1. This Is Tomorrow

Released: 1st February 1977

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(Ferry)

Here in the hush of evenin’
On a night in June
Overhearin’ conversations
Bayin’ at the moon
Suddenly a voice I’m hearin’s
Sweet to my ear
This is tomorrow callin’
Wishin` you were here

Layin’ in my motel bedroom
Feelin’ ceilin’ blues
Wall to wall a TV’s twitchin’
Clearly not a muse
Then flashin’ through the interference
Beams a thousand tunes
This is tomorrow callin’
What have I to lose?

Truckin’ by the railway station
I’m on the road again
Steerin’ clear of all temptation
Unto the point of pain
When steamin’ thru on cue
I hear that wailin’ whistle blow
If this is tomorrow callin’
Oh what a way to go

Day to day you live old fashioned
Hi-toned, fancy free
A double take, an image-spittin’
Tailored to a T
While history is tellin’ you
The same old thing
This is tomorrow callin’
Let’s stick a new oar in
This is tomorrow callin’
Y’all ‘n come on in

History

After the huge success of the ‘Let’s Stick Together’ single, In Your Mind represents a creative leap in Bryan Ferry’s solo output. Here we get a record made entirely of new compositions, performed and produced with a zeal that belies the fact that, including Roxy Music, this was his tenth LP in six years. Undoubtedly the effortlessly dynamic sound that graces this album could not have been achieved without the support of Ferry’s usual studio suspects (including Chris Spedding, Neal Hubbard, Phil Manzanera, Paul Thompson, John Porter and John Wetton) and their level of mutual musical understanding pays enormous dividends on this slick, syncopated classic. By using a familiar cast of players Ferry guarantees that In Your Mind feels cohesive not just on its own terms, but also within the context of his wider catalogue. For those who enjoyed the direct, tight tones of previous releases this LP provides satisfaction beyond compare.

‘This Is Tomorrow’ kicks things off in fairly rambunctious style. At first, a mournful slide guitar emerges over faintly chirping cicadas. They are joined by Ferry’s airy vocal glissando and gentle mellotron accompaniment, as the music mirrors the lyrical calm – “here in the hush of evening’ / on a night in June”. Our narrator discerns a plaintive voice calling to him and the rhythm section enters the fray with stentorian effect. “What have I to lose?” he asks resignedly and the musicians reply by completely letting loose – in come raucously raunchy horns, the guitars cut swathes through the sonic shindig and the voices in the chorus swell to an ever-more frenzied crescendo. The track serves as a primer for all that is good about In Your Mind – the record has a deceptively uncluttered feel that moves the body with undeniable force.

The wonderfully playful horn arrangements of Chris Mercer and Mel Collins are at the heart of In Your Mind‘s glam-revue sound, and they are on prime display on the record’s next two tracks. ‘All Night Operator’ features a lovely, lilting horn melody (as well as masterfully unfussy guitar work) and provides a refreshing change of tone after the whirlwind opening salvo. Ferry’s voice explores the unheralded lower end of his register to suit the sombre lyrical mood, as he plays the role of the scorned lover. After that the brass section sets about accentuating the punchy bottom end thrust of ‘One Kiss’ with jubilant and soulful flourishes that perfectly match the sterling chorus work. ‘Love Me Madly Again’ is a showreel for Ann Odell’s filmic and atmospheric string arrangements, which come to the fore at about the halfway mark and add a sombre edge to the typically involving chord changes.

Odell’s strings are also used to great effect on the album’s best-known song, ‘Tokyo Joe’. A footloose foreign fantasy, the song is anchored by the infallible rhythm section with the plucked violin and plinking keyboards helping to reinforce the eastern feel with subtle panache. The penultimate track, ‘Rock of Ages’ displays Ferry’s compositional flair, starting with an ambient passage that heralds the song’s melodic theme before the full band kicks in, a structure that is at once rousing and haunted. It segues seamlessly into the title track, which rounds off the record with a glam-raga sound that is spurred on by spirited guitar motifs.

In Your Mind allies some of Bryan Ferry’s most alluringly keening lyrics to the most accessible music of his career up to that point. Shorn of studio trickery and conceptual mischief, the songs have an alluringly warm, ‘live’ sound that allows the superior musicianship and songwriting to take centre stage: crisply syncopated drums crackle beneath streetwalking bass, chiming keyboards and layers of liquid guitar, all delicately crowned by Ferry’s plaintive vocals. A veritable treasure trove of understated gems and produced with great care and attention by future Japan collaborator Steve Nye and Ferry himself, this is an assured, mature album that demands your attention.

–Hal Norman, 2010

Lyrics

1. This Is Tomorrow

(Ferry)

Here in the hush of evenin’
On a night in June
Overhearin’ conversations
Bayin’ at the moon
Suddenly a voice I’m hearin’s
Sweet to my ear
This is tomorrow callin’
Wishin` you were here

2. All Night Operator

(Ferry)

Can’t you hear me talkin’ to you?
I’m callin’ you one more time
All night operator
Dial me a better line

Can’t you hear me talkin’ to you?
Do telephones make you cry?
I try to write letters
Only my pen runs dry

Though my words sound so confused
The feeling is running strong
Stick tight operator
Help me to pass it on

A final connection
A bridge before the fall
Receiver unrestin’
I’m counting on your call

Am I just a number to you?
A handful of empty sighs
All night operator
Reader between the lies

With half the world dreamin’
I see through your eyes
A switchboard breathin’
A diary of crossed lines

Can’t you hear me talkin’ to you?
I’m callin’ you one more time
All night operator
Dial me better line

If you feel me driftin’ away
Slippin’ into my song
All night operator
All of a sudden, gone.

