Paraffin (song)

Last updated
"Paraffin"
Ruby Paraffin Single Cover11.07.95.jpg
Single by Ruby
from the album Salt Peter
Released
  • September 4, 1995 (UK)
  • November 7, 1995 (US)
Recorded1994–1995
Genre
Length3:38
Label WORK/Creation
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Lesley Rankine
  • Mark Walk
Ruby singles chronology
"Paraffin"
(1995)
"Tiny Meat"
(1995)

"Paraffin" is the first single by British trip hop/industrial band Ruby, from their debut album, Salt Peter (1995). It was released in the United Kingdom on September 4, 1995, and in the United States on November 7, 1995, by the WORK/Creation record labels. [1] The song was written and produced by Lesley Rankine and Mark Walk, and only charted in the UK and Australia, not in the US. As with all of Ruby's singles, "Paraffin" had a promotional video made for it.

Contents

Release

The inside of the single jacket contains the following words:

"A craving for singularity... I can speak so softly because I hold so much power LISTEN FEEL SMELL There's so much more power in subtlety"

The phrase "I can speak so softly because I hold so much power" is the last lyric from the song "Heidi" on Ruby's first album Salt Peter. It also has three small pictures around the words, two of which would be the cover art for the follow-up singles "Tiny Meat" and "Hoops."

Critical reception

Everett True from Melody Maker felt that "Paraffin" "does possess a certain unsteady grace, a certain velveteen charm". [2] Another Melody Maker editor, Taylor Parkes, called it "a pretty little modern pop thing, chukka-chukka-bang and a sweet sloping chorus and halfway-intriguing, probably half-baked lyrics about flower thieves in the back yard and old men poking bony fingers in people's eyes; elsewhere things are deeper and more unlikely." [3]

Simon Williams from NME wrote, "'Paraffin' is a stupendously contemporary record for someone who was last spotted hanging out with Ministry in Chicago, flirting as it is with appropriate remixes, and all manner of groovy chilled-out tinklings. A crucial shame then that it has all the atmosphere of a Lenny Kravitz B-side and thus slopes by like a rather embarrassed badger." [4] Gareth Grundy from Select described it as "more Bomb the Bass than Big Black." [5]

Track listing

  1. "Paraffin" (Red Snapper mix) (4:25) -Rankine, Walk
  2. "Paraffin" (single mix) (3:35) -Rankine, Walk
  3. "Paraffin" (Richard Fearless Dub) (8:05) -Rankine, Walk
  4. "Paraffin" (Harpie mix) (3:53) -Rankine, Walk
  5. "Heidi" (album version) (4:04) -Rankine, Walk
total length: (24:08)

Production and personnel

The CD single was produced and written by Mark Walk and Lesley Rankine. It was mixed and engineered by Walk, with Scott Crane as assistant engineer. The object photos in it were by Matthew Donaldson, and artwork and the other photos by Rankine, except the one of Rankine which was by Joseph Cultice.

Charts

DateNameChartCountryPeak Position
September 16, 1995"Paraffin" UK Singles Chart United Kingdom#81 [6]
1995"Paraffin" ARIA Singles Chart Australia#179 [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Together Now (The Farm song)</span> 1990 song by British band the Farm

"All Together Now" is a song by British band the Farm and the second single from their debut album, Spartacus (1991). The song was released in November 1990 by Produce, Jive, Sire, and Reprise. Vocalist of the band Peter Hooton wrote the lyrics in his early 20s, after reading about the Christmas truce of 1914. The song was first recorded under the title "No Man's Land" for a John Peel session in 1983. In 1990, Hooton wrote the chorus after Steve Grimes suggested putting the lyrics of "No Man's Land" to the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon. To shorten the song for radio, the producer Suggs cut the song to three verses from its original six. Its accompanying music video received heavy rotation on MTV Europe. "All Together Now" has been used by numerous football teams since, as well as by the Labour Party for their 2017 general election campaign, often played during rallies.

