Chords for Thomas Dolby - Interview - BBC's Get Set (1981)

And our guest this week is Thomas Dalby.
He's a musician who specialises in electronic instruments of all kind.
And he's going to explain how [Abm] he achieved some of his musical effects in a [E] few moments.
But first, let's take a look at one of the tracks from his LP, The Golden Age of Wireless.
And it's called [Gb] Radio [E] Silence.
_ [Gb] _ _
[E] _ Radio silence. _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ Radio silence. _ _
[E] Radio silence.
_ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Caroline, _ _ _
[D] _ make final [A] adjustments. _
_ In the rear view mirror. _
[D] _ _ She's [D] nervous and tense. _
[C] _ _ And she's thinking it over. _
_ _ It's logic and sense. _
[D] _ _ _ [C] She'll overcome her [E] phobia.
_ _ _ _ [Ab] But our new painter [Eb] eyes so [G] red.
And her lips so [Eb] blue.
[G] _ _ Call her _ legend [Eb] on the [G] wall. _
Caroline, what [Eb] might do?
_ _ When they come to call for her.
I [Gm] will be [C] there to observe.
[E] _ _
[Gb] _ Radio silence. _ _ _
_ Radio silence. _ Observe.
_ Radio _ silence. _ _
_ Radio silence.
Who [C] are you?
[D] _ _ [Am] _ _ Where can you be?
[E] _ _ _ _ [Am] What's going on in the park and meeting?
_ _ What's happening? _
[D] _ _ _ _ She'll bust up a [G] vessel.
_ _ _ If he doesn't [C]
show.
_ [C] _ _ She's caught up in traffic.
_ [A] _ _ _ [C] I'm on the [D] radio.
_ _ _ _ And [G] I will paint her eyes so red.
[G] And her lips so blue. _ _ _
Raise the lightness on the mask.
Caroline, what [Eb] might do? _
When they come to call for her.
[Gm] I will be [C] there to observe.
[E] _ _ [Gb] Radio _ silence. _
[E] _ _ [Gb] Radio silence. _
Observe.
_ Radio _ _ silence.
[E] _ _ [Gb] _ Radio silence.
Who [D] are you?
_ _ [Dbm] _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ Tune [D] into the tune of Sister.
[Dbm] _ Tune [D] into the ballpark.
[Dbm] _ Turn a [E] dial to the needle.
_ _ _ Tune into the _ _ night.
Tune into the _ night.
_ Tune into the night.
[Eb] _ _ _ _
_ Thomas Colby, [Abm] welcome to Get Set for Summer.
What is the video about?
_ Well, the idea [Abm] of it was that I'm playing the part of a curator
in a museum for [E] _ antique wirelesses.
And I'm summoning to it Caroline.
It's got a sinister aspect to it.
I'm hooking up [Abm] all these old bits of _ wireless sets
and actually _ transporting Caroline, who's a girl waiting in a car,
into the _ museum where I turn her into a statue.
So [Eb] could you term it as surreal?
It's kind of surreal, yeah, because it's got a more serious meaning,
which is about [Ab] radio, about free_
What's the fascination about radios, Thomas, or old wirelesses?
Well, I've always been very interested in technology.
I think that when I was [A] a kid, I was the kind of kid
who was always pulling things [Ab] out of the cupboards,
like a scelestric set, and trying to turn it into something else
and [Eb] then getting bored very quickly and leaving it.
_ Wirelesses I suppose I got interested in
because it's [Bb] covered a long period, and they've been around a long time.
I [Abm] like the designs of the front of them.
_ The old sort of wooden things with the two big knobs in there.
And my home is full of them.
_ [Eb] _ _
There are a couple of very good effects in the video.
One is _ a sort of a backflip or a somersault or something.
Who does that?
That's you, is it?
That was actually me.
We thought we were getting a stuntman in,
but I decided [Ab] to take my wife into my hands.
Because you choreograph and direct them yourselves,
or you choreograph and direct that one yourself.
What about the pool of light under Caroline?
_ _ [E] Yeah, we stood her on this big plinth of perspex.
We had these enormous aircraft lights shining up
and dry ice everywhere.
_ And Caroline was of course [Ab] played by Lane Lovitch, wasn't it?
Lane Lovitch, yeah.
Now, in your new single, Wind Power,
you don't use all wireless at all, you use very up-to-date equipment,
and we've got some of it here.
Would you like to tell us a bit about it, Thomas?
What's it all about, basically?
Well, this, what you see here is a wave computer,
which is basically a fiendish device
which generates sounds and various commands in a number of ways.
Can you just show us?
Yeah, it's got a very large memory.
It remembers programs that are put into it.
_ I usually start with the drum sound,
which I'll set up manually and then write a pattern into it,
which would sound _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] something like that.
And then I would play lines over the top of it,
which the computer would remember.
Yes, and so you sort of build each track up to you.
[Eb] Have you got a thing called a clap track?
You know the clap track?
Clap track, yeah.
The clap track, isn't it, that they're using now?
You know the old_ Yeah, yeah.
[Eb] _ _ _ That's the kind of thing.
I'll just set it on up and at it if you want to get the old _ _
London Symphony Orchestra stuff going. _ _
How much does all this equipment cost, Thomas?
I mean, is it amazingly expensive to set up?
[Ab] Well, it depends how ingenious you are with economising,
I suppose, really.
I tend not to go for the most sort of gleaming,
the brightest piece [Gb] of equipment I can find.
I tend to go for things which I think suit my practical needs.
Just the best stuff, really.
And then I tamper around with them, you know.
I get them to work for me.
_ [Eb] Right.
Well, Thomas, thanks for coming today and bringing all your stuff.
It's been amazing to chat to you.
I love you.
I've been here all morning.
A big round of applause, please, for Thomas Dalby.
Thank you very much. _ _ _ _ _