"She’s Got Claws" is a 1981 song by Gary Numan. It was the first and only single released from his 1981 album '' Dance''. The song signalled a different musical style for Numan, featuring

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

-influenced

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

and

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

, as well as a new image comprising

trilby A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...

hat and pinstriped suit, inspired by Humphrey Bogart and

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

Background

An obscure single in July 1981 called " Stormtrooper in Drag", released under the name of his friend and bass-player

Paul Gardiner Paul Andrew Gardiner (1 May 1958 – 18 February 1984) was a British musician who played bass guitar with Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, as well as creating material under his own name. Biography Paul Gardiner was born in Hayes, Middlesex. In ...

but co-written and sung by Numan, provided a foretaste of the latter’s new sound, far removed from the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

influenced synthpop that had made him a star. Aside from being a departure from previous material, "She's Got Claws" was unusual among Numan’s jazz-style output in utilising the sax as lead instrument rather than simply for a discreet solo; it was played by

Mick Karn Andonis Michaelides (Greek: Αντώνης Μιχαηλίδης; 24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was an English-Cypriot musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the bassist for the art rock/ new wave band Japan. H ...

from Japan, who also contributed bass on the track. Numan was a great fan of Japan's 1980 album ''

Gentlemen Take Polaroids ''Gentlemen Take Polaroids'' is the fourth studio album by the English band Japan, released in November 1980 by Virgin Records. Background ''Gentlemen Take Polaroids'' was the band's first album for the Virgin Records label after leaving Han ...

'', and this influenced him to adopt this new musical style. Like much of its parent album, the song was inspired by the betrayal of a former lover. According to Numan, "There was a 'little incident' in February that involved one particular person who thought she could make an awful lot of money out of saying what it was like to be with me for six months. You don't expect that. I was all set for, y'know, the ring – the lot! Then it turns round and hits you like an atom bomb." The

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 promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, filmed at

Southam Zoo Southam Zoo was a small zoo located just east of Southam, Warwickshire, England. It was started as a private zoo on a farm run by Leslie Clews and his wife Pauline, with their sons, Terry and Brian. In 1964 it was featured in a short film made by ...

literalised the idea of a predatory woman by showing the singer on the run from a panther in scenes that prefigured the remake of '' Cat People'', released the following year. The single's B-side was an abstract track called "I Sing Rain", whose vocal largely consisted of the word "rain" repeated over and over as well as various wordless cries. An additional B-side released on the 12" single, "Exhibition", utilised the ubiquitous

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular by allowing users to program and store thei ...

drum machine preset also found on Numan's recordings of " On Broadway", " Bombers (live)", "Remember I was Vapour", "Telekon", and "Stories". "She's Got Claws" was the only single release from the ''Dance'' album, reaching number 6 in 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 ...

.Everyhit.com
/ref> Prior to its release it was played live on Numan's Teletour, and recorded at his 1981 Wembley concert for the video ''Micromusic'' (the soundtrack of which was released later as ''Living Ornaments '81''). It was covered by Posh on the Numan tribute album ''Random'' in 1997. A remixed version appeared on the collection ''The Mix'' in 1998.

Track listing

7" version: # "She's Got Claws" ( Gary Numan) - 4:55 # "I Sing Rain" (Numan) - 2:30 12" version: # "She’s Got Claws" (Numan) - 4:55 # "I Sing Rain" (Numan) - 2:30 # "Exhibition" (Numan) - 4:27

Production credits

Producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

: ** Gary Numan * Musicians: ** Gary Numan:

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, SCI Prophet-5,

Roland Jupiter-4 The Roland Jupiter-4 (JP-4) was an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1978 and 1981. It was notable as the company's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer, and for employing digital control of analog circ ...

, ARP Odyssey,

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

** Cedric Sharpley: drums ** Chris Payne:

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Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

** John Webb: Handclaps

Notes

{{Gary Numan

References

* Paul Goodwin (2004). ''Electric Pioneer: An Armchair Guide To Gary Numan'' Gary Numan songs 1981 songs Music videos directed by Julien Temple Songs written by Gary Numan Beggars Banquet Records singles