
She loves to

She loves to change my Baby

Watch how slow we dress Tina
She dressed to kill to steal away
Come back later she'll shake 'n' Jive you
Set alight the lights Jive My Baby

Watch how slow we dress Tina
She's dressed to kill to steal away
Come back later she'll shake 'n' Jive you
Set alight the lights Jive My Baby

Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby
Jive my Baby Jive
Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive

Can't wait for pay day to be sure
Nobody catch you because you're so very sexy
Can't wait for pay day to be sure
Nobody catch you because you're so very sexy

Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby

Watch how slow we dress Tina
She dressed to kill to steal away
Come back later she'll shake 'n' Jive you
Set alight the lights Jive My Baby

Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive

Watch how slow we dress Tina
She dressed to kill to steal away
Come back later she'll shake 'n' Jive you
Set alight the lights Jive My Baby

Watch how slow we dress Tina
She dressed to kill to steal away
Come back later she'll shake 'n' Jive you
Set alight the lights Jive My Baby

Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby
Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby

Jive My Baby Jive
Jive My Baby

Overall Meaning

The song "Jive My Baby" by Malcolm McLaren features Tina, the singer of the song. The lyrics speak about how Tina likes to be dressed and dressed up, and how she loves to Jive (dance). The song is upbeat and energetic, with several repetitions of the phrase "Jive My Baby." McLaren's use of repetition and catchy rhythm makes the song suitable for dance music.

The first few lines of the song talk about how Tina loves to be dressed and dressed up by her lover. Her love for getting dressed is expressed clearly in the line "She loves to change my Baby." The song suggests that Tina dresses up to steal attention away from others. The upbeat tone of the song suggests that the song is about fun and dance, as opposed to any serious themes.

Towards the end of the song, the lyrics mention pay day, possibly meaning that Tina is a dancer and needs to wait until she gets paid to buy clothes for her performances. The song's title, "Jive My Baby," is repeated many times, indicating its importance. Overall, the song is about dressing up, dancing, and having fun.

Line by Line Meaning

Tina
The name of a person being referred to in the song

Tina says you can dress her
Tina is open to being dressed by someone else

She loves you
Tina has feelings of affection towards the person the song is addressing

She loves to Jive my Baby
Tina enjoys dancing to the song with the person the song is addressing

Watch how slow we dress Tina
The act of dressing Tina is being done slowly and carefully

She dressed to kill to steal away
Tina is dressed very attractively to catch the attention of others

Come back later she'll shake 'n' Jive you
Tina will dance with the person the song is addressing at a later point in time

Set alight the lights Jive My Baby
The atmosphere will be lively and exciting while they dance to the song

Can't wait for pay day to be sure
The person being addressed is eagerly anticipating their next paycheck

Nobody catch you because you're so very sexy
The person being addressed is attractive and confident

Jive My Baby
The chorus of the song