<i>Erasure</i> (album) 1995 studio album by Erasure

Erasure is the seventh studio album by English synth-pop duo Erasure, released on 23 October 1995 by Mute Records. It was produced by Thomas Fehlmann and Gareth Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Good (Start the Dance)</span> 1994 single by The Prodigy

"No Good (Start the Dance)" is a song by English electronic music group the Prodigy. Written and produced by group member Liam Howlett, it was released on 16 May 1994 by XL Recordings as the second single from the group's second studio album, Music for the Jilted Generation (1994). Commercially, the track was presented with the slogan, "Hard dance with attitude" and is built around a repeated vocal sample from "You're No Good for Me", a song released by American singer Kelly Charles in 1987. Howlett initially had doubts whether to use the sample because he thought it was too pop for his taste. The song also contains samples from "Funky Nassau" by Bahamian funk group the Beginning of the End. It was certified Gold in Germany for 250,000 sold copies. The music video for the song was directed by Walter Stern and filmed in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To the End (Blur song)</span> 1994 single by Blur

"To the End" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. It appears on their third studio album, Parklife (1994), and was released as a single in May 1994 by Food Records. The song describes a couple unsuccessfully trying to overcome a bad patch in a relationship, and features full orchestral accompaniment with a choric refrain in French by Lætitia Sadier from Stereolab. The song was produced by Stephen Hague, unlike the rest of the Parklife album, which was produced by Stephen Street. Blur have produced several different recordings of the song.

Ruby is a Scottish electronic music act that was formed as a collaboration between singer Lesley Rankine and multi-instrumentalist Mark Walk in 1994, and is now positioned as a solo vehicle for Rankine. Ruby's sound includes electronic, trip hop, noise, industrial, and jazz, among others. Rankine and Walk named the group Ruby after learning that this was the name of both their maternal grandmothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preacher Man</span> 1990 single by Bananarama

"Preacher Man" is a song recorded by English girl group Bananarama. It appears on the group's fifth studio album, Pop Life (1991), and was released as the album's second single. The track was co-written and produced by Youth with additional production and remix by Shep Pettibone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Life Is Sweet (song)</span> 1995 single by the Chemical Brothers

"Life Is Sweet" is a song by the English big beat duo the Chemical Brothers, released in August 1995 by Virgin as the second and final single from their first album, Exit Planet Dust (1995). It features Tim Burgess from English rock band the Charlatans on vocals. "Life Is Sweet" reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leave Home (song)</span> 1995 single by the Chemical Brothers

"Leave Home" is a song by English big beat duo the Chemical Brothers, released in June 1995 by Virgin as the first single from their debut album, Exit Planet Dust (1995). The song reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the UK Dance Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Into the Blue (Moby song)</span> 1995 single by Moby

"Into the Blue" is a song by American electronica musician Moby, released on June 19, 1995 by Mute Records, as the fourth single from his third studio album, Everything Is Wrong (1995). American musician Mimi Goese co-wrote the lyrics with Moby and provided the vocals. The song is slow and melancholy, a stark contrast to the first four singles from the album.

Move (Moby song) 1993 EP by Moby

"Move (You Make Me Feel So Good)" is a song by American electronic musician Moby, with a chorus sampling from Loleatta Holloway's 1980 song "Love Sensation". It was first released as the title track on Moby's extended play Move, which was issued on August 31, 1993, as his first release on Mute Records in the United Kingdom and on Elektra Records in the United States. It hit number one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and number 21 on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiny Meat</span> 1995 single by Ruby

"Tiny Meat" is the second single from the debut album Salt Peter by the trip hop/Industrial band Ruby. It is the band's best known song, and was released in 1995 in the United States by the WORK/Creation labels. "Tiny Meat" is the only single from Ruby that has charted in the U.S., reaching #22 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks in the spring of 1996. The single also charted in the United Kingdom, reaching #96.

