Ant Rap
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Ant Rap" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Adam and the Ants | ||||
| from the album Prince Charming | ||||
| B-side | "Friends" | |||
| Released | 4 December 1981 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:26 | |||
| Label | CBS | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Chris Hughes | |||
| Adam and the Ants singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Ant Rap" on YouTube | ||||
"Ant Rap" is a song by the British new wave band Adam and the Ants. Written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni, the song was remixed from the version on the group's 1981 album Prince Charming. It entered the UK Singles Chart in December 1981 at number 9 before rising to a peak position of number three.[1]
The setting for the music video is Bodiam Castle and features Adam wearing a suit of armour in the style of the movie Excalibur (released the same year, and made by the same armourer, Terry English), then a blue American football uniform with the number 57 on the front. While in his American football strip, he crashes through a door, revealing Marco Pirroni sitting at a grand piano dressed as Liberace. Adam then does a Bruce Lee impersonation while rescuing the princess (played by Lulu) before being seen again in his armour. The video ends with Adam jumping from the top of the castle into the moat (the jump is actually performed by a stuntman). He throws his sword in the moat only to see an armoured hand lift it again from the water.[2]
Reception
While widely panned by critics, "Ant Rap" was one of the earliest rap singles to chart in the UK, reaching number 3 on the UK singles chart.[3]
Paul Lester of The Guardian described "Ant Rap" as one of "the weirdest chart [hits] of all time: "Adam Ant is easily dismissed as pop pantomime, but his paeans to insects weren't just lyrically peculiar, they were examples of populist daring at its best, all yelps and Burundi beats - I'd single out his clattering Ant Rap as the weirdest of the weird, with extra points for reaching [number 3] with a song with no verse, no chorus, and a refrain comprising a list of the band members: 'Marco, Merrick, Terry-Lee, Gary Tibbs and yours tru-ly'."[4]
The B-side of the single is a re-recording of "Friends". The band's former label, Do IT, would release an early recording of "Friends" as a single in 1982.[5]
