5. Zamba
Released: 1st October 1987
Buy Now
(Ferry/Leonard)
Girl you drive me crazy
Why you never come around
Why you never come around
Now you’re such a lady
Why your feet don’t touch the ground
Why your feet don’t touch the ground
Tell me pretty baby
Say you’ll never let me down
Say you’ll never let me down
Autumn clearing
All the leaves are falling down
All the leaves are falling down
I can see you clearly now
History
Released in 1987 to near-universal acclaim, Bête Noire is a touchstone for the enduring legacy of the Bryan Ferry myth. After his previous release, Boys and Girls, became his first solo chart-topper in the UK, and producing one of the best songs of his storied career for the soundtrack to the Ridley Scott film Legend (‘Is Your Love Strong Enough’), he was riding an unprecedented wave of attention and adulation on both sides of the Atlantic. Teaming up with Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard – with whom five of the album’s songs were written – and his usual roster of five-star session musicians, Ferry set about creating his second successive ‘meisterwerk’, one that adds a touch more dance floor heft to the now-established trademarks of exceptional sonic finesse and rhythmical precision.
Opening with the insistent groove of ‘Limbo’, the influence of the record’s twin recording environments (the Bahamas and Paris) is clear in the fusion of the track’s tribal percussion and jazz-inflected verse. Together with its fabulously stylish, Michael Roberts-directed promo video the song perfectly captures the move towards exotica that became increasingly prevalent throughout the eighties. Its sound is rich and full, but there is a leanness to the arrangement and melody that foreshadows the rest of the album: more so than any previous release the tracks have been stripped of any excess weight, giving them an immediacy that demands your attention right from the off.
The upbeat tracks on the album feature some of the most compelling bass lines in Ferry’s oeuvre, such as the Johnny Marr-enabled ‘The Right Stuff’ and the irrepressible ‘Kiss and Tell’, which illustrate how well he had assimilated the newer sounds around him without ever compromising his own unique sensibilities. However, as befits such a carefully assembled batch of songs, it is in the album’s darker moments that Ferry’s attention to detail truly shies through. ‘Zamba’ is more than just a physical centrepiece in the running order – its haunting vocal wraps itself around delicate, opaque atmospheres to create a deeply affecting, spectral experience beyond compare. “Say you’ll never let me down,” implores its shadowy narrator to his distant companion – rest assured that Bête Noire is an expansive and immersive affair that never disappoints.
–Hal Norman, 2010
Lyrics
1. Limbo
(Ferry/Leonard)
Voodoo warning is calling
Down in limbo
Moonlight lush life
Bears strange fruit down in limbo
Come to me now
A moth to a flame
You never get near enough
You try again
Closer now
Oh how we dance
The spirit holding us
In a trance
Bamboo danger no stranger
Down in limbo
Can you tango? Takes two to
Down in limbo
You are the one
Now is the time
Let your memory beat the drum
On the street car line
Closer now
Oh how we dance
The spirit holding us
In a trance
(voodoo warning)
(voodoo warning)
Closer now
Oh how we dance
The spirit holding us
In a trance
Voodoo warning is calling
Down in limbo
Moonlight lush life bears strange fruit
Down in limbo
Creole tattoo I buy you
Down in limbo
Heartbeat you mistreat I owe you
Down in limbo
2. Kiss And Tell
(Ferry)
Ten cents a dance
It’s the only price to pay
Why give ’em more
When it’s only love for sale?
Adam and Eve
It’s the oldest game in town
Just a one way street
To a faded magazine
Kiss and tell money talks
It never lies
Kiss and tell give and take
Eye for an eye
Fever, the heat of the night
Dreamer, stealer of sighs
One public face
In a private limousine
Flash photograph
It’s the only light you see
No secret life
There’s no secret you can steel
Your lips are moving
But I will never know
What they mean
Kiss and tell money talks
And love it burns
Kiss and tell give and take
We live and learn
Fever, the heat of the night
Dreamer, stealer of sighs
Fever, the heat of the night
Dreamer, stealer of sighs
Kiss and tell we never lie
Kiss and tell eye for an eye
Kiss and tell blood on a nail
Kiss and tell kiss me again
Kiss and tell kiss and tell
Kiss and tell kiss and tell
Kiss and tell kiss and tell
Kiss and tell kiss and tell
3. New Town
(Ferry)
New town
There’s a place
A mad affair
In a new world
Heaven sent
A life that’s made for us
Out of luck
Out of touch
Out of love
No concrete jungle
Dancing feet
Cul-de-sac of desire
Is in itself
Destroying me
I’ve got to live it down
Don’t want to dwell in history
That’s why I’m leaving now
New town
There’s a place
To do or die
In a new world
Heaven sent
A life that’s made for us
Out of luck
Out of touch
Out of love
No laughing boys
Forbidden dreams
No willow weep for me now
The shadow hanging over me
I’ve got to tear it down
(new town, calling me)
(new town, calling me)
(new town, calling me)
(new town, calling me)
(new town, calling me) Calling me, calling me
(new town, calling me) Calling me, calling me
(new town, calling me) Calling me, calling me
(new town, calling me) Calling me, calling me
(new town, calling me) Calling me, calling me
(new town, calling me) Calling me, calling me
(new town)
4. Day For Night
(Ferry/Leonard)
Mystery of life buried in the sand
Moving finger write I am longing to understand
Driving away the dark uncertainty
A shooting star can go so far
It’s where I want to be
Open your eyes (day for night)
Look what you done to me
Open you heart (stay tonight)
No woman could mean so much to me
Mystery of love do you see the light of the day now?