This is a discography for the band Ruby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nothing Can Stop Us (song)</span> 1991 single by Saint Etienne

"Nothing Can Stop Us" is a song by English band Saint Etienne, released in May 1991 by Heavenly Records as the third single from their debut album, Foxbase Alpha (1991). It is the first release to feature Sarah Cracknell, who would continue to front the band from this release on. The single reached the number one spot on the American dance charts for one week. The song is based on a looped sample from Dusty Springfield's recording of "I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Goodbye in Ten</span> 1993 single by Shara Nelson

"One Goodbye in Ten" is a song by British singer-songwriter Shara Nelson, released in September 1993 by Cooltempo Records as the second single from the singer's first solo album, What Silence Knows (1993). Written by her with British band Saint Etienne and produced by Michael Peden, the song received critical acclaim and peaked at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart. Additionally, it was a top-30 hit in Austria and a top-50 hit in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rough with the Smooth</span> 1995 single by Shara Nelson

"Rough with the Smooth" is a song by British singer-songwriter Shara Nelson, released in September 1995 by Cooltempo as the first single from her second solo album, Friendly Fire (1995). The song was written by Nelson with Ashley Beedle and Marc Woolford, and produced by Michael Peden. It peaked at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart and number 21 on the European Dance Radio Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweet Harmony (Liquid song)</span> 1992 single by Liquid

"Sweet Harmony" is a song by British dance act Liquid, originally released on the Liquid EP in 1991, and as a single in 1992. The song samples heavily from CeCe Rogers' "Someday" released in 1987. New remixes of the song were released in 1995, and it was re-released in 2004 and again in 2007, featuring more new mixes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">None of Your Business</span> 1994 single by Salt-n-Pepa

"None of Your Business" is the third single from American hip hop group Salt-n-Pepa's fourth studio album, Very Necessary (1994), released in August 1994 by Next Plateau. Written and produced by Hurby Azor, the song earned the group its first Grammy Award. It is included on the 1996 Barb Wire and 2000 Miss Congeniality soundtracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wherever Would I Be</span> 1990 single by Cheap Trick

"Wherever Would I Be" is a song by American rock band Cheap Trick, released in 1990 as the second single from their eleventh studio album, Busted (1990). It was written by American songwriter Diane Warren and produced by Richie Zito. "Wherever Would I Be" peaked at number 50 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angel (Goldie song)</span> 1995 single by Goldie

"Angel" is a song by English musician Goldie, released in 1995 as second single from his debut album, Timeless (1995). The song was originally published as a single in 1993 by British label Synthetic Records and credited to Goldie's moniker "Metalheads". The subsequent re-release reached number 41 on the UK Singles Chart on 9 September 1995. The song features vocals from Goldie's frequent collaborator Diane Charlemagne. While "Angel" uses time stretching sample technique and soul vocals, its remixed version "Saint Angel" is more hardcore techno-influenced. It was released both on "Angel" single and album Timeless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stars (Dubstar song)</span> 1995 single by Dubstar

"Stars" is a song by English indie dance trio Dubstar, released in 1995 by EMI and Polydor as the debut single from their first album, Disgraceful (1995). The song received critical acclaim, peaking at number 40 in the UK. But after being re-released in 1996, it was far more successful, reaching number 15 on the UK Singles Chart and number 18 in Scotland, as well as number 69 on the Eurochart Hot 100. Outside Europe, the song was a hit in Israel, peaking at number-one for three weeks. It received a great deal of play time in clubs and many remixes were also created. There were produced three different music videos to promote the single. Italian metal band Lacuna Coil covered it on their 2000 EP Halflife.

References

  1. ""Salt Peter/Album Track Listing/MTV"". www.mtv.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  2. True, Everett (1995-09-02). "Singles". Melody Maker . p. 41. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  3. Parkes, Taylor (1995-10-07). "Albums". Melody Maker . p. 40. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  4. Williams, Simon (1995-09-02). "Singles". NME . p. 51. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  5. Grundy, Gareth (October 1995). "Famous?: Ruby". Select . Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  6. ""UK singles chart history - Ruby"". zobbel.de. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  7. "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 14 July 2015". Imgur.com. Retrieved 2016-09-23.