In 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's collaborations began in London, En… Read Full Bio ↴In 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's collaborations began in London, England. They assumed alter egos - King Boy D and Rockman Rock respectively - and they adopted the name The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from The Illuminatus! Trilogy. In those novels, the JAMs are what the Illuminati (a political organisation which seeks to impose order and control upon society) call a group of Discordians who have infiltrated the Illuminati in order to feed them false information. As The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Drummond and Cauty chose to interpret the principles of the fictional JAMs in the context of music production in the corporate music world. Shrouded in the mystique provided by their disguised identities and the cultish Illuminatus!, they mirrored the Discordians' gleeful political tactics of causing chaos and confusion by bringing a direct, humorous but nevertheless revolutionary approach to making records, often attracting attention in unconventional ways. The JAMs' primary instrument was the digital sampler with which they would plagiarise the history of popular music, cutting chunks from existing works and pasting them into new contexts, underpinned by rudimentary beatbox rhythms and overlayed with Drummond's raps, of social commentary, esoteric metaphors and mockery.

The JAMs' debut single "All You Need Is Love" dealt with the media coverage given to AIDS, sampling heavily from The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" and Samantha Fox's "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)". Although it was declined by distributors fearful of prosecution, and threatened with lawsuits, copies of the one-sided white label 12" were sent to the music press, receiving positive reviews and being made "single of the week" in Sounds. A later piece in the same magazine called The JAMs "the hottest, most exhilarating band this year.... It's hard to understand what it feels like to come across something you believe to be totally new; I have never been so wholeheartedly convinced that a band are so good and exciting."

The JAMs re-edited and re-released "All You Need Is Love" in May 1987, removing or doctoring the most antagonistic samples; lyrics from the song appeared as promotional graffiti, defacing selected billboards. The re-release rewarded The JAMs not just with further praise (including NME´s "single of the week") but also with the funds necessary to record their debut album. The album, 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), was released in June 1987. Included was a song called "The Queen and I" which sampled large portions of the ABBA single "Dancing Queen". The recording came to the attention of ABBA's management and, after a legal showdown with ABBA and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, the 1987 album was forcibly withdrawn from sale. Drummond and Cauty travelled to Sweden in hope of meeting ABBA and coming to some agreement, taking an NME journalist and photographer with them, along with most of the remaining copies of the LP. They failed to meet ABBA, so disposed of the copies by burning most of them in a field and throwing the rest overboard on the North Sea ferry trip home. In a December 1987 interview, Cauty maintained that they "felt that what [they]'d done was artistically justified."

Two new singles followed 1987, on The JAMs' "KLF Communications" independent record label. Both reflected a shift towards house rhythms. According to NME, The JAMs' choice of samples for the first of these, "Whitney Joins The JAMs" saw them leaving behind their strategy of "collision course" to "move straight onto the art of super selective theft". The song uses samples of the Mission: Impossible theme alongside Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". Ironically, Drummond has claimed that The KLF were later offered the job of producing or remixing a new Whitney Houston album as an inducement from her record label boss (Clive Davis of Arista Records) to sign with them. Drummond turned the job down, but nonetheless The KLF signed with Arista as their American distributors. The second single in this sequence—Drummond and Cauty's third and final single of 1987—was "Down Town", a dance record built around a gospel choir and "Downtown" by 1960s star Petula Clark. These early works were later collected on the compilation album Shag Times.

A second album, Who Killed The JAMs?, was released in early 1988. Who Killed The JAMs? was a rather less haphazard affair than 1987, earning the duo at least one five-star review (from Sounds Magazine, who called it "a masterpiece of pathos".

JAMS aka.. time lords, and the KLF, and 2k.

Drummond was once a manager of Echo and the Bunnymen, Cauty has worked with the Orb.

Downtown
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

(Jesus Jesus, Jesus Christ was born today)
(He's born today)
(hey hey)
[D..D..Down]
(hey hey)
All right
(hey hey)
[D..Dow..down...down]

I'm gonna rap
Downtown, walk around
Looking at the world go by
Got the cash, want to buy crack
In the end it's all a lie
[rhy..rhy..rhythym]
[rhy..rhy..rhy..rhy..rhythm]
Downtown, down and out
Dying in the dead of night
With your special brew your special view
Of a world that could be right
(Glory!) What glory?
(Glory!) In a wine bar world?
(Glory!) in a tenament block?
OK, lets hear it
(Up above, the angels look down
Singing their hosannas shining glory all around
A baby boy into the world he came
You heard the story, you know his name
And the angels sing
Glory, glory, glory hallelujah
Jesus Christ is born
Glory, glory, glory hallelujah
Jesus, Jesus Christ is born today)
[downtown. downtown]
[ neon signs are pretty ]
Downtown, down and out
Dying in the dead of night
With your special brew your special view
Of a world that could be right
(Glory!) Was the field so green?
(Glory!) Why's the family so mean
(Glory!) In Leicester Square
Can you do it to it clean?
(down below we looking up
Singing our songs but they don't mean nuthin'
That baby boy said he's the way
We're all they know makes you fall today
And the people sing
Glory, glory, glory hallelujah
Jesus Christ is born
Glory, glory, glory hallelujah
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus what can we do
What can we do?)
[Downtown, things will be great when you're
Downtown, no finer place for sure
Downtown, everything's waiting for you ]
(singing their hosannas shining glory all around
A baby into the world he came
You heard the story, you know his name
And the angels sing
Glory, glory, glory hallelujah
Jesus Christ is born
Glory, glory, glory hallelujah

Jesus, Jesus Christ what can we do?
What can we do?)

