The Manics released their debut album Generation Terrorists in 1992. Their combination of androgynous glam punk imagery, outspoken invective and songs about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" soon gained them a loyal following and cult status. The band's later albums retained a politicized and intellectual lyrical style, while adopting a broader alternative rock sound. Enigmatic lyricist Richey Edwards gained early notoriety by carving the words "4 REAL" into his arm with a razor blade (narrowly missing an artery and requiring seventeen stitches) in response to the suggestion that the band were less than authentic. The dark nature of 1994's The Holy Bible reflected the culmination of Edwards' instability.
Following Edwards' disappearance, Bradfield, Moore, and Wire persisted with the Manic Street Preachers and went on to gain critical and commercial success, becoming one of Britain's premier rock bands. They have had eight top ten albums and fifteen top ten singles. They have reached number one three times, with their 1998 album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and the singles "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" (1998) and "The Masses Against The Classes" (2000). The Masses Against The Classes Songfacts reports that the latter was the first UK #1 of 2000. They have also won the Best British Album and Best British Group accolades at the BRIT Awards in 1997 and 1999, and were lauded by the NME for their lifetime achievements in 2008. Their ninth studio album, Journal For Plague Lovers, was released on 18th May 2009 and features lyrics Edwards had left behind to the band weeks before his disappearance.
They came together in 1986, when James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore and rhythm guitarist Flicker formed Betty Blue in the small South Wales town of Blackwood. Two years later, Flicker had left and Nicky's friend Richey Edwards (previously the group's driver) joined in his place. Richey would later say in Vox magazine, "If you built a museum to represent Blackwood, all you could put in it would be shit. We used to meet by this opening called Pen-y-Fan. It was built when the mines closed down but now the water has turned green and slimy. They put 2,000 fish in it, but they died. There's a whirlpool in the middle where about two people die every year". A bleak image, then, but it provided the necessary fuel to drive the band.
Inspired by the passion of The Clash, and moved by Thatcher's suppression of the miners, the band's lyrics exploded with politicised anger. Their first single, the self-financed Suicide Alley, didn't make great waves, and the band moved to London. There, they found a sympathetic character in the form of Bob Stanley: later a member of St Etienne, but then a freelancer for the Melody Maker.
Stanley released a collection of their demos as the New Art Riot EP in June 1990. It caught the attention of Philip Hall, who became their publicist and co-manager.
In early 1991 Heavenly released Motown Junk, an inspired three-minute punk blast. Later that year it was followed by You Love Us, a swaggering, arrogant self-regarding slice of brilliance.
The Manics paved the way for a resurgence of guitar bands in Wales. In the press, they were forced to live with punning headlines referring to sheep, boyos and leeks - they got all the clichés out of the way so the bands of the so-called Cool Cymru would be taken more seriously.
Yet their image often overshadowed the music. On 15 May 1991 came a turning point for the Manics. Following a gig at Norwich Arts Centre, Steve Lamacq, then writing for the NME, argued with the band that they were a cartoon band - not real punks. The band refuted this, but still Lamacq persisted. Frustrated, Richey Edwards took a razor and calmly carved the words 4 REAL into his forearm. Lamacq was horrified; Richey needed 17 stitches. Six days later the Manics signed to Sony. Richey had suffered from depression for many years, and self-mutilation had become increasingly common for him. But the Norwich incident was the first time the guitarist had aired his emotional problems in public.
In February 1992 the debut album Generation Terrorists was released. Heavily influenced by Appetite For Destruction, Richey said of it, "We wanted to sign to the biggest record label in the world, put out a debut album that would sell 20 million, and then break up. Get massive and then just throw it all away". The album sold 250,000 copies worldwide. Predictably they didn't split up, but the album polarised opinion between those that saw them as the new saviours of rock and roll, and detractors who considered them contrived and insincere. Not that the Manics cared: they were off on their first American tour, shortly after the LA riots, and singles such as Slash 'N' Burn and Motorcycle Emptiness were climbing up the charts.
The second Manics album was released in June 1993. Gold Against The Soul was overproduced and less passionate, but did contain the classic songs La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh) and From Despair To Where. However, they also chose to support Bon Jovi for a string of unwise live dates. The troubles continued with the death on 7 December 1993 of their mentor Philip Hall, who had been battling cancer for two years. Meanwhile, Richey's problems were worsening. Weighing less than six stone and subjecting his body to drinking and cutting binges, he was eventually admitted to the Priory in Roehampton.
