Take It or Leave It
SONG COMPOSERS, LYRICS AND BACKGROUND
LYRICS
How come he enjoys himself not me? – I dunno
How can she smile a good morning to me?
How do they make a hard day’s work easy?
Tell me something I’ll put it to the test
Take hold of yourself and you will see
How lucky we are to be free
Now you take for granted life and country
How come he jokes with friends but not me?
How can she sing out of tune not me?
How do they find time for kids on Sunday?
I can’t express uncalled for agresh
You’re in one way traffic can’t you see?
Before a head on crash steer free
When if it’s too late don’t come cry to me
How come they get on with but not me?
How can they walk arm in arm happily?
How does that old boy dance down the street?
Tell me something I’ll put it to the test
How come we never get on you and me?
How can we find out the remedy?
How does that old lady’s home look neat?
COMPOSERS
| Composer | Role |
|---|---|
| Mike Barson | Music |
| Lee Thompson | Words |
BACKGROUND
‘Take It Or Leave It’ was inspired by the name of a Roxy Music track and set to quirky music presumably inspired by Sixties spy films. Mike Barson mentioned that writing it was mainly a poetic expression of my continuing mental state, though I wished I’d written it as some subtle message about the atomic bomb. However, I didn’t. On the B-Side of ‘Baggy Trousers‘ is a track named ‘The Business‘, which is an instrumental reworking of ‘Take It Or Leave It’ from the album ‘Absolutely‘.
References
| Representation | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Nutty Sounds Ltd. | |
| Publisher | Warner Chappell Music Ltd. |
Extensive efforts have been made to gather factual information and knowledge on madness from various sources and document them. These sources include publicly accessible websites, books and publications, historical artefacts, and other pertinent materials. As a result, a comprehensive index of resources has been compiled and integrated into the website. These resources, if relevant to this article, are listed below.
| Reference | Source |
|---|---|
| madness.co.uk | Website |
| House of Fun: The Story of Madness (John Reed) | Book |