Overall Meaning

The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu's song, "Down Town" appears to be a detached commentary on society that blends religious imagery with the bleak realities of urban life. The lyrics begin with a reference to the birth of Jesus Christ and end with a question about what can be done to improve the world. However, in between, the song's narrator focuses on walking around downtown, observing the world and its problems. The refrain, "Glory!" seems ironic, as it follows questions like, "What glory in a wine bar world? What glory in a tenement block?"

As the song progresses, the singer seems to become more disillusioned, questioning whether the grass was ever really greener and noting that even in the midst of the Christmas season, people's hopes and aspirations remain unfulfilled. The song concludes by asking, "What can we do?" suggesting that despite its bleakness, there may still be some hope for humanity.

Overall, "Down Town" can be interpreted as a commentary on the emptiness and disillusionment that many people feel in the face of societal problems. The song seems to suggest that there is a lack of hope or direction, but that even small acts of kindness or community can make a difference.

Line by Line Meaning

Jesus Jesus, Jesus Christ was born today
The birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated today.

He's born today
The birth of Jesus Christ is being celebrated today.

hey hey
Informal greeting.

[D..D..Down]
Emphasis on going downtown.

All right
Acknowledgment of understanding.

[D..Dow..down...down]
Emphasis on going downtown.

I'm gonna rap
I'm going to speak rhythmically.

Downtown, walk around
Walk around the downtown area.

Looking at the world go by
Observing the people and things around town.

Got the cash, want to buy crack
I have money and want to buy drugs.

In the end it's all a lie
The drug use ultimately leads to nothing.

[rhy..rhy..rhythym]
Emphasis on the beat of the music.

[rhy..rhy..rhy..rhy..rhythm]
Further emphasis on the beat of the music.

Downtown, down and out
Those in the downtown area are often struggling.

Dying in the dead of night
People are dying at night in the downtown area.

With your special brew your special view
Drinking beer leads to a skewed perspective of the world.

Of a world that could be right
People dream of a better world.

(Glory!) What glory?
What is there to celebrate?

(Glory!) In a wine bar world?
What is there to be proud of in a world centered around wine bars?

(Glory!) in a tenament block?
What is there to be proud of in a tenement block?

OK, lets hear it
Expression of eagerness to listen further.

(Up above, the angels look down
The religious allusion to the angels watching over humans.

Singing their hosannas shining glory all around
Angels praising God for the birth of Jesus Christ.

A baby boy into the world he came
Jesus Christ was born.

You heard the story, you know his name
The story of Jesus Christ is well-known.

And the angels sing Glory, glory, glory hallelujah Jesus Christ is born Glory, glory, glory hallelujah Jesus, Jesus Christ is born today
The angels continue to praise Jesus Christ's birth.

[downtown. downtown]
Emphasis on being downtown.

[ neon signs are pretty ]
Observation of the downtown area's bright lights.

Downtown, down and out
The people downtown are struggling and poor.

With your special brew your special view
Drinking beer leads to a skewed perspective of the world.

Of a world that could be right
People dream of a better world.

(Glory!) Was the field so green?
Was the world really a better place in the past?

(Glory!) Why's the family so mean
Why do people act so poorly towards one another?

(Glory!) In Leicester Square
There is nothing to celebrate in Leicester Square.

Can you do it to it clean?
Is there a better way to live?

(down below we looking up Singing our songs but they don't mean nuthin' That baby boy said he's the way We're all they know makes you fall today And the people sing Glory, glory, glory hallelujah Jesus Christ is born Glory, glory, glory hallelujah Jesus, Jesus, Jesus what can we do What can we do?)
Despite everything, people still look to Jesus Christ for help.

[Downtown, things will be great when you're Downtown, no finer place for sure Downtown, everything's waiting for you ]
An advertisement for the downtown area, promising good things.

singing their hosannas shining glory all around A baby into the world he came You heard the story, you know his name And the angels sing Glory, glory, glory hallelujah Jesus Christ is born Glory, glory, glory hallelujah Jesus, Jesus Christ what can we do? What can we do?)
The religious allusion is repeated, emphasizing the importance of Jesus Christ.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: TONY HATCH, JAMES CAUTY, BILL DRUMMOND

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS