Known for its outrageous and controversial stage performances led by the bands' theatrical singer/songwriter Friday, they first began playing small shows in Dublin gaining them a cult audience and ridicule from the culturally conservative community. With an audience the band were able to issue their first single in 1980, the independently-produced Twenty Tens (I've Been Smoking All Night), which led to a deal with the Rough Trade Records.
Gavin Friday and Guggi, along with third vocalist 'Dave-iD Busaras' (David Scott Watson), guitarist Dik Evans (brother of U2's The Edge), bassist Strongman (Trevor Rowan, brother of Guggi) and drummer Pod (Anthony Murphy), completed the original lineup. Soon after the release of their first single the bands drummer, Pod, left the group and was replaced by Haa-Lacka Binttii (aka Bintii, aka Princess Tinymeat, neé Daniel Figgis), who was in turn replaced by drummer Mary D'Nellon.
1981 to 1982 would see the band release many innovative and creative projects such as A New Form of Beauty, a project that contained four chapters, each on a different format. In 1982 the Virgin Prunes released their debut album ...If I Die, I Die. Heresie, a French boxset, was also released. The boxset contained two 10 inch records, one with studio recordings from just before the "If I Die I Die" sessions and one with a registration of a Paris concert .
In 1984 both Guggi and Dik Evans, unhappy with the music business, left the band. This forced drummer, Mary D'Nellon to take up the guitar and allowed Pod to return as the band's drummer. The Virgin Prunes started to record the album Sons Find Devils, which has never been released.
In 1985, confusingly enough, a retrospective video titled Sons Find Devils was released; this video had nothing to do with the unreleased album of the same name. Later that same year, Over the Rainbow, a compilation of rarities, was also released.
In the summer of 1986 the band, now a four-piece recording music written for Sons Find Devils, finally released a new album, The Moon Looked Down and Laughed. Also that year frontman Gavin Friday left the group. His departure was confirmed in the liner notes of the band's 1987 live album The Hidden Lie which contained a short statement confirming the band's break-up.
After disbanding as The Virgin Prunes, D'Nellon, Strongman and Busaras formed an offshoot group called The Prunes, which released three albums between 1988 and 1990 (Lite Fantastik, 1988; Nada, 1989; and Blossoms & Blood, 1990). Dik Evans played on The Prunes' album Lite Fantastik.
In 1998, Cleopatra Records re-released the Sons Find Devils video, along with a soundtrack album on CD. This was the first commercially-available Virgin Prunes material to be released since 1993 and, for a few years, the only commercially available full-length Virgin Prunes album on compact disc.
Gavin Friday has since had a reasonably successful solo career in both music and film. Guggi remains an influential artist in Dublin. Dave-id still records as a solo artist in Ireland. After 20 years of self-imposed seclusion from the rock world, Dik Evans recently gave an overview of his and brother Edge's early years in U2 for the December 2005 issue of 'Word Magazine'. Trevor, Mary and Anthony Murphy live quietly throughout Europe.
Baby Turns Blue
Virgin Prunes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To take your own life, stab it with a knife.
They put you in a box, they send you to heaven, heaven.
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
Give me money, give me sex,
Give me food and cigarette.
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
What should we do if baby turns blue?
You broke my heart, it came in two.
The faculties of a broken heart.
I go out on Monday, looking for a Tuesday.
Nothing ever makes such sense.
You don't seem to make much sense.
Shooting out in someone's dream.
Shooting out in something else.
It was an accident, I didn't mean it.
It was an accident, I didn't mean it.
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
What should we do if baby turns blue?
John had a bomb and he lit his head,
Went to bed for seventeen weeks,
Took too many drugs, now he don't eat.
They put you in a box and send you up to heaven, heaven.
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
Give me money, give me sex,
Give me food and cigarette.
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
What should we do if baby turns blue?
The song "Baby Turns Blue" by Virgin Prunes explores themes of depression, suicide, and addiction. The lyrics convey a sense of desperation and hopelessness, with the singer asking what to do in order to not feel and questioning their own identity. The refrain "what should we do if baby turns blue?" suggests a fear of losing someone to depression, while the lines "give me money, give me sex, give me food and cigarette" reveal potential coping mechanisms that may not be effective in the long run.
