Dolby promoted himself as a kind of mad scientist, an egghead that had successfully harnessed the power of synthesizers and samplers, using them to make catchy pop and electro-funk. Before he launched his solo career, Dolby had already worked as a studio musician, technician, and songwriter. After starting out as a teenaged live sound man, mixing The Fall, The Members and others using a PA he built himself, he formed the arty post-punk band Camera Club (also known as Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club) with Bruce Woolley, Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn and Matthew Seligman. Within a year, he had left the group and joined Lene Lovich’s backing band and gave her his song "New Toy", which became a British hit in 1981. That same year, he released his first solo single, "Urges", on the English independent label Armageddon. By the autumn, he had signed with Parlophone and released "Europa and the Pirate Twins", which nearly cracked the UK Top 40.
Dolby started playing synthesizer on sessions for other artists in 1982. That year, he played keyboards on Def Leppard’s Pyromania and Joan Armatrading’s Walk Under Ladders. His most distinctive session credit is that keyboard line after the chorus on Foreigner’s "Waiting for a Girl Like You". In that eventful summer, Dolby also collaborating with New York rappers Whodini to create "Magic’s Wand" – a pivotal early hip hop track (the first rap single to shift 1 million copies), and it also single-handedly started the new jack swing movement.
Even with all of these achievements, 1982 was most noteworthy for the release of Dolby’s first solo album, The Golden Age of Wireless, in the summer of 1982, the landmark album reaching number 13. "Windpower", the first single from the record, became his first Top 40 UK hit in the late summer. Other cuts from the album include "The Airwaves", and "One of Our Submarines", a meditation on the futility of empire.
In January of 1983, Dolby released an EP, Blinded by Science, which includes what would become his most well-known track, "She Blinded Me with Science" featuring a cameo vocal appearance by the notorious British eccentric Magnus Pike, who also appeared in the song’s video. "She Blinded Me with Science" was a minor hit in England, but the EP and the single became a major American hit in 1983, thanks to MTV’s heavy airplay of the video. Eventually, the song reached number five on the US charts and it was included on a resequenced and reissued version of The Golden Age of Wireless, which peaked at number 13 in America.
The Flat Earth, Dolby's second album, appeared in early 1984, and harkens back to a time when songs mattered more than the video, even as MTV was discovering its strength. Opening with "Dissidents", conjuring up images of blacklisted authors and ugly snow, gray from oppression, with Matthew Seligman’s bass at the fore, lavish, growling, popping through octaves, funk-a-fied and twinkling with harmonics throughout the album. The title track is an R&B daydream of piano and Motown stabs of rhythm guitar. "Screen Kiss" has a similarly ethereal quality, and the lyrics are lush with imagery. The cover of Dan Hicks’ 1967 "I Scare Myself" is a balmy jazz club cocktail – faithfully nostalgic, right down to a bittersweet trombone solo from Peter Thomas. "Hyperactive" is one part bizarre to two parts infectious; guest vocalist Adele Bertei fuels the fire to what was already destined to be a memorable diversion beyond the reach of Top 40. The single became Thomas’ biggest UK hit, peaking at number 17.
During 1985, Dolby collaborated with artists including Stevie Wonder, Dusty Springfield and Herbie Hancock; and notched up some more high-concept production credits. George Clinton's Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends, Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen, and Joni Mitchell’s Dog Eat Dog were all midwifed by Dolby, who also was musical director for David Bowie at Live Aid. Also in 1985, he began composing film scores, starting with Fever Pitch. In 1986, he composed the scores for Gothic and Howard the Duck, for which he credited himself as Dolby's Cube. (That credit led to a lawsuit from the Dolby Labs, who eventually prohibited the musician from using the name "Dolby" in conjunction with any other name than "Thomas.")