Hidden by a veil are the ways of a cheating heart
Wish I could change your mind the restless sea
A shooting star can go so far
It’s where I want to be
Open your eyes (day for night)
Look what you done to me
Open you heart (stay tonight)
No woman could mean so much to me
A shooting star can go so far
It’s where I want to be
Open your eyes (day for night)
Look what you done to me
Open you heart (stay tonight)
I wish I could never see
Open your eyes (day for night)
River run to the seas
Open you heart (stay tonight)
No woman could mean so much to me
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
(for day, for night, for day) Just to realize
5. Zamba
(Ferry/Leonard)
Girl you drive me crazy
Why you never come around
Why you never come around
Now you’re such a lady
Why your feet don’t touch the ground
Why your feet don’t touch the ground
Tell me pretty baby
Say you’ll never let me down
Say you’ll never let me down
Autumn clearing
All the leaves are falling down
All the leaves are falling down
I can see you clearly now
6. The Right Stuff
(Ferry/Marr)
Got your money on the table
And the devil in your eye
Who is that woman with the crooked smile?
You got to go with what you feel
A little loving is a dangerous thing
Black is the ocean, a burning sky
Her nature’s wild, it’s hard to beat the right stuff
It’s mountain high, river deep the right stuff
Got your pearls on a string
And your skin’s so bare
Over your shoulder there’s a world out there
You got the nerve, you gonna win
Boy you’re playing with a dangerous thing
Her nature’s wild, hard to beat the right stuff
It’s mountain high, river deep the right stuff
So it goes without saying
The queen of the Nile
Lion woman with the crooked smile
You got the nerve, who’s gonna win?
Boy you’re playing with a dangerous thing
Her nature’s wild, hard to beat the right stuff
It’s mountain high, river deep the right stuff
When I held her the feeling’s right
When I held her tonight
Send me the woman on a bended knee
Emerald eyes in desert heat
She’s mountain high, river deep the right stuff
(right stuff, right stuff, right stuff)
Send me the woman to fight for me
Nature’s wild, hard to beat
She’s mountain high, river deep the right stuff
(right stuff), (right stuff), (right stuff), (right stuff), (right stuff)
7. Seven Deadly Sins
(Ferry/Kamen/Pratt)
You’ve seen it all before you
You know the truth can be unkind
You fear the worst is hiding
It’s when you lose your mind
All I hear is chimes at midnight
Only seven deadly sins
All I hear is chimes at midnight
Only seven deadly sins
You hear the words denying
You can’t believe but you try
When you long for what you don’t have
It’s why you live and die
All I hear is chimes at midnight
Only seven deadly sins
All I hear is chimes at midnight
Only seven deadly sins
You say your love is endless
But jealousy is blind
As we speak I rage and tremble
I must be sure that you’re mine
All I hear is chimes at midnight
Only seven deadly sins
Only seven deadly sins
Only seven deadly sins
Only seven deadly sins
Only seven deadly sins
Only seven deadly sins
8. The Name Of The Game
(Ferry/Leonard)
Out of control
And as far as I can see
No religion can save me now
Though I’m trying to believe
How could I know
Her madness’d cling
From the time of her first caress
To the final fling
When you know the name of the game
You can never play enough
Every drop of blood is the same
You can never shed enough
Out in the cold
In the wilderness again
Where I fight for my soul
I can see no end
When you know the name of the game
You never play enough
In the name of heaven you pray
You can never pray enough
Out of control
Wild flower don’t you fade
Thundercloud on the hill
Let me lie in your shade
How could I know
Her madness’d cling
From the time of her first caress
To the final fling
When you know the name of the game
You can never play enough
And the way you love is the same
You can never give enough
When you know the name of the game
You can never play enough
In the name of heaven you pray
You can never pray enough
When you know the name of the game
When you know the name of the game
When you know the name of the game
When you know the name of the game
When you know the name of the game
When you know the name of the game
9. Bete Noire
(Ferry/Leonard)
I know you, inside me
Like poison like wine
Now there’s no sense in falling
Say you’ll be mine
Give me the world around you
Give me the time
Only a dream without you
Say you’ll be mine
I’ve got you, inside me
In darkness entwined
I would be lost without you
Say you’ll be mine
Give me the world around you
Give me the time
Only a dream without you
Say you’ll be mine
Reflected in water
Imagined by fire
I will be waiting for you
Say you’ll be mine
Say you’ll be mine
Beware bete noire
Beware bete noire
Beware bete noire
Beware bete noire
Beware bete noire