"Night Boat to Cairo" is a song by British

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

/ pop band Madness from their debut 1979 album '' One Step Beyond...''. It was written by

Mike Barson Michael Barson (born 21 April 1958) is a Scottish-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Barson came to prominence in the late 1970s as the keyboard player for the band Madness (band), Ma ...

and

Suggs Graham McPherson (born 13 January 1961), known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor from Hastings, England. In a music career spanning 40 years, he came to prominence in the ...

and was also included on the '' Work Rest and Play'' EP, which peaked at number six on the

UK Singles 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 ...

and reached the top 30 in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. The song was later re-issued in the UK in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

following the success of the re-issued version of " It Must Be Love" but failed to reach the top 40, peaking at number 56. It was remixed slightly for inclusion on the band's eponymous 1983 album compiled for the United States. The song is featured in the 2011

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video game ''

Just Dance 3 ''Just Dance 3'' is a 2011 dance rhythm game released on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 with Kinect and Move support respectively for the latter two. It is part of the '' Just Dance'' video game series published by Ubisoft originally on the ...

''. The song is often used by Madness to close live concerts, and "Night Boat" has passed into

cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or b ...

rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...

as a term for a giro, or unemployment benefit cheque.

Background and composition

The song was composed as an instrumental by Barson, but was expanded when Suggs added lyrics. The song has an unusual structure, with a single long verse followed by an even longer instrumental section, heavily sax-based. At one point, after a key change from C to F, the instrumental slows right down and momentarily stops, then the opening notes of the song are repeated before the tempo picks up again. Suggs has described it as "miles of introduction, a couple of verses then miles of instrumental, no chorus and the title isn't even mentioned apart from me shouting it at the beginning. It's an atmosphere with great music and words- of course it IS a song, but not a traditional one."

Music video

After the decision to issue the '' Work Rest and Play'' EP, a promotional

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was needed. However, there was not enough time to make an effective video before the record was released, so a low-budget karaoke-type video was hastily filmed in a studio instead. The video featured the band dressed in stereotypical

British colonial The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

attire, including

short trousers Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ...

and Wolesley pattern

pith helmets The pith helmet, also known as the safari helmet, salacot, sola topee, sun helmet, topee, and topi) is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of sholapith. The pith helmet originates from the Spanish military adaptation of the native ''salakot'' ...

, in front of a

chroma key Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to ...

ed backdrop of an

Egyptian pyramid The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures located in Egypt. Sources cite at least 118 identified "Egyptian" pyramids. Approximately 80 pyramids were built within the Kingdom of Kush, now located in the modern country of Sudan. Of ...

; the lyrics appearing on screen in "

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

" style as Suggs sang them. During the long instrumental sections of the song, the band ran and jumped around the set, marching and performing their signature "Nutty Train". Despite – or perhaps because of – the poor effects and editing, and all-round unprofessional feel, it became very popular with fans, perhaps also due to the carefree nature and fooling around of the band onscreen that can be attributed to the large amount of alcohol they consumed while filming. However, this music video was not used with the 1993 reissue and remixes.

Appearances

In addition to its EP release and appearance on the album ''One Step Beyond...'' "Night Boat to Cairo" also appears on the Madness collections '' Divine Madness'' (a.k.a. ''The Heavy Heavy Hits''), ''

Complete Madness ''Complete Madness'' is the first greatest hits album by ska/pop group Madness. It was released in 1982 and included Madness' biggest hits from their first three studio albums and the stand-alone singles. ''Complete Madness'' spent 99 weeks on th ...

'', '' It's... Madness Too'', '' The Business'', '' Our House'', '' Madness'' and ''Ultimate Collection''. Most compilations contain the album version of the track.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Night Boat to Cairo". *7" Single #"Night Boat to Cairo" ( Barson/ McPherson) - 3:31 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Paul Gotel Rude Edit)" (Barson/McPherson) - 3:45 *12" Single #"Night Boat to Cairo (Paul Gotel Rude Mix)" (Barson/McPherson) - 7:59 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Paul Gotel Rude Edit)" (Barson/McPherson) - 3:45 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Well Hung Parliament Dub Edit)" (Barson/McPherson) - 5:35 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Paul Gotel Rude Instrumental)" (Barson/McPherson) - 7:54 *CD Single #"Night Boat to Cairo (Barson/McPherson)" - 3:31 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Paul Gotel Rude Mix)" (Barson/McPherson) - 7:59 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Paul Gotel Rude Edit)" (Barson/McPherson) - 3:45 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Well Hung Parliament Dub Edit)" (Barson/McPherson) - 5:35 #"Night Boat to Cairo (Paul Gotel Rude Instrumental)" (Barson/McPherson) - 7:54

Influence

The song inspired the Israeli hit ''"Rakevet Laila Le-Kahir"'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

for "Night Train to Cairo") by the Israeli rock group Mashina.

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1979 singles 1993 singles Madness (band) songs Songs written by Mike Barson Songs written by Suggs (singer) Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Songs about Egypt Songs about boats Songs about rivers 1979 songs Virgin Records singles