GREAT APES: Beg for You 🙏🏼❤️‍🔥

Subscriber-Requested Cover #1 🎙👥

Hope you packed your headphones before leaving the apartment this morning — you will not want to wait EVEN SIX HOURS before listening to this, our stripped down, reader-requested cover of Charli XCX’s “Beg for You” (submitted by Emily Zafar💐). There were a number of great suggestions in the group chat over the last couple of weeks; this one drew our attention, though, because we’ve noticed a certain … bemusement, maybe, when in the past (repeatedly) we’ve proclaimed our love for Ms. XCX. Indeed, some of you seem to quietly assume we’re being sarcastic.

Does THIS, I ask you, sound like sarcasm?? ⤵️

Let me get this on the record officially (this is Chris 👋 handling today’s liner notes solo while Keith wraps up a vacation in Ireland): Crash was the best record of 2022, according to We Are Scientists.

You know all that vinyl we print and that many of you buy? Me, I don’t buy much vinyl! I’m a digiphile, a streamer, a net-scraper — the only thing analog about my listening setup are the stickers on my AirPods case. But I bought a copy of Charli XCX’s Crash. I sure did! I bought it as a gift, but that counts! Can you guess who I gave it to? Yep, Keith Murray, for Christmas.

See, we’re fans from way back. Ariel Rechtshaid, the marvel man who produced our first three records, was cutting demos with Charli around the time we did Barbara together. He went on to produce and co-write much of her first album, True Romance, including the sublime “Stay Away” and “Nuclear Seasons,” and we’ve been on board ever since. Seriously, listen to either of those tracks, or “You (Ha Ha Ha),” and tell me the dudes who wrote “Heart Is a Weapon” aren’t fans.

Of course, Charli is less known for her early electropop (indie dance? dark wave? new wave? gothic pop?) than for her more recent avant-garde stuff (hyperpop?) on albums like Pop 2, Charli, and How I’m Feeling Now. This stuff is often glitchy and frequently features radically altered and pitch-shifted lead vocals, and yes sometimes sounds harsh and metallic and like it would be perfect for a robot’s birthday party. Keith and I love this shit, but don’t assume a W.A.S. fan would, at least on first listen.

But Crash, guys. Crash…

The funny thing about Crash is that Charli XCX doesn’t think it’s her best record. It’s not even clear that she likes it. It’s not even clear that she worked very hard on it! (Compared to other, more original efforts, anyway.) Listen to the album version of “Beg for You,” then go listen to “Cry for You” by September. It’s not a secret or anything — “Beg…” samples “Cry…” — but damn! It’s kind of just a cover with new better words and new cooler production. Charli don’t give a shit!

Actually, Charli XCX’s magpie talons are a big part of what makes her great. She borrows, samples, collaborates, and style-shifts more than anyone I can think of, but always always always adds.

Charli’s song “Boys” is one of six examples of sampling offered in the United States Copyright Office’s document “Sampling, Interpolations, Beat Stores and More: An Introduction for Musicians Using Preexisting Music.”

What does she add? It’s tough to attribute specifics when there are several people at work writing and producing a song, but besides the fervent drive that puts her in rooms with so many different people, one thing is so consistent in Charli-music that it has to be coming from the captain’s chair: a profusion of vocal hooks. They’re simply all over the place, no matter who else works on the track. Part of being able to firehose hooks everywhere is having a knack for lyrics that will accommodate the melody’s rhythm. I don’t think Charli’s lyrics are the main draw or anything, but she does reliably offer more quirk than she has to, and for that we are thankful. In “Beg for You,” the idea of her tagging along to the airport with her beloved to “make out under the bathroom lights” before he catches his flight is… strange. Which is fuckin great. If you cut that image, the song is lyrically pretty bland, in a way you’d normally shrug and accept from a pop song. Charli keeps it weird. (Not as weird as our guy Keith thinks she does, though! Check out the transcription of his misheard lyrics below!)

