Come to Daddy (song)

"Come to Daddy" is a song by British electronic music producer Richard D. James, released under his main pseudonym Aphex Twin. It was released as a single through Warp Records on 6 October 1997, coinciding with the lengthier extended play release of the same name. A music video for the song was released, which ranked at number one on Pitchfork's Top 50 Music Videos of 1990s list. In October 2011, NME placed the song at number 42 on its "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" list.[2] The song peaked at number 10 on this Danish Singles Chart and number 36 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Come to Daddy"
Single by Aphex Twin
from the EP Come to Daddy
A-side
  • "Come to Daddy" (Pappy Mix)
  • "Flim"
B-side
  • "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball"
  • "Come to Daddy" (Little Lord Fauntleroy Mix)
Released6 October 1997
GenreDrill 'n' bass[1]
Length
  • 4:21 (Pappy Mix)
  • 3:50 (Little Lord Fauntleroy