Richey's despair was documented in what is now considered the Manics' masterpiece, 1994's 'The Holy Bible'. Unremittingly bleak, the opening song Yes contained the lines "I eat and I dress and I wash and I still can say thank you / Puking, shaking, sinking / Can't shout, can't scream, I hurt myself to get pain out". The song was about prostitution, but every line emanated from Richey's fragile state of mind. He rejoined the band for tours with Therapy? and Suede (and an early incarnation of Vitriol I.D.) in Europe, and a series of frantic shows at the London Astoria in December. The final night saw them destroying 10,000 worth of their equipment. "We'll never be that good again," said Nicky after the event. It was also their last live appearance as a four-piece.
Although they had never found transatlantic success, at the beginning of 1995 they were preparing to give America one last try. However, on 1 February Richey walked out of the Embassy hotel in London and never returned. His passport and money were found in his Cardiff Bay flat, and two weeks later his car was discovered beside the Severn Bridge - a notorious local suicide spot. The file on his disappearance remains open.
"We decided to carry on in April," said Nicky Wire in The Guardian, "after two months of waiting by the phone and feeling ill and exhausted. We thought we'd been so close, and in the end we couldn't do anything for him." September saw the band record a cover of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head for the War Child "Help" album, and by January 1996 the Manics were recording their comeback album 'Everything Must Go'. It was released on 20 May to critical acclaim, went double platinum and yielded four top ten singles: 'A Design For Life', the title track, 'Kevin Carter' and 'Australia'. The sound represents a cross between the heavy rock of 'Gold Against The Soul' and a new, less agressive, almost Britpop like sound.
Two Brit Awards later, they released the LP This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours which gave the band their first number one single in If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, perhaps the only song that references the Spanish Civil War to ever appear on Top of the Pops.
On December 31st 1999 the band said goodbye to the 20th Century with a gig at Cardiff Millennium Stadium, attended by upwards of 50,000 people. This was followed by their second number one single, The Masses Against The Classes, which hit the top spot despite not having a video or marketing support from their record company.
Shortly afterwards, Nicky stated that "the fourth era of the Manics is beginning".
The fourth era, so far, has involved an audience with Fidel Castro in Cuba, the 2001 album Know Your Enemy, and continuing success. Their long awaited greatest hits collection, Forever Delayed, appeared in October 2002, followed in 2003 by Lipstick Traces, a two-disc collection of covers, B-sides, and outtakes including the last song recorded with Richey, 'Judge Yr'self'.
The Manics returned in November 2004 with the more reflective Lifeblood, which featured the singles The Love Of Richard Nixon and Empty Souls, both of which went straight in at number two in the charts.
Not to rest on their laurels, the band released a 10th anniversary edition of The Holy Bible in December 2004 which included a digitally remastered version of the original album, a never before heard U.S mix and a DVD of live performances and extras.
In April 2005 the Manics released a limited 3 track E.P. titled God Save The Manics as a free download but with hard copies distributed also without cost at the final date of their small, intimate 'Past Present and Future' tour at Hammersmith Apollo, London - their last show before a two year hiatus.
Later that year the band contributed the new track Leviathan to September's War Child charity album Help: A Day in the Life, becoming one of the few bands to contribute tracks to both albums.
2006 saw both James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire releasing solo albums, The Great Western and I Killed the Zeitgeist respectively. But both insisted that this in no way meant an end to the Manics and in December the band headlined XFM's Winter Wonderland gig in Manchester.
2007 sees the band enter yet another era with their 8th studio album, Send Away The Tigers, which was released on May 7th.
The album Journal For Plague Lovers was released in May 2009 and features lyrics left to the band by Richey before he disappeared. They released several different versions of the album, including a special edition, which has a book featuring copies of the original typed lyrics and pictures that went with them, and a bonus disc with all the original demos, recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, which they say is one of their favourite studios.
Their 10th studio album, Postcards from a Young Man, was released in September 2010. The album features several guest artists: Duff McKagan on A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun, John Cale on Auto-Intoxication and Ian McCulloch on Some Kind of Nothingness. A deluxe edition was also released containing a bonus disc with the original demos on it.
