"One Step Beyond" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by Madness | ||||
from the album One Step Beyond... | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | 26 October 1979 | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Length | 2:17 | |||
Label | Stiff | |||
Songwriter(s) | Cecil Campbell | |||
Producer(s) | ||||
Madness singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"One Step Beyond" by Madness on YouTube |
"One Step Beyond" is a tune written by Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster[1] as a B-side for his 1964 single "Al Capone". It was covered by British band Madness for their debut studio album of the same name (1979).[1] Although Buster's version was mostly instrumental except for the song title shouted for a few times, the Madness version features a spoken intro by Chas Smash and a barely audible but insistent background chant of "here we go!". The spoken line, "Don't watch that, watch this", in the intro is from another Prince Buster song, "Scorcher" — and is also used at the start of Dave and Ansell Collins' "Funky Funky Reggae" — whilst the next line "This is a heavy heavy monster sound" is taken from another Dave and Ansell Collins song, "Monkey Spanner". The first of those also became a trademark during the early promos of MTV, where the video was in heavy rotation.
According to Alan Winstanley, one of the producers, the released Madness version was a rough mix, created by taking the original 1 minute 10 second instrumental and repeating it, with the second half treated with an Eventide harmonizer to make it sound slightly different. Langer and Winstanley intended to do a full remix but found that the double-length rough mix had already been sent for mastering before they got the opportunity.[2]
The song is often used to begin live performances by the band.