"I Need Two Heads"
Single by The Go-Betweens
A-side"I Need Two Heads"
B-side"Stop Before You Say It"
ReleasedJune 1980
Recorded28 April 1980
StudioCastle Sound Studios, Pencaitland, Scotland
GenrePost-punk
Length2:29
LabelPostcard
Songwriter(s)Robert Forster, Grant McLennan[1]
Producer(s)Alex Ferguson
The Go-Betweens singles chronology
"People Say"
(1979)		 "I Need Two Heads"
(1980)		 "Your Turn, My Turn"
(1983)

"I Need Two Heads" is a stand-alone single by Australian indie group The Go-Betweens. It was released as a 7" vinyl record on the Postcard Records label in the United Kingdom in June 1980[2] and by Missing Link Records in Australia, with "Stop Before You Say It" as the B-side.

In November 1979 Forster and McLennan travelled to England. It was during this time that their music was influenced by English post-punk bands, such as the Pop Group, the Raincoats and Gang of Four.[3] In February 1980 they were approached by Alan Horne and Edwyn Collins, who had recently established a Glasgow-based independent record label, Postcard Records.[4][5] In March that year Forster and McLennan went to Glasgow and signed with Postcard Records. During their eight-week stay in Glasgow they played three shows, with label stable mates Orange Juice and Josef K.[3] Postcard Records engaged Alex Ferguson (Alternative TV) to produce a number of the label's releases, including The Go-Betweens.[3][5] On 29 April Forster and McLennan recorded two songs at Castle Sounds Studios, with Ferguson.[6] They were "I Need Two Heads", a song written after they arrived in England, for which Forster described "I was being confronted with so much information over there, my head was just spinning, and I remember walking down the street thinking: 'I need another head to take this all in'"[3][7] and "Stop Before You Say It", an older pre-Europe song about irritation. The songs were both recorded using Steven Daly, Orange Juice's drummer.[4][6]

The single was released in June 1980 after Forster and McLennan had left the UK, where NME named it 'Single of the Week' and it reached No. 6 on the independent charts.[3][8][9] In Australia, Melbourne-based independent record label, Missing Link, acquired the rights from Postcard Records to release "I Need Two Heads" in Australia.[3][5][6]

Reception

Jonathan Greer, in his review of The Go-Betweens - G Stands for Go-Betweens Volume 1 1978-1984, believes the song is "a wonderfully original piece of post-punk-pop – by turns enigmatic, exciting and unpredictable."[10]

In his book, Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records, Simon Goddard describes the song as a tune which betrays "a susceptibility to 'doomeh' shadows of Joy Division in its ho-humming bass, if not in its frisky handclaps and peculiar lyrics about bank books and child detectives".[5]

PopMatters states that the song sounds "a little like the Velvet Underground covering some obscure Monkees or Mersey-beat songs."[11]

Track listing

Original 7" Vinyl release

All tracks are written by R. Forster, G. McLennan[1]

No.TitleLength
1."I Need Two Heads"2:29
2."Stop Before You Say It"2:54

Release history

Date Region Label Format Catalogue
June 1980 United Kingdom Postcard 7" vinyl Postcard 80 4
November 1980 Australia Missing Link MISS 23

Credits

The Go-Betweens
Additional musicians
  • Steven Daly — drums
Production

References

  1. 1 2 "'I Need Two Heads' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015. Note: User may have to click on 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:', e.g. I Need Two Heads; or at 'Performer:' The Go-Betweens.
  2. ↑ "The Go-Betweens : I Need Two Heads". Go-Betweens.org.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 David, Nichols (2003). The Go-Betweens. Portland, OR: Verse Chorus Press. ISBN 1-891241-16-8. Note: [online] version has limited functionality.
  4. 1 2 Larkin, Colin, ed. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 2385. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Goddard, Simon (2014). Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09195-824-4.
  6. 1 2 3 Stafford, Andrew (2004). Pig City: from the Saints to Savage Garden. University of Queensland Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-70223-360-9.
  7. ↑ "Simply Thrilled: A Postcard Records Top Ten". Q Magazine. Bauer Consumer Media. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  8. ↑ Walker, Clinton (1996). Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music, 1977-1991. Pan Macmillan. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-73290-883-6.
  9. ↑ Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 0-9517206-9-4. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010.
  10. ↑ Greer, Jonathan (26 January 2015). "'The Go-Betweens - G Stands for Go-Betweens Volume 1 1978-1984'". The 405. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  11. ↑ Pitter, Charles (8 April 2015). "The Go-Betweens: G Stands for Go-Betweens (Vol.1)". PopMatters. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
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