"Generals and Majors" is a song written by

Colin Moulding Colin Ivor Moulding (born 17 August 1955) is an English bassist, singer, and songwriter who was one of the core members of the rock band XTC. Though he was less prolific a songwriter than his bandmate Andy Partridge, Moulding wrote their first th ...

of the English rock band

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

, released as the first single from their 1980 album ''

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

''. Moulding accordingly wrote the song as a satirical take on the phrase "

oh, what a lovely war ''Oh, What a Lovely War!'' is an epic musical developed by Joan Littlewood and her ensemble at the Theatre Workshop in 1963. It is a satire on World War I, and by extension on war in general. The title is derived from the "somewhat satirical" ...

". The song charted in the

UK single chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at No. 32 and No. 104 on the US singles chart, while reaching No. 28 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart. It was the first XTC single to chart in the U.S., and it also had chart success in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The track was initially released as a double 7" single with a gatefold sleeve, limited to 15,000 copies. The additional record featured Moulding's "Smokeless Zone" and Partridge's "The Somnambulist".

Music video

The music video shows the band playing servers and a group of men in military uniforms; one of them is

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

, driving a

Go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance Kart rac ...

and jumping on a

bouncy castle Bounce or The Bounce may refer to: * Deflection (physics), the event where an object collides with and bounces against a plane surface Books * Mr. Bounce, a character from the Mr. Men series of children's books Broadcasting, film and TV * ''B ...

. According to

Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who founded the rock music, rock band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writi ...

, Branson appeared "because he's a complete publicity hog. He decided he was gonna turn up and keep suggesting that he be in the video. That is the worst video ever made by man."

Personnel

XTC *

* Dave Gregory *

Terry Chambers Terry Peter Chambers (born 18 July 1955) is an English drummer who was a member of the band XTC from 1972 to 1982 and the popular Australian-New Zealand group Dragon between 1983-5. He appears on all of XTC's albums between ''White Music'' (197 ...

Charts

References

External links

Discogs entry

{{authority control XTC songs 1980 songs 1980 singles Virgin Records singles Songs written by Colin Moulding Satirical songs Anti-war songs Song recordings produced by Steve Lillywhite

Music video

Personnel

Charts

See also

References

External links