''Yes Sir, I Will'' is the fifth album by

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, ha ...

band

Crass Crass was an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977 who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestyle, and a resistance movement. Crass popularized the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, ...

. Released in March 1983, the album is a virulent attack on then-

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

and her government in the aftermath of the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

and was set nearly wholly over a raging and an almost free-form

improvised Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

backing provided by the group's musicians.

Content

Many of the lyrics from this album are extracted from

Penny Rimbaud Penny Lapsang Rimbaud (born Jeremy John Ratter, 8 June 1943) is a writer, poet, philosopher, painter, musician and activist. He was a member of the performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and in 1972 was co-founder of the Stonehenge F ...

's extended poem ''Rocky Eyed''. The original vinyl release presented the contents as one long piece split over both sides with no banding between songs, making it the longest

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

song ever recorded. Rimbaud summarised the album in an interview with Radio Free France: Sleeve notes for the album include parts of Rimbaud's article ''The Pig's Head Controversy'' that originally appeared in the Crass-produced magazine ''International Anthem''. The title, taken from a news report of a conversation between

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

and

veteran

Simon Weston Simon Weston (born 8 August 1961) is a Welsh veteran of the British Army who is known for his charity work and recovery from severe burn injuries suffered during the Falklands War. Early life Weston was born at Caerphilly District Miners ...

, is an ironic criticism. Charles, visiting the extensively, permanently burned Weston in the hospital, dryly told him to "Get well soon" and Weston's sincere reply is the album's cynical title. Rimbaud, commenting on this, has said, "That was the hook. That was such an audacious thing to do at the time. Especially given that one had to feel compassion for Simon Weston." The album has an extreme disparity between the aggression of the music and the peacefulness of the message. In an interview about the nature of the anger that often crossed between passion and aggression on the album,

Gee Vaucher Gee Vaucher (born Carole Vaucher in 1945 in Dagenham, Essex, England) is a visual artist primarily associated with the anarcho-punk band Crass. Biography Vaucher met her long-lasting creative partner Penny Rimbaud in the early 1960s when ...

said:

Rereleases

A film made by Crass member

to accompany ''Yes Sir, I Will'' was shown at the UK

National Film Theatre BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the United Kingdom, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Ins ...

's ''Stuff the Jubilee'' festival of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

films in 2002, and the track was remixed in 2002 by Rimbaud to incorporate additional

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

instrumentation provided by

Ingrid Laubrock Ingrid Laubrock (born 24 September 1970) is a German jazz saxophonist, who primarily plays tenor saxophone but also performs and records on soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. She studied with Jean Toussaint, Dave Liebman and at the Guildha ...

(

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

) and

Julian Siegel Julian H. Siegel (born 1966) is a British jazz saxophone and clarinet player, and a composer and arranger, described by ''MOJO Magazine'' as "One of the UK's most creative saxophonists". Siegel has toured and recorded with Greg Cohen and Joey Ba ...

(

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

) to augment the original performance. The ''Crassical Collection'' version of this release, including new artwork by Vaucher, remastered sound and liner notes by

Steve Ignorant Steve Ignorant (born Steven Williams in 1957) is a singer and artist. Career Steve Ignorant was born in Stoke-on-Trent but grew up in Dagenham, East London. He later lived at Dial House, which since 1967 has been a self-sustaining anarchist- ...

and Rimbaud, was released on May 17, 2011. The reissue also contains a second disc (entitled ''Why Don't You Fuck Off?''), which has Rimbaud's 2002 remix of the album, featuring Laubrock and Seigal. No track titles appeared on the original versions of the album; however, the ''Crassical Collection'' edition gave the tracks titles. The first disc of the ''Crassical Collection'' edition is indexed incorrectly, with some tracks being shown longer or shorter than they were on the original release on the CD player's display, however the second disc is indexed correctly.

Track listing

Personnel

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Joy De Vivre - vocals *

Phil Free Crass was an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977 who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestyle, and a resistance movement. Crass popularized the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

- voices, artwork *

Eve Libertine Eve Libertine (born Bronwen Lloyd Jones; 1949) is an English singer. She was one of the vocalists who worked with English anarcho-punk band Crass. Her works with the band include the single "Reality Asylum", as well as performing most of the ...

- vocals * N. A. Palmer - rhythm guitar, vocals, voices *

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, vocals * Pete Wright -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Paul Ellis -

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, strings *Crass - producer * John Loder -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

*Judy - typing

Quotes

* "Be warned! The nature of your oppression is the aesthetic of our anger" - Crass, ''Yes Sir, I Will'' album cover (1983) * "You must learn to live with your own conscience, your own morality, your own decision, your own self. You alone can do it. There is no authority but yourself." - Crass, ''Yes Sir, I Will'' (1983) * "The listener experiences and shares the performer's exhaustion as voices crack, the beat wanders, energy flags and returns" - George McKay describing the album in ''Senseless Acts of Beauty'' (Verso, 1996)

References

{{Authority control Crass albums Crass Records albums 1983 albums