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Colours are Brighter.Children's songs to Save the Children.
Oct 11, 2006


Colours are Brighter is a thirteen track compilation of children's songs recorded by the likes of Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Four Tet, Kathryn Williams and The Divine Comedy. It will be released on Rough Trade Records on 16th October 2006 and all the proceeds go to Save The Children.

Colours are Brighter - Save the Children

Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, The Kooks and Four Tet are amongst the artists contributing to a collection of childrens songs curated by Belle and Sebastian, to raise funds for children's charity, Save the Children. Colours are Brighter will be released on Rough Trade on October 16th, with all profits and artist royalties from the record being donated to the charity.

A while in the making, but well worth the wait, the album contains twelve tracks, the vast majority of which have been specially recorded for the project over the past two years. The full track listing hides a number of stories
1. Four Tet featuring Princess Watermelon - Go Go Ninja Dinosaur
2. Rasputina - A Skeleton Bang
3. Franz Ferdinand - Jackie Jackson
4. Snow Patrol - I Am An Astronaut
5. The Divine Comedy - Three Cheers For Pooh, Cottleston Pie, Piglet Ho
6. The Kooks - The King & I
7. Half Man Half Biscuit - David Wainwright's Feet
8. The Barcelona Pavilion - Tidy Up Tidy Up
9. Jonathan Richman - Our Dog Is Getting Older Now
10.Belle and Sebastian - The Monkeys Are Breaking Out The Zoo
11.Ivor Cutler Trio - Mud
12. The Flaming Lips - The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now
13. Kathryn Williams - Night Baking

Snow Patrols track is a cover version of a much sought after 7 recorded in 1972 by the then 11 year old Ricky Wilde, brother of Kim, son of Marti, who is also the author of the song. The Ivor Cutler track was produced by George Martin and featured on the Apple-released album, Ludo. Permission for its use on The Colours Are Brighter was given by Cutlers son, Jonathan. Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy performed a medley of three pieces from the pen of A.A.Milne for the release, whilst Jonathan Richman flouted medical advice to record his track. He had been ordered to give his voice full rest after a problem with his vocal chords had been diagnosed, but ventured on for the cause.

Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand, on the band's involvement:-
"We were very happy to record for Colours are Brighter album since, like most people in bands, we tend to think like children anyway. When I was a kid I hated songs that were too nice. I didn't care about whether the wheels on the bus went round or if we were going to the zoo tomorrow. Me and my brother used to make up revolting words for pop songs instead. I used to love stories that were gory, particularly Roald Dahl, Shock Headed Peter and Grimm Fairy Tales. Jackie Jackson is from that world - he's a horrible boy who meets a horrible end. It's also an amazing honour to be on the same album as Ivor Cutler, Jonathan Richman and Half Man Half Biscuit - all musical icons. I had a safe and happy childhood, but not everyone is that lucky. Save the Children is a charity that quietly works hard at making life better for children around the world who suffer because of the situation around them."

Kieran Hebden, AKA Four Tet, on Go Go Ninja Dinosaur:-
"My basic idea for the track was to get straight to the point and really do something that I thought little kids would like, rather then just take a childrens song and produce it in my normal adult style. I came up with the idea for Ninja Dinosaur from thinking about ideas in cartoons and stuff that I was into when I was a kid... Bananaman, Super Gran, Mysterious Cities Of Gold, Dogtanion...all pretty mental concepts really. I would be heavily into the theme tunes from these things, and would usually be perfectly happy if the song was just the name of the character repeated again and again over some cheap casio keyboard sounds. So with all this in my head I made Go Go Ninja Dinosaur."

Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol, on I Am An Astronaut:-
"We wanted to make our version of the song sound as if it was made in space primarily. There are two ways to do this. You can make it in spacealthough this is tricky as it involves actually becoming an astronaut. The training alone takes years and I've heard you need to be very good at mathematics for some reason, and I'm not very good at maths at all. This only leaves one other optionthat we give the song a spacey feel. So we sprinkled some space dust (that we bought at a special market) on top of the song, and now it sounds like it was made far above the earth. Really it was made in a studio in Ireland, but if you don't tell anyone I won't either."
Hmmm now theres a man with an overactive imagination.

The Monkeys Are Breaking Out The Zoo is the first Belle and Sebastian track ever to have featured Mick Cooke (bassist/trumpet player, and the Belles band member primarily responsible for envisaging/bringing together this fantastic release) on lead vocals. He describes it as his "own Ringo-esque contribution to the band". Monkey noises are courtesy of bandmates, Chris Geddes and Richard Colburn. The Belles track in fact provided the impetus for the album to come together, as Cooke explains:
"I woke up one morning with a song in my head about monkeys breaking out of the zoo. We recorded the song at our own studio in Glasgow, which turned out to be a lot of fun, as I found myself chucking bricks into Glasgows river Kelvin, minidisc recorder in hand, and screaming like a monkey with Chris and Richard. Having recorded the song, the band began to decide what on earth to do with it. Someone suggested compiling an album of songs for children by lots of different bands, with the proceeds going to charity. So that's what we did."

On completion of that particular track, other artists were approached with a view to contributing. Most were intrigued by the challenge of writing a song for children that would not irritate their existing, adult fans (and parents).

"It wasn't too difficult in the end," says Cooke. "It basically involved speaking to friends, bands we had toured with and people, like Kieran Hebden, Half Man Half Biscuit and The Kooks, that we thought would get the idea and come up with something unique and original."

"Save the Children were an instant and obvious choice of beneficiary, as they are, perhaps, the best childrens charity," explains Cooke. "The work they do is global, concentrating on helping children in developing countries, and in areas which have been torn apart by war. Their workers put their lives at risk every day to save lives and educate."


Save the Children fights for children in both the UK and around the world who suffer from poverty, disease, injustice and violence, working with them to find lifelong answers to the problems they face. Funds raised from the sale of Colours Are Brighter will go straight to Re-write the Future, a global Save the Children campaign aimed at providing eight million children living in conflict-affected countries with education, offering them protection, stability and opportunities where they would otherwise have none. Almost half a million children live in conflict affected countries where they are at risk of being displaced, forced to fight, sexually exploited or used as labour. Many see friends and relatives die and are more vulnerable to malnutrition and disease. Schools provide children with a safe place which equips them with the skills to look after themselves, and provides them with better prospects for their future.

Colours are Brighter is released by Rough Trade on 16th October.
Visibility: Everyone
Posted: Wednesday October 11, 2006, 12:53 am
Tags: children music charity poverty [add/edit tags]

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