Razor Blade Alley

Written by: L. Thompson

Lead Vocal: Lee Thompson
Guitar: Chris Foreman
Piano, Keyboards: Mike Barson
Bass: Mark Bedford
Drums: Dan Woodgate

Foreign titles: Rasuradora / Callejón Navaja

The Lot, 1999

Lee: Razor Blade Alley was a dark lyric about a schoolkid who was taken to a red light area by his teacher. He got VD after sleeping with a prostitute. The title came from a line – “I feel like I’m pissing razor blades” – in a film called The Boys In Company C.

One Step Beyond, 2023 CD reissue

Mike: Lee didn’t really play an instrument you could write a song on at the time, but I guess he must have a very vivid imagination, because he turned up one day, saying “I’ve written a song”, and it was ‘Razor Blade Alley’. He couldn’t tell you what the chords were, but he had it wall worked out in his head. I sat down with him at the piano and he talked me through the song, and I tried to get it down on paper. I don’t know whether it would have been the same if he’d been able to write it down himself. As ever, the lyrics were from Lee Thompson’s personal experiences, that reservoir of whatever it is he gets up to.
Woody: ‘Razor Blade Alley’ is about getting a sexually transmitted disease. Again, Lee’s writing is brilliant. He’s got this ability to use metaphors and analogies, like when you think he’s talking about party poppers that go pop in the night, and then you realise he’s actually talking about contraception.
Bedders: The music matches the mood of the lyrics. When we started playing it, Lee was singing it in this quite laidback, almost crooner-ish vibe. That dictated the feel of it, really. And, lyrically, it’s a very good story. Just think about writing like that at quite a young age, and not being afraid to be vulnerable in that respect… Lee’s so poignant.
Chris: It’s probably about as close to jazz as we’ve ever got.

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The song first appeared on ‘One Step Beyond…’ LP (Stiff)

Recorded at Eden Studios, Chiswick & T.W. Studios, Fulham
Producer: Clive Langer / Alan Winstanley
Length: 2:44
Key: B
Tempo: ~128 bpm

Lyrics:

Oooh, I didn’t talk too much, in fact not at all
But to ask for the price, I was to be no fool
Money’s no time to waste or to shoot up the wall
You got the know how, the place did you take media school

She led the way from the alley back to her house
Must not be seen going in, must not be seen coming out
She said I look mighty but thin, she told me
“I’m gonna give you a second helping”

Solo – piano

(Ad-libbing)

Oooh, Razorblade Alley I’ve been there
Razorblade Alley, neither of us can
It was the prime time but the wrong place
It was my first time, I hope my last date

I’m just too shy to check in but this pain of pissing razors is cutting in
Oww!

Mmm, felt like a knight without shining armour on at the time
She thought she was in a dream, floating up on cloud nine
Now I awake she is nowhere, but the razor cuts deeper everywhere
Oww!

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