World Party mastermind Karl Wallinger has shared an early demo of his band’s 1985 debut single “Ship of Fools,” a sparse composition with different lyrics — most notably the chorus “Sail me all around tomorrow” instead of the familiar refrain of “Save me from tomorrow.”
Wallinger shared the demo on World Party’s Facebook page, writing:
Going back to about 1984-ish here so put your crash helmets on…..this is the first appearance of what became Ship of Fools….yes it was late at night…….in the very center of a big city……in 1984……(cue a sampled blast of Bowie singing just the phrase “nineteen eighty four-hor!”
The song — which appears on Private Revolution, the former Waterboys member’s 1986 debut as World Party — “kind of went through a couple more mutations… then found its place,” Wallinger writes. “Looking back, it’s easy to think of going different ways, but that’s because we know there is a story.”
As for the change to the chorus, he adds: “The chorus was ‘Sail me round tomorrow’ as in ‘let’s miss that place out and go on to the next island!’ I changed it to Save Me! I liked the impact!”
Below, check out the “Ship of Fools” demo — and the final version.
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What a find! And interesting timing.
I was just listening to both “Private Revolution” and “Goodbye Jumbo” a few days ago.
This band is great saw them 7 times ship of fools great song .alot of people dont get it it’s a great song hope they come to the states Florida would be nice Karl is a great songwriter glad they are coming out with CD cant wait to here it thanks for some great tunes Andy