Crash has so many hits, it’s embarrassing. I actually think Charli XCX is a little embarrassed. She started shit-talking the album soon after it came out, referring to it as her “sell out” album, intimating that she only made it to fulfill her deal with Warner/Atlantic (true at least in that it did complete her deal), and exalting about the new sounds on her horizon. Fuck it — I can’t wait. She’s never made anything bad.

[Want more Charli XCX in your life, but not sure how?? As tough as it is for me to imagine someone not vibing hard with at least 80% of the tracks on Crash, I can acknowledge that the absolute slam dunk swish for me is “Constant Repeat.” Opinions will vary in assigning an absolute slam dunk swish, though. I think “Crash” (the first song on the album) was maybe Keith’s a.s.d.s. last time we talked about it. And Keith Carne (who doesn’t rank this the number one album of 2022, so does his opinion even matter???) says “New Shapes” is the top track. I guess you should explore all those and “Move Me” and “Good Ones” and “Breaking Every Rule.” Then, if you’re feeling wanderlust, head back to the start: True Romance has a lot of great music on it — every Charli album does, but True Romance sounds closest to some stuff W.A.S. has kinda been adjacent to once or twice. The album Pop 2 seems to be in or near most Charli fans’ top slot, and it’s a scorcher. Hey, have fun! Don’t force it! Let it come to you! Do not fail, though — this is important!!]

As mentioned above, Keith apparently had a really tough time understanding Charli’s Essex accent when he deciphered the lyrics to this song. Here, as near as I can tell by listening to his recording, is what Keith is singing on his cover of “Beg for You.” Use these if you want to sing along with him. [NB: these won't work with Charli’s version! 😂]

“Beg for You,” by Charli XCX

Keith Murray version

You know I go in sayin’,
“Every time you have to catch a fly”
Ah, ha ha ha
Ken, I take ya to the airport
May god undo the bathroom lights
Ah ha ha ha
But your lips are my lips
I remember your kids
On the knot’s when I miss you
Sum the knockin’ frigate
Win ‘em wrestlers in bed
Yaya got me obsessed, mmhmm

Toe Chalimi, this way!
Oh, Ken, chew it another hour or two
You know I need you, Dusty
Toe, make me bake for you
Cuz, I’ll bake for you!
Yeah yeah yeah
Bake for you, bake for you, bake for you, bake for you

You like an ocean breeze: come in and go in just as you, please
Ah, ha ha ha
Seb, parade a Bio degree
Here’s the Tate, now lose yourself — all rather rich
Ah ha ha ha
But your lips are my lips
I remember your kids
On the knot’s when I miss you
Sum the knockin’ frigate
Win ‘em wrestlers in bed
Yaya got me obsessed, nahhhhh

Toe Chalimi, this way!
Oh, Ken, chew it another hour or two
You know I need you, Dusty
Toe, make me bake for you
Cuz, I’ll bake for you!
“Maharda,” say, kid
My Bratthew ticket
Babe, I just wanna tase

Toe Chalimi, this way!
Toe, make me bake for you
Toe, leave me the suede, the suede, the suede
Toe, leave me the suede, the suede, the suede
Toe, leave me the suede, the suede, the suede
Toe, leave me the suede, the suede, the suede
Yeah, yeah, yeah

As publicized last month on this podcast, on the BBC, and in the preface to Rachel Cusk’s most recent novel: Slow Descent Into Radness now takes suggestions for cover versions, as well as official inquiries for our Q&A posts, from our paid subscribers (a.k.a. The Enablers). If you’re an Enabler, visit one of the chats below and throw in your two cents (= ten pound note), or use our private google form to submit.

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Wow, that’s a lot of singing! But holy hell — you hear that?? — we’re in perfect harmony! I haven’t yet mentioned the wondrous Rina Sawayama (top right), who aces her A-levels (or whatever you say) on her “Beg for You” feature. This was a Charli post, but Rina = ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Have a great weekend. If you can’t do that, at least have a safe weekend. If you can’t do that, at least reach Monday battered but alive, and holding a sack of gold coins.

✌🏼 & 🐠,

Keith & Chris