In 2011 the band released their second compilation National Treasures- The Complete Singles Collection, a release preceded by new single This Is The Day a cover of a ´¨The The song. The collection featured every single released since and including Motown Junk.
http://www.manicstreetpreachers.com
Baby Elián
Manic Street Preachers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A Cuban adjustment act
Offer the world a dream
Dress it up, it's blackmail
Internal matter they say
For two million dollars a day
Maybe a future in film
Kidnapped, to the promised land
The Bay of Pigs
Or baby Elian
Operation, Peter Pan
America
The Devil's playground
Baby Elian
Baby Elian
Across the unfair divide
Where black will never meet white
So read my token lips
As if they never exist
You cannot buy a nation
Not even the Miami mob
We follow a shining path
That you will never destroy
Kidnapped, to the promised land
The Bay of Pigs
Or baby Elian
Operation, Peter Pan
America
The Devil's playground
You don't just sit in a rocking chair
When you've built a revolution
You don't just sit in a rocking chair
When you've built a revolution
Baby Elian
Baby Elian
"Baby Elian" is a politically charged song by Manic Street Preachers that addresses the controversy surrounding the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban boy who was rescued from the sea in November 1999 after the boat he was traveling in with his mother and others to the United States sank. Elian's mother drowned, and he was rescued and taken to live with his relatives in Miami, Florida. However, his father, who remained in Cuba, demanded his return. The U.S. government intervened and eventually returned Elian to Cuba, stirring up political and emotional turmoil.
The lyrics describe the various angles of the situation, from the ineffective blockades, the Cuban Adjustment Act meant to lure people to defect by offering citizenship, to the operation to rescue children from communist Cuba after the revolution in the 1960s. It highlights the constant meddling of America in the affairs of other nations, specifically with Cuba. The song also exposes the racial divide in America and how even in the face of such a grave issue, the polarizing nature of race has come to the forefront.
The lyrics evoke imagery of revolution and resilience in the face of adversity, emphasizing the fact that seemingly insurmountable obstacles cannot still true justice. The song champions the Cuban spirit while at the same time questioning the efficacy of the Cuban political system. The title refers to the boy at the center of the debate, suggesting that he is a symbol of something much bigger.
Line by Line Meaning
Blockades won't win you more votes
The use of blockades won't fetch you more votes in an election.
A Cuban adjustment act
The Cuban Adjustment Act that deals with Cuban immigration and residency rules.
Offer the world a dream
Showing the world that you have a dream to fulfill.
Dress it up, it's blackmail
Disguising something that is morally wrong for personal gain.
Internal matter they say
The incident is considered as an internal matter of the country.
For two million dollars a day
The amount that the US was spending per day on controlling the Elian Gonzalez custody controversy.
Maybe a future in film
Suggesting a possibility of a future in film industry.
But Cuban boxers still win
Despite everything, Cuban boxers continue to win in the sport.
Kidnapped, to the promised land
Elian's abduction from Cuba to the US by his mother's boyfriend.
The Bay of Pigs
The US-led failed military invasion in Cuba in 1961.
Or baby Elian
The mention of Elian in comparison to the previous historical event.
Operation, Peter Pan
The program executed by the US in the 1960s to evacuate Cuban children to the US to escape communism.
America
Refers to the country, USA.
The Devil's playground
The country's negative image due to its treatment of certain social and political issues.
Baby Elian
Reiterating the main point of the song.
Across the unfair divide
The separation among people is unjust and unequal.
Where black will never meet white
The gap and lack of understanding between people of different races.
So read my token lips
Metaphorically referring to a token gesture or a symbolic but insignificant act made to appear as something meaningful.
As if they never exist
As if the issue at hand does not exist, ignoring the reality.
You cannot buy a nation
Monetary power cannot control the spirit and unity of a nation.
Not even the Miami mob
The Miami-based Cuban American Mafia is not powerful enough to sway the nation's decision.
We follow a shining path
We continue to strive towards a pathway that is radiant and hopeful despite the odds.
That you will never destroy
The shining pathway will continue to exist with or without the opposition's attempts to eradicate it.
You don't just sit in a rocking chair
One cannot be idle and complacent after working towards bringing about change.
When you've built a revolution
After putting in the effort and creating a revolution, there is still work to be done.
Baby Elian
Mentioning Elian once again to tie back the central theme of the song.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: BRADFIELD, JONES, MOORE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
ohfoolishworkerbee
Such an underrated album.
MadGaming Fez
Which has now been given a new lease on life and what a job they’ve done❤️
Guevara Zoe
i love how James's voice is just like on the CD *-* he is so awesome!!
Rangda Rangda
yes, he's amazing
Phil J Hill
This is a completely under-rated Manics song !!
Jimmy Belt
Beautifull song, cant stop hearing
Paul Johnson
awesome, wish they had done it like this on record.
Rangda Rangda
James is the most underrated songwiter ever.
The Man's a genius
jason birch
if you have seen "our manic's in cuba" they didnt have much choice but to play this beautifull but flawed song, they were continualy hounded. still one of the best tracks from "know your enemy" james never fails to impress in his usual solo sets. is america "the devils playground"? perhaps.......
Rob Holley
The album version is good but this is better!!😎👍