Say you don't know me, or recognize my faceSay you don't care who goes to that kind of placeKnee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fightToo many runaways eating up the night
Ma Coley plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you rememberWe built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
chorus
Someone's always playing corporation gamesWho cares they're always changing corporation namesWe just want to dance here, someone stole the stageThey call us irresponsible, write us off the page
It's just another Sunday, in a tired old streetWell if you got the toco, oh, then we just lost the beat
Who counts the money underneath the barWho writes the wrecking ball in two wild guitarsDon't tell us you need us, 'cos we're just simple foolsLooking for America, coming through your schools
(I'm looking out over that Golden Gate bridgeOut on a gorgeous sunny Saturday, I've seen that low amount of traffic)
Don't you remember (remember)
(Here's your favorite radio station, in your favorite radio cityThe city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps)
chorus repeats 2x
(We built, we built this city) built this city (we built, we built this city)(repeats out)
― the starfox, Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:39 (twenty years ago) link
What a lengthy and enjoyable piece of exuberance it is.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:40 (twenty years ago) link
― the popfox, Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:40 (twenty years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:43 (twenty years ago) link
WTF is Ma Coley anyhoo? Byron's mother?
― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:45 (twenty years ago) link
Ken Bruce plays some spectacularly great records sometimes. It's one of the things I may enjoy about being unemployed.
― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:48 (twenty years ago) link
― BrianB, Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:50 (twenty years ago) link
Well if you got the toco, oh, then we just lost the beat
Translation anyone?
― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:54 (twenty years ago) link
― Qrown of Qreation, Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:48 (twenty years ago) link
I didn't know that wee Ailsa like me enjoyed the Scots dryness of the Bruce.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:49 (twenty years ago) link
― harveyw (harveyw), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:51 (twenty years ago) link
and
surely this wins the Assinane, Hypocritical, And Just Really Fucking Awkward lyrics award of some kind.
― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:52 (twenty years ago) link
― harveyw (harveyw), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:53 (twenty years ago) link
My God, that could've been the finest couplet Grace Slick ever wrote. If only!
― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:06 (twenty years ago) link
but that all adds to the secret, guilty, marvellous pleasure. the musical equivalent of masturbation - cheap, tawdry and best enjoyed when there's nobody around to look...but kinda fun...
the 80s were full of such hidden delights. they were crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy nights.
― hobart paving (hobart paving), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:16 (twenty years ago) link
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Shaun (shaun), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:27 (twenty years ago) link
― MANDEE (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:49 (twenty years ago) link
― kephm, Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:49 (twenty years ago) link
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:50 (twenty years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:56 (twenty years ago) link
― nate detritus (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:00 (twenty years ago) link
― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:29 (twenty years ago) link
― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:30 (twenty years ago) link
― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Christian Rawk (Christian Rawk), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:48 (twenty years ago) link
― adam b (adam b), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:50 (twenty years ago) link
― brian badword (badwords), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:55 (twenty years ago) link
Agreed, but "Knee Deep In the Hoopla" was the name of the record.
Now that I think about it, "We Built This City" just might be the ULTIMATE corporate rock song.
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:29 (twenty years ago) link
It is indeed, if only because of the band's infamous gambit of sending it to radio stations with a blank spot where the DJ spiel goes (near the bridge), so each town's "rockinest" DJ could insert his own name and the station's call letters into the song.
― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:44 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Thursday, 4 December 2003 21:07 (twenty years ago) link
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 18:09 (twenty years ago) link
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 18:13 (twenty years ago) link
― morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 18:38 (twenty years ago) link
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 18:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Acid! Polizei! (ex machina), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 18:43 (twenty years ago) link
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 18:46 (twenty years ago) link
Almost got kicked out before the show started for no real reason other than the fact that we were nearly 20 years younger than the next youngest person.
So basically it sucked but it was f'n hillarious. They were tight on sarah and we built this city - almost like they've been playing it for 30 years.
not reccomended
― rs, Tuesday, 20 April 2004 21:48 (twenty years ago) link
― spittle (spittle), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 22:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 22:43 (twenty years ago) link
The M.W.U.A. (I can't remember exactly, If I'm wrong someone else might be able to give me the correct union) features stickers with the southern cross flag and 'We Built This City!' down the bottom.
Also, some of you will be pleased to know this song got voted the worst song ever.
― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 00:56 (twenty years ago) link
― derrick (derrick), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 04:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 04:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Nancy, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 19:27 (twenty years ago) link
― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 19:30 (twenty years ago) link
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 19:31 (twenty years ago) link
man I had no idea Grace Slick was 47 at the time
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 3 September 2016 15:54 (seven years ago) link
still looked and sounded vibrant as hell. that's why of the Starship material I prefer the cheesy "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". her voice is still sexy and powerful as hell on that, where it has no utility on We Built This City given how low in her register she has to sing it.
plus also Mannequin video lol
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 3 September 2016 15:56 (seven years ago) link
Everyone deserves a pop hit in their 47th year.
― thrill of transgressin (Eazy), Saturday, 3 September 2016 16:27 (seven years ago) link
can't wait for my single about the Trump presidency to drop in 2028
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 3 September 2016 16:41 (seven years ago) link
“We Built This City” was written and recorded in stages, by an assembly line of songwriters. (Cancer, too, develops in stages.)
