One Step Beyond (song)

"One Step Beyond"
Single by Madness
from the album One Step Beyond...
B-side	"Mistakes" "Nutty Theme"
Released	26 October 1979 (1979-10-26)
Recorded	1979
Length	2:17
Label	Stiff
Songwriter(s)	Cecil Campbell
Producer(s)	Clive Langer Alan Winstanley
Madness singles chronology
"The Prince" (1979) "One Step Beyond" (1979) "My Girl" (1979)
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.