"A Bus for a Bus on the Bus" is the debut single by English rock band

Cardiacs Cardiacs are an English rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by Tim Smith (lead guitar and vocals) and his brother Jim (bass, backing vocals) in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. The band's sound fused circus, baroque pop and medieval mu ...

, then known as Cardiac Arrest, released in 1979 under

Tortch Records Stephen Budd is a British music industry executive based in London. He is a director of artist and producer management company Stephen Budd Music Ltd, the OneFest Festival, the Africa Express (organization), Africa Express project and is the co-f ...

. The song's title recalls "A Pound for a Brown on the Bus" from the

Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band c ...

album ''

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'' (1969). Until the release of '' The Special Garage Concerts Vol II'', none of the tracks on the 7-inch single had been reproduced anywhere else. The single was supposed to contain four tracks and not three, but the limited space on the 7-inch format prevented it. The fourth track was to be "Keep Your Dead Mice with You", which was later re-recorded as "Dead Mouse" on the ''

Toy World ''Toy World'' is the second demo album by the English rock band Cardiacs (including ''The Obvious Identity'', released on cassette the previous year under the band name "Cardiac Arrest"). The cassette is a mixture of older songs by the earlier ...

'' album. The single is one of the rarest

items.

Recording

According to Pugh, Jim Smith broke the E string on his bass during recording. Before recording Cade bought some children's items from a newsagent and brought them to the session. Smith proceeded to give each member a different item and conducted them like an orchestra to make noises on "A Cake for Bertie's Party" during the middle section. During the recording of "Keep Your Dead Mice With You", which was at the end of the session, Smith and Pugh tried to put together a vocal harmony but it was not finished. The songs were mixed at the end of the session and 1000 copies were pressed.

Reissues and alternate versions of tracks

''Cardiac Arrest E.P.'' has never been reissued, and thus is one of the rarest

releases. None of the tracks have ever been reissued from the original master, although tracks have had live versions appearing on other albums. *All three tracks were performed live on the 2005 live album '' The Special Garage Concerts Vol II'' *Versions of "A Bus for a Bus on the Bus" and "A Cake for Bertie's Party" appeared on the 2017 DVD ''Some Fairytales From the Rotten Shed''. *The band SlapPeR released a version of the song in aid of Tim Smith in January 2020.

Track listing

:A1. "A Bus for a Bus on the Bus" (

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians * T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and prod ...

, Michael Pugh) – 4:33 :B2. "A Cake for Bertie's Party" (T. Smith, Jim Smith, Colvin Mayers) – 3:10 :B3. "Food on the Wall" (Mayers) – 1:08

Personnel

According to Eric Benac: * Philip Pilf (

) – guitar, vocals * Patty Pilf ( Jim Smith) – bass * Peter Boker (Michael Pugh) – vocals * Duncan Doilet (Colvin Mayers) – keyboards * Richard Targett ( Peter Tagg) – drums * Raphael Cadd (Ralph Cade) – saxophone,

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

''Pete's Cardiacs Site'' credits

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

to Tim Smith rather than vocals and credits Pugh as "Peter 'Zip' Boker" and Mayers as "Max Cat".

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardiac Arrest E.P., A Cardiacs songs 1979 singles 1979 songs Songs written by Tim Smith (Cardiacs)