Fuck off, Rob Tannenbaum.
― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Monday, 5 September 2016 02:21 (seven years ago) link
i am listening to this song right now and i like it
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 6 October 2016 20:00 (seven years ago) link
that "Planes" vid upthread is fucking hilarious
― waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 05:00 (seven years ago) link
The song came on while I was eating at Taco Bell and it made the fact I was eating Taco Bell even more depressing.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Monday, 1 May 2017 21:35 (seven years ago) link
We built this city on Taco Bell
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 3 August 2019 20:16 (four years ago) link
Ma Coley drops the chalupa
― frustration and wonky passion (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 3 August 2019 20:17 (four years ago) link
Grace Slick = oldest woman to have a number one single, except for Cher ("Believe")
― Josefa, Saturday, 3 August 2019 21:36 (four years ago) link
knee deep in the chalupa
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 3 August 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link
Listen to the raving ho
― i'd rather zing like a man, than FP like a coward (Neanderthal), Monday, 5 August 2019 05:38 (four years ago) link
I always hated this song.... until today.
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 18 March 2022 19:38 (two years ago) link
That's good. You've taken your first step into a larger world.
― Please don’t take / My time change away (morrisp), Friday, 18 March 2022 19:41 (two years ago) link
Never too late.
Went to a big city festival in Bolzano, Italy and there were bands playing in every town square and one cover band tore into this and the locals went nuts and it was awesome.
Sorry folks, it’s a banger.
― move over GAPDY, now there's BIG THIEF! (PBKR), Friday, 18 March 2022 19:45 (two years ago) link
just the idea of going to a minor key and deciding that the line was 'Ma Coley plays the mamba' .. i need an oral history of this
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 25 October 2023 18:23 (six months ago) link
I thought it was 'Marconi plays the mamba' (because it's followed by 'listen to the radio)? Though I guess that doesn't really make much more sense. Is there a person called Ma Coley?
― soref, Wednesday, 25 October 2023 18:27 (six months ago) link
I got a bunch of hoopla stuck to my shoe.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 18:32 (six months ago) link
Also, a mamba is a snake.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 18:37 (six months ago) link
The use of this song in the dead animal montage of Fall of the House of Usher was fantastic.
― bookmarkflaglink (Darin), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 18:39 (six months ago) link
yeah i thought it was marconi!
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:17 (six months ago) link
it's Marconi. but it still doesn't make sense
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:24 (six months ago) link
Especially because he's playing a mamba.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:24 (six months ago) link
a mamba can be an instrument, you can shake it and then emit a piercing yell when it bites the shit out of you
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:26 (six months ago) link
one of the all time great bullshit lines in pop history
― Left, Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:28 (six months ago) link
xp That's metal
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:28 (six months ago) link
Thomas: Bernie didn’t say “mambo,” he said “mamba,” which is a snake. Marconi created the radio. Maybe Bernie meant to say “mambo.” Maybe it means: If you don’t like this music, some really angry snakes are gonna come out of the speakers. (...)At one point I did start to sing “mambo,” to try and be more grammatically correct, and after a while I thought, “Fuck it,” and went back to “mamba.”
At one point I did start to sing “mambo,” to try and be more grammatically correct, and after a while I thought, “Fuck it,” and went back to “mamba.”
― Rhoda Morgenstern stan account (morrisp), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:29 (six months ago) link
who knows what kinda weird shit marconi was into
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:30 (six months ago) link
people love to hate this song but I don't mind it. it's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now that I hate
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:31 (six months ago) link
what's going on with the timing in the chorus? why does the second part of the refrain seem to slam into the first in a hilariously awkward way?
― Left, Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:32 (six months ago) link
ultimately the song doesn't really hang together but it's trying its best and you have to respect that
― Left, Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:33 (six months ago) link
Marconi played your mamalisten to the radio
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:35 (six months ago) link
Stuck a feather in his cap and called it marconi played the mamba
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:41 (six months ago) link
It's no "White Rabbit."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:43 (six months ago) link
― brimstead, Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:43 (six months ago) link
I might not be thinking of the same thing
at the time it was very punk
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:44 (six months ago) link
Police got the chokehold
we built this city, here's your invoice
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:45 (six months ago) link
https://dangerousminds.net/content/uploads/images/made/content/uploads/images/slicksynth1_465_471_int.jpg
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:46 (six months ago) link
Grace don't give two forks
― Rhoda Morgenstern stan account (morrisp), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:47 (six months ago) link
Starship - We Built This City vs Jefferson Airplane - Planes
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:47 (six months ago) link
a popist and a malpropist
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:48 (six months ago) link
*mala
Speaking of punk, this reminds me of one of my favorite Creem moments. This guy otm. Kinda NSFW.
Speaking Of Boy Howdy!
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:50 (six months ago) link
https://gifer.com/en/BkdU
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Wednesday, 25 October 2023 19:59 (six months ago) link
This is the most clever bit in the song! They knew that it would be redundant to say the entire phrase "We built this city" four times in a row, so the third time they just say "built this city", but they sing "built" on the offbeat before the one where they usually sing "we", which keeps the chorus rolling nicely.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 27 October 2023 15:29 (six months ago) link
...before the one beat, that is.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 27 October 2023 15:30 (six months ago) link