The verses contain vivid imagery, with Mary being proud and then punished for attempting suicide, and the singer going out on Monday looking for a Tuesday but struggling to find meaning in anything. The lines "shooting out in someone's dream, shooting out in something else" could be interpreted as a reference to drug use and the dissociative effects it can have.
Line by Line Meaning
Mary be so proud, things like that are'nt allowed,
Mary is proud of something that is normally frowned upon, like taking one's own life with a knife. Society does not condone such actions.
To take your own life, stab it with a knife.
Suicide is being described in a highly graphic and violent manner.
They put you in a box, they send you to heaven, heaven.
This line is referring to the act of dying and being buried or cremated. The idea of going to heaven is mentioned, suggesting a belief in an afterlife.
Oh what to do, not to feel and who are you?
The artist is contemplating how to avoid feeling emotions and questioning their sense of identity.
Give me money, give me sex,
The artist is expressing their desires for material possessions and physical pleasure.
Give me food and cigarette.
The singer is expressing their desire to indulge in basic needs, such as food and nicotine.
What should we do if baby turns blue?
This line is repeated throughout the song and may refer to a literal baby or be a metaphor for a person in crisis. The line is asking what actions should be taken should the person or baby experience a life-threatening emergency.
You broke my heart, it came in two.
The artist is expressing heartbreak and emotional pain, using a common expression to describe their experience.
The faculties of a broken heart.
The aftermath of heartbreak is being described in terms of how it affects a person's emotional and physical abilities.
I go out on Monday, looking for a Tuesday.
The artist may be feeling lost and searching for direction or purpose. The days of the week are metaphorical for their quest.
Nothing ever makes such sense.
The singer is expressing a sense of confusion and disillusionment with the world around them, suggesting that nothing seems to make sense.
You don't seem to make much sense.
The artist may be addressing someone who is confusing or difficult to understand.
Shooting out in someone's dream.
The meaning of this line is ambiguous and can be interpreted in different ways. It may refer to desire or ambition, or be more abstract and poetic.
Shooting out in something else.
This line is similar in meaning to the previous one and may refer to the same idea of longing or searching for something.
It was an accident, I didn't mean it.
This line suggests that a mistake was made unintentionally and the singer is acknowledging responsibility for it.
John had a bomb and he lit his head,
This line is highly surreal and difficult to interpret literally. It may be symbolic or allegorical, or simply nonsensical.
Went to bed for seventeen weeks,
This line may be referencing depression or exhaustion, suggesting that John withdrew from the world for a prolonged period of time.
Took too many drugs, now he don't eat.
This line suggests that John may be struggling with addiction and its consequences, such as loss of appetite.
They put you in a box and send you up to heaven, heaven.
This line is repeated from earlier in the song and may be referring to the finality of death and the idea of an afterlife.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: RICHARD GARVIN EVANS, FIONAN MARTIN HANVEY, DAVID JOHN KELLY, DEREK MARY KARL ROWEN, TREVOR BERNARD ROWEN, DAVID WATSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@prvt.harumi6821
Got an ad for this
@Breadbrowser
Lucky, I found this from Amazon music
@bornflippy1
1982 and I am a Freshman in High School in rural Colorado. Bought this record at Wax Trax and my world was completely turned upside down. Thank You Virgin Prunes for helping a lonely kid discover unique music and his own identity in a world of conform or be cast out, I did just the opposite.
@bowieramone4523
I missed this the first time around but I am enjoying this masterpiece 40 years later !!!
@TheCyberSalvager
I only found out about these guys last night while reading The Art of Darkness, a history of goth, by John Robb. I immediately sensed the goth vibe from hearing this.
@cherylnightshade8518
I never thought I'd hear it in such great quality... This feels wrong somehow XD
@VladTepes_esti.un.bizonpu
I'm 15, i just discovered this song a few days ago, IT'S WONDERFUL
@martinquarton184
They played Nottingham Rock City, great gig Nov 1983.
@nw8te62
I was there too. I remember hot wax from that tray guggi had flying everywhere! ...what a gig!
@russellmckenzie8616
Think i first heard this in The Bat Cave... Carnaby Str ... happy days...