This week, Jim Adams of New Epic Author / A Unique Title for Me fame, has asked us to choose a song using the words get or over. I’ve chosen Bang a Gong (Get it On) by T. Rex.
The Story
Written by T. Rex lead singer Marc Bolan, this song is all about sex, but with imagery so comically vague it would be hard for even the most prudish listeners to take offense. Bolan’s delivery is feral, and he does keep calling the girl “dirty and sweet,” but you really have to stretch to find sexual connotations in a “hubcap diamond star halo” or a “cloak full of eagles.” The biggest suggestion is in the title.
This song was written and recorded when T. Rex was touring America in 1971. The group had made inroads in their native UK with their 1970 self-titled album but were little-known in the US. Marc Bolan wanted to change that by coming up with something that would strike to the heart in America.
According to T. Rex drummer Bill Legend, he and Bolan worked out the rhythm one day in Bolan’s hotel room, and when the tour got to Los Angeles, the group reconvened with members of the team that worked on their first album: producer Tony Visconti and backup singers Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, who were members of The Turtles and recorded as Flo & Eddie. At Kaylan’s home in Laurel Canyon, they spent all night working up the song, and the next day, they recorded it at Wally Heider Studios in LA. When they got to the studio, they had the chorus, the rhythm, and the “you’re dirty and sweet” line, but Bolan had to come up with the other lyrics on the spot, indicating he wasn’t thinking too hard about them. Everyone agrees that cocaine was involved throughout the process.
This is a great example of “glam rock,” which was characterized by outrageous, often effeminate costumes, nonsensical lyrics, driving beats and very theatrical stage shows.
In the UK, this hit #1 on July 24, 1971, giving T. Rex their second chart-topper there, following “Hot Love.” The band’s American record company, Reprise, dragged their feet on the song and didn’t release it until January 1972. It went to #10 in March but ended up being the group’s only significant hit Stateside. In the UK, they had two more #1s – “Telegram Sam” and “Metal Guru” – and a total of 11 Top 10s.Producer Tony Visconti blames T. Rex’s one-hit-wonder status Stateside on Bolan himself. “When he came over, he would play ‘Get It On’ with a 20-minute guitar solo, like he was Jimi Hendrix,” he told The Guardian. “The kids wanted to hear basic rock’n’roll. His attendance at shows dropped immediately.
Saxophones were played by Ian McDonald of King Crimson. Producer Visconti later recalled: “He played all the saxes, one baritone and two altos. I kept the baritone separate but bounced the altos to one track. I bounced the backup vocals to two tracks, making an interesting stereo image.”[13] Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (formerly The Turtles) provided backup vocals.[14][15] During a December 1971 Top of the Pops performance, Elton John mimed playing a piano on the song.[16][17]
Bolan never learned to drive,[45][46] fearing he would die before reaching 30 years old.[47][48] Despite this fear, cars or automotive components are at least mentioned in, if not the subject of, many of his songs. He also owned a number of vehicles, including a white 1960s Rolls-Royce that was loaned by his management to the band Hawkwind on the night of his death.[49][50]
On 16 September 1977, Bolan was a passenger in a Mini 1275GT driven by Gloria Jones as they headed home from Morton’s Club Restaurant in Berkeley Square, London. Both had been drinking alcohol, and after crossing a small humpback bridge near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes, South West London, the car struck a fence post and then a tree.[51][52][53] Bolan died at the scene. Jones was critically injured.[51][53]
The car crash site has become a shrine to his memory, where fans leave tributes beside the tree. In 2013, the shrine was featured on the BBC Four series Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain’s Holiest Places.[54] The site, Marc Bolan’s Rock Shrine, is owned and maintained by the T. Rex Action Group.[55]
His funeral service was held on 20 September 1977 at the Golders Green Crematorium in North London. Bolan’s ashes were later buried under a rose bush. Bolan’s funeral was attended by David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Tony Visconti, Steve Harley and Boy George among other musicians.[56] [57] Bolan had arranged a discretionary trust to safeguard his money. A small, separate Jersey-based trust fund has allowed his son to receive some income. However, the bulk of Bolan’s fortune, variously estimated at between £20 and £30 million (approx. $38 – $57 million), remains in trust.[58]
The Lyrics
Well you're dirty and sweet
Clad in black, don't look back and I love you
You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah
Well you're slim and you're weak
You've got the teeth of the Hydra upon you
You're dirty sweet, and you're my girl
[Chorus]
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Well you're built like a car
You've got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're built like a car, oh yeah
Well you're an untamed youth
That's the truth with your cloak full of eagles
You're dirty sweet, and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Well you're windy and wild
You've got the blues in your shoes and your stockings
You're windy and wild, oh yeah
Well you're built like a car
You've got a hubcap diamond star halo
You're dirty sweet, and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on Get it on, bang a gong, get it on Well you're dirty and sweet Clad in black, don't look back and I love you You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah Well you dance when you walk So let's dance, take a chance, understand me You're dirty, sweet, and you're my girl
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on Get it on, bang a gong, get it on (ow) Get it on, bang a gong, get it on (ow - get it on)
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on (a-a-a-a-a)
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on (a-a-a-a-a-a)
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Get it on, bang a gong, get it on
Take me!
[Outro]
For a meanwhile, I'm still thinking
The Video
Ergo, the Ogre 
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