3. One Kiss

(Ferry)

Now is the moment
Here is the place
And soon’s the time to go
Seein’s believin’ or so he thought once
Now he’s not so sure
One kiss, one for the road, what is more?
One kiss, roughly expressing all that lips are for

Where do they come from, doesn’t she speak?
Where can they go from here?
Forever or never or once in a while
Their situation’s clear
One kiss, never too late to miss
One too many a broken-up affair – like this

Spinning together drifting away
The song of love is strange
A never ending “see you soon”
Too late, the music’s changed
One kiss, what kind of end is this?
One more touching impression, one lost love, one kiss

Just as he’s trying to open the door
He fumbles with the key
Clumsily playing for time without words
Some things you can only feel
One kiss, lost in shade
One tear, ever so slowly falling left to fade

4. Love Me Madly Again

Are you still cutting it on the street?
Do you, do you make savage love when you meet?
In the zig-zag shadows that promise much?

Don’t talk about it, show me
Talkin’ about it’s, easy
Don’t talk about it, love me up

Is that lightning exciting ya quite as much?
Would I could feel it, would I could touch

Don’t talk about it, it’s not the same
Love me madly, once again

Don’t make it easy for me
Some like it tough you see
Loving is easy for me
A whole lotta love has passed this way, this way

(don’t talk about it) show me
(talkin’ about it’s) easy
(don’t talk about it) love me up

Is it as passionate as it seemed?
Was it for real or some kind of dream?

Don’t talk about it
It’s not the same
Love me madly
Once again

And should we meet again
Uncertain, out of reach
On the other side of time
Barriers broken
Thoughts entwine
Never words spoken
Love me madly again

And who can draw the line
A strand from me to you
A world apart, a smile
Loving is easy, hard to end
Love letter’s tearing,
Love me madly again

And when you find the time
Let’s share a silk caress
Somewhere for a while
Mirror to mirror
Frame on frame
Within without you
Love me madly again

5. Tokyo Joe

(Ferry)

My girl Friday she no square
She like lotus blossom in her hair
Be-bop records and something new
Sometimes borrowed but she’s never blue
Oh no, not Tokyo Joe

Way past midnight, she not home
She cut the ice down the Danger Zone
Water-tight dresses, she don’t care
A trifle risque, a tart, no sir
Oh no, sounds like Tokyo Joe

Geisha girl show you she adore you
Two oriental eyes implore you
Femme fatale or ingenue?
She very cunning, fiendish clever
Geisha girl suffer many times a fool
Sayonara moon
When all the world’s a stage, oh where are you?

Tokyo Rose on the radio
Or Diz ‘n Bird puttin’ on the moan
Tappin’ out telexes to Tupelo
Dear John, doh ra me fah so
Let’s go, call for Tokyo Joe

Walkin’ tall down the Danger Zone
She hokey-kokey till the cows come home
Big shot – from the hip – neon cool
Say, when you’ve been around, what’s left to do?
Don’t know? Ask Tokyo Joe

So inscrutable her reply
“Ask no question and me tell no lie”
GI boys howlin’ out for more
VIP’S purrin’ “je t’adore”
Ah so, that’s Tokyo Joe

6. Party Doll

When the world outside of you
Seems to weigh too much for you
Then draw within yourself
For there is no one else
It’s a sin
What I’m sayin’
But it’s the truth

Black and blue has turned to grey
Real life pictures gone astray
But don’t give in
Imagination rules again
It’s a sin
What I’m sayin’
But it’s the truth

Party doll
Oh how you turn me on
Now the day’s for sleepin’
For I’ll be leapin’ all night long

Party doll
Without you I can’t go on
Now the way I’m figurin’
You’ll be Leda
And I’ll be Swann…
It’s a sin
What I’m sayin’
But it’s truth

And if our secret love
Is haunting you
No one can hold me
Like you used to do

Party doll, what’s your game?
Do you move, or entertain
What people say
When it don’t mean a thing?
It’s a sin
Heads they lose
Tails you win

Party doll, I must confess
This wishin’ well of loneliness
Has dragged you down
I’ll wind you up, let’s twist again
It’s a sin
Skin to skin Amen

7. Rock Of Ages

(Ferry/Thomas)

Once again you’re the song
I’m the one who turns the pages
There you go flying high
Here am I rock of ages

Ring the changes ring all changes
Try to move me as of old
To rock-a-bye me
Rock of ages
Touch my soul

Lost again all alone
Turned to stone cold and sober

After you there’s no fun
On the run the party’s over

Ring the changes ring all changes
Do you move me as of old?
Rock-a-bye me
Rock of ages
Touch my soul

Who can say here today
Where we’ll stray gone tomorrow
After all is said and done
Will you stay and share my sorrow?

Sing your praises
Sing all praises
Still you move me
Knock me cold
Rock-a-bye me
Rock of ages
You touched my soul

8. In Your Mind

(Ferry)

Hark the frozen chimes of winter
Crystal shimmer in your mind
To the first time when you saw her
You implored her to be kind

In the open fields around you
All before you gone to ground
Both the question and the answer
Deep inside you – you shall find

And while you’re strollin’
Through the summer of your years
Enchanted, a garden overgrown
Don’t call me sentimental
Those of you who care
Could find there a lover and a friend, to the end

And if you’re taken
By the sprit of your age
No reason to carve a cornerstone
Sway me, trade me
Your philosophy
First you’re sowin’
Then you’re growin’
Then you reap, until you sleep

Will you scale the silver studded mountain
Where contemplation’ll spring to mind?
See the veiled prophet’s withered gaze
Reflect the “nouvelle vague”
Glazed visions imprisoned in your mind

Unwinding rivers flowing through the meadows
To the sea, paths of glory
Through shifting glades to fall

Present laughter and the memory
Of troubles you have seen
It is written in your mind