"That's When I Reach for My Revolver" is a song by

Mission of Burma Mission of Burma was an American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller (rock musician), Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass guitar, bass, Peter Prescott (musician), Peter Prescott on drum k ...

that was written and sung by band member Clint Conley. It appears on their 1981 EP '' Signals, Calls and Marches''.

Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...

covered the song in 1996 and released it as a single, reaching number fifty on the UK Singles Chart. Prior to this, Catherine Wheel also covered the song as a b-side to their single 30 Century Man in 1992. The title is a reference to the often-mistranslated quotation: "When I hear the word 'culture', that's when I reach for my revolver"—the actual quote from

Hanns Johst Hanns Johst (8 July 1890 – 23 November 1978) was a German poet and playwright, directly aligned with Nazi philosophy, as a member of the officially approved writers’ organisations in the Third Reich. The statement “When I hear the word cult ...

is "" This translates as: "Whenever I hear he word'culture'... I remove the safety from my Browning!"

Moby version

American musician

covered the song in 1996 and released it as the first single from his fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

Animal Rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

'' (1996). It was released on August 26, 1996 by Mute and Elektra, reaching number 50 on the UK Singles Chart. The original version of "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" had substantially different lyrics, among which is "Tonight the sky is empty/But that is nothing new/Its dead eyes look upon us/And they tell me we're nothing but slaves." Moby provided an alternate vocal track to permit airplay on MTV; with subdued lyrics, the video version was retitled as "That's When I Realize It's Over".

Critical reception

Mark Luffman from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' commented, "This is a joke, right? Moby makes a record that sounds like Jimmy Pursey singing with

The Alarm The Alarm are a Welsh rock band that formed in Rhyl, Wales in 1981. Initially formed as a punk band, the Toilets, in 1977 under lead vocalist Mike Peters, the group soon embraced arena rock and included marked influences from Welsh language ...

? It's not a joke? Oh dear, oh dear."

Track listing

* CD single # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 3:55 # "Lovesick" – 1:05 # "Displaced" – 1:25 # "Sway" – 6:51 * CD single # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 10:20 # "Every One of My Problems" – 3:14 # "God Moving over the Face of the Waters" – 5:45 # "Dark" – 4:21 * 12-inch single # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 10:20 # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 10:10 * 12-inch single # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 6:52 # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 6:58 # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 3:44 # "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" – 10:20

Charts

Notes

{{Authority control 1981 songs Mission of Burma songs 1996 singles Moby songs Mute Records singles Music videos directed by Lance Bangs