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HeartSongs - 20180312

Welcome to HeartSongs, our regularly scheduled (probably) look at songs and the people who write them. We spoke to Ross from Dublin punks Boom Child about their recent single ‘I Want To Shift Your Sister’.

“We were inspired to write the song after hearing the story of a young man trying to get the shift ("Shift" is Irish slang for "kissing with tongues" AKA "French Kissing”) and, upon rejection, accused the girl of being a slut. We thought his confusing and contradictory reaction was a great example of sexually frustrated young lads everywhere. So we wrote a song slagging him off. Also, I believe the young man in the story now works in finance or is a senator. 

The three of us love pop punk, so that was big influence on the sound. Influences on the humour would be people like Frank Zappa, Presidents of the United States of America (the band), The Toy Dolls and people’s Dads. 

The recording was extremely tense. Our drummer Tadhg Lipton produces all of our songs in his recording compound in Dublin, Tuff Lip Productions. He made us record the vocals while submerged neck-deep in water and would threaten to replace us with session musicians on a daily basis. He also thought sleep deprivation would give us a more raw sound but it just made us very tired. He ate jelly tots obsessively the whole way through the recording process and never shared. However, his methods proved effective and we are very happy with how the song turned out.

Some of the ideas we knew would definitely be in the video beforehand; such as the After Eights getting shoved under the door, the ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ reference and our mascot Boomer the dancing cow. When we met up with the German director, Dr. Lippy, the video took on a more improvisational approach. He originally wanted the video to have more controversial material including images of us getting sick into Trocáire boxes and chopping the heads off Furbies. We had to compromise by including a lot of footage of Pope Francis as Dr. Lippy thinks he’s class.”

LYRICS:

You're drinkin’ Diet Coke but you never drank it before

You're shovin’ After Eights underneath the door

 

I'm not sayin’ it's wrong

I'm not sayin’ it's tight (No no no no no no)

But there's a thousand other things I'd rather do to you tonight Because

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

Ooooooooooooooooooh

 

You're almost as sound as you were back in verse number one

And I'm not havin’, I'm not havin’ any fun

 

I'm not sayin’ it's wrong

I'm not sayin’ it's tight (No no no no no no)

But there's a thousand other things I'd rather eat than chicken tonight Because

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

 

She wouldn't shift me so I called her a slut

I'm really sorry

Ooooooooooooooooooh

(That came out wrong, I've a lot of problems at home, I never went to the debs!)

 

It wasn't worth goin’ out tonight, going out tonight, goin’ out tonight

It wasn't worth goin’ out tonight, going out tonight, goin’ out tonight (I think it was)

It wasn't worth goin’ out tonight, going out tonight, goin’ out tonight

It wasn't worth goin’ out tonight, going out tonight, goin’ out tonight Because

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

(It wasn't worth goin’ out tonight, going out tonight, goin’ out tonight)

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

I WANT TO SHIFT YOUR SISTER

(It wasn't worth goin’ out tonight, going out tonight, goin’ out tonight) OooooooooooOHHHOOooooooooohhhhh.... *guttural noises*

 

Upcoming Dublin gigs:

 

April 5th Fibber Magees

April 6th Whelan’s Upstairs

 

April 14th Workman’s Club Upstairs (Acoustic)

 

 

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