June 24th 2013 was the 30th anniversary of the release of the Red Guitars first single Good Technology. The lyrics – written by Stuart Ross – comprise a whole songful of evocative lines including the prophetic “We’ve got computers that can find us friends.”
So, to celebrate this momentous occasion we had a bit of fun with our computer-found friends on the RGs Facebook and RGs Twitter pages with a competition to write some new lyrics for the song.
Scroll down for the competition winning entries – not forgetting the honorary winner at the bottom of the list.
And if you want a reminder of the Red Guitars’ Good Technology, here is the video from The Tube…
Good Technology – original lyrics by Stuart Ross
We’ve got photographs of men on the moon,
We’ve got water that is good for us,
We’ve got coffee that’s instantaneous,
We’ve got buildings that are very tall,
We’ve got cigarettes that are low in tar,
We’ve got policemen can tell us who we are,
We can reproduce a work of art,
We’ve got missiles can tear the world apart,
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology.
We’ve got trains that run underground,
Aeroplanes that fly very fast,
We’ve got music that is popular,
We’ve got machines that sound like orchestras,
We’ve got ability to transplant a heart,
We’ve got freezers full of body parts,
We’ve got computers that can find us friends,
We know roughly when the world will end,
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology.
We’ve got animals with transistors in,
We’ve got pills that can make you slim,
We’ve got factories turning frozen chickens out,
We’ve got ovens that cook in seconds flat,
We’ve got plastics that are indestructible,
We’ve got deodorants that make us smell of flowers,
We’ve got detergents to clean up the sea,
We’ve got sounds can turn you inside out!
Sometimes I wonder what it is all about?
There’s lots of leisure time to sit and work it out.
There’s a tv show I’ve got to see,
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology,
Good technology.
Here are our favourite new whole song lyrics:
Eddie Coates-Madden’s Good Technology
We’ve got the NSA to read our every word
We’ve got facebook to make us look absurd
We’ve got hangouts because we’ve got no friends
We’ve got a twitter hate that never ends
We’ve got lifestyles that we keep in the cloud
We’ve got an ology to make our parents proud
We’ve got Starbucks so fresh and pure
We’ve got the EDL who make us feel secure
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology
We’ve got Brian Cox to tell us everything
And pretty Justin, but he can’t really sing
We’ve got cinema downloading through the air
We’ve got Will.i.am; a spinning chair
We’ve got Wikieaks and nothing’s true
We’ve got Monsanto. They know what’s good for you
We’ve got Higgs boson when we accelerate
We know language: we have google translate
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology
We’ve got animals, we gave them BSE
We’ve got Botox to keep us twenty-three
We’ve got factories but no-one works in there
We’ve got a deficit, so we don’t really care
We’ve got health food; would you like fries with that?
We’ve got lipo to suck out all the fat
We’ve got city streets that look the same
We’ve got Murdoch, he knows your name
Sometimes I wonder what this is all about
There’s lots on social media to help me work it out
There’s a Jeremy Kyle show I got to see
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology. Good technology
Red Herring’s Good Technology
We’ve got photographs
Of river beds on Mars
We’ve got the building blocks
To build us dinosaurs
We’ve got satellites
That see what we can see
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology
We’ve got printers
That print 3D guns
We’ve got bridges
That we can ride for fun
We’ve got a virus
So that the blind can see
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology
We’ve got beauty
Where there once were scars
We’ve all got web sites
We all are popular
There’s a person
That I’ve got to be
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology
Karl Oakes’ Good Technology
We have cosmetics, I look half my age
We have blue tooth, ‘cos it is all the rage
A V.A.D, were my heart should be
A mobile network says, it will set me free
We’ve got a product, it is in our food
Makes us happy when, we’re not in the mood
We got police, never on patrol
We got neural lace book, it’s just mind control
Good, good, good…..
We got hate, sharp as a knife
For technology, that controls our life
Pull the power, switch off at the mains
Don’t let it hard wire into your brains
We named an atom, it is very small
Just one split, and it blurs us all
We have A.I. they are all our friends
Their control, it never ends
Good, good, good….
The panel of Red Guitars judges chose these favourite lines…
We’ve {still} no jetpacks, but they’re coming soon (Paul Tucker)
(I like the idea of a line about something that hasn’t actually happened yet
– plus I’ve always wondered whatever happened to the promised jetpack…)
We’ve got city streets that {all} look the same (Eddie Coates-Madden)
We’ve got cameras to watch the streets all day (Gierran Jameson)
“We’ve got Will.i.am; a spinning chair.” (ECM)
More plausibly:
“We’ve got (high?) city streets that (all) look the same,” (ECM)
“We’ve got (mobile) phones, can tell us where we are,” (Rob Howard)
“We’ve got plans to go and mine the moon.” (Paul Tucker)
“We’ve got an ology to make our parents proud” (Eddie Coates-Madden)
“We’ve got valve amps that are solid state.” (Phil Redman)
And:
“We got neural lace book, it’s just mind control.” (Karl Oakes)
I had no idea what neural lace was until I googled it – which puts it
out of contention – still don’t really know but it’s something to do
with Iain Banks who died last week, so an honourable mention I guess.
My fave, the one that stayed with me was ‘We’ve got memories of a more simple past’ (Katie Rain Lewis)
Also…
We’ve got politicians who HAVE, whilst we have not enough (Stim Citytigers)
And to round it off….
We are all online but who is listening? (Nick Spence)
“We’ve got smartphones that can make you dim
We’ve got 1000 channels but no one keeps an eye on things
We are all online but who is listening?
We’ve got Facebook, Twitter to complain about things
Better ‘Like’ than actually protest and march about anything
Good, good, good, good, good, good technology”
We’ve got memories that we can share on line …
We’ve got mp3s that play happily and mobile phones to call us in for tea
We’ve got phones that can tell us where we are.
We’ve got Facebook that can find us friends… and photo shame-sites; for when the romance ends.
We’ve plans to go and mine the moon, we’ve no jetpacks, but they’re coming soon
“We’ve got surgeons who could transplant my face,
Hadron Collider will blow us into space…
good, good, good, good, good, not so good technology
We’ve got cameras to watch the streets all day
We’ve got sounds to keep the youths away
We’ve got Photoshop to make us seem thin
GPS can tell us where we’re wanderin’”
“We’ve got Red Guitars…remastered on CD
Videos on you tube…I thought I’d never see
If there is one thing I’d like for free
It’s the new CD…Good technology”
We’ve got telephones, that can run our lives
“We’ve got high-speed trains/prisoners/hospitals etc that are privatised,
we’ve got internet full of cyber-spies.”
We’ve got Simon Cowell on 3D TV, we’ve got cup cakes that are gluten-free
We’ve got City in the Premier League
We’ve got downloads for our mobile phones.
We’ve got men who think they are fish
At the end of the day it’s hard to beat the legendary Eddie Smith’s “We’ve got photographs of men on the bog.”
Good Technology – In the words of Paul Du Noyer in the NME on 27/08/83
Via one delicious melody and an ominously building beat, Red Guitars itemise the sundry achievements of modern science, from underarm personal hygiene to the hardware of instant Armageddon. In so doing, the song constructs an unforgettable vision of a world that’s grown too clever by one-and-a-half at least.”
Visit the Red Guitars Website
Read Red Guitars feature in Record Collector Magazine 2016
Cheers again friends, here’s to the next 30 years of Good Technology