Aliens Ate My Buick, Dolby's long-delayed third album, appeared in 1988 to a mixed reaction, although "Airhead" became a minor British hit. That same year, Dolby married actress Kathleen Beller. For the rest of the late 80s and early 90s, Dolby continued to score films, producing and building his own computer equipment.
1992’s Astronauts and Heretics, features guest stars such as Eddie Van Halen, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Ofra Haza. The album opens with "I Love You Goodbye", one of Thomas’ most evocative songs, and ends with "Beauty of a Dream" which is also a contender for that honour. Highlights found inbetween include "Cruel" (a duet with Fairground Attraction’s Eddie Reader), "I Live in a Suitcase" and "Close But No Cigar".
The following year, Dolby founded the computer software company Headspace in Silicon Valley, releasing The Virtual String Quartet as its first program, and also pioneered technology for music on mobile phones. For the rest of the 90s, Headspace occupied most of Dolby's time and energy. In 1994, he released The Gate to the Mind’s Eye, a soundtrack to the animated short film Mind’s Eye. Also that year, Capitol released the greatest-hits collection, Retrospectacle.
Thirteen years after Astronauts and Heretics, Dolby returned to live performance in 2006 with his solo Sole Inhabitant tour, which covered North America and the UK, with Thomas recreating the highlights of his earlier work from scratch, with a camera mounted like a miner’s lamp on his head, and a big screen showing the view from the artist, turning what would be a fairly dull one-man-and-a-rack-of-synths into a fascinating audio visual experience and an unintended masterclass for music technology students.
UK indie label Invisible Hands Music released a CD and DVD box set recorded on the Sole Inhabitant tour. These fresh and modern reinterpretations of Thomas’ work to date precedes a new studio album due in 2008, which is as-yet untitled, but does include a song about Britney’s ex Kevin Federline (“K-Fed”) who used an uncleared sample from "She Blinded Me with Science" and did not respond to legal approaches until a ‘cease-and-desist’ was posted in the comments field of his MySpace page. That song is called "My Karma Hit Your Dogma", and bodes well for a mighty return to form, combining Thomas’ humour and intelligence with a unique musical vision.
2011 saw Dolby get busy by returning with a new studio album A Map of the Floating City on 29 October. The album is broken down into three genres of Urbanoia's tales of city experiences; Amerikana as Dolby's take on his years living in America and it's roots music; and Oceanea: songs of life by the sea in his home country of England. The music was debuted first as download EPs to Dolby's online community and then previewed by a transmedia interactive game also called the FloatingCity.com.
Thomas Dolby is taking the music back on tour as a solo artist and with varying line-ups of bands, doing two tours of the UK in 2011, and has his first trip to Australia in February 2012 followed by dates in Japan. In March Dolby kicks off the Time-Capsule.tv tour at the SxSW Festival in Austin playing dates in USA and Canada through April. He will have a trailer parked at venues on his tour where you can produce a 30 second video offering words of wisdom to whoever will be walking the earth in the future. Dolby wants to give people a chance to “explain to an alien visitor what went wrong with our civilization. Our species may not be around on this planet much longer, so you might as well leave a welcome message for the next guys.”
Puppet Theatre
Thomas Dolby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
and i'm dancing on a string
one more pawn for the puppet master
the lines are drawn the hook is in
and they used me
for a plaything
but i'm crying real tears
we are half of a million people
and our limbs have lost control
and we play the machines a dozen at a time
the only song we know
one more night in the puppet theater
and i'm dancing on a string
one more pawn for the puppet master
the lines are drawn the hook is in
same old night in the puppet theater
same old dancing on a string
one more pawn for the puppet master
can't take it any more, the hook is in
in the surgery of the open heart
there's a soldier on every fader
and a madman in control
and he plays the machine for hours at a time
the only song he knows
so I wound up alone on the dance floor
and a laser hit me in the eye
I began to feel my body dissolving
melting in a pool of light
and they need me
for a plaything
but i'm crying....
The song "Puppet Theatre" by Thomas Dolby is a commentary on the dehumanizing effects of technology, particularly in the entertainment industry. The lyrics describe a situation in which the singer is trapped in a puppet theater, being controlled by a puppet master. The singer is filled with a sense of hopelessness and resignation, as he recognizes that he has become nothing more than a pawn in someone else's game.
The use of the word "puppet" in the lyrics underscores this feeling of being controlled, manipulated, and ultimately dehumanized. Dolby lyrically paints a picture of a performer being used for entertainment like a puppet, with no agency or control over his own life. He sings, "they used me for a plaything/but I'm crying real tears/in an ocean of gold." This juxtaposition of real human emotions with the superficiality of the entertainment industry highlights the emptiness of the experience.
The lyrics also describe the dehumanizing effects of technology on the audience. The song speaks of half a million people playing machines a dozen at a time, all playing the same song, and losing control of their limbs. The audience has become nothing more than machines that mindlessly consume entertainment. The singer's experience of being dissolved by a laser further underscores this theme of technology dehumanizing people.
Overall, "Puppet Theatre" is a powerful commentary on the ways in which technology can strip people of their humanity and agency, turning them into nothing more than puppets in someone else's game.
Line by Line Meaning
One more night in the puppet theater
Another evening being controlled by outside forces at the puppet show
and i'm dancing on a string
I am being manipulated and unable to move as I am forced to perform
one more pawn for the puppet master
I am just another object to be used by the one in charge
the lines are drawn the hook is in
The plan has been set in motion and I am caught in its trap
and they used me
They have taken advantage of me and my abilities for their own gain
for a plaything
I am nothing more than a toy to be played with and then forgotten
but i'm crying real tears
I am genuinely upset and affected by what is happening to me
in an ocean of gold
Surrounded by wealth and material goods, but still feeling empty and alone
we are half of a million people
There are many others like me who have been caught up in this system
and our limbs have lost control
We are no longer in charge of our own movements or actions
and we play the machines a dozen at a time
We mindlessly follow the same routine over and over again without thought or creativity
the only song we know
We are limited and unable to express ourselves in any other way
same old night in the puppet theater
It is always the same situation, night after night
can't take it any more, the hook is in
I am at my breaking point and am unable to escape from the situation
in the surgery of the open heart
The innermost workings of our minds and emotions are being tampered with
there's a soldier on every fader
We are each trying to control our own fate, but with little success
and a madman in control
The person controlling us is irrational and unpredictable
so I wound up alone on the dance floor
I am isolated and trapped in this situation completely on my own
and a laser hit me in the eye
An unexpected event occurred that shook me out of my normal state of being
I began to feel my body dissolving
I started to lose touch with my physical self and my surroundings
melting in a pool of light
I am becoming one with my environment and losing my sense of self
and they need me
Despite what I am becoming, I am still seen as a necessary cog in the machine
but i'm crying....
I am still emotionally struggling, even as I lose myself in the situation
Contributed by Aaron W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
NutriBunz
this song is so underrated
Prof Piehead
That is THE best Bass break solo I have ever heard.......
Rob Disner Slept Here
RIP Matthew Seligman. We lost him from COVID-related complications a few months back.
Prof Piehead
@Rob Disner Slept Here Sad news indeed. I loved his bass sound ..from "Living in Europe" to "Radio Silence" king of the "Ghost Note".
DJ RETRO
Matthew Seligman R.I.P.
DJ RETRO
@Prof Piehead also heard on Thompson Twins "In the Name of Love"
Music and Monsters
I would love to buy this live version on vinyl or high def audio!
Mateusz Orlinski
It was released on Laserdisc in 1982 and DVD in 2009 (bonus to 'The Golden Age of Wireless')
luis gustavo
I love you Mr. Thomas. Thanks for helping through asleep nights of study
Angelo C
Whodini used this as a backing track and the song was huge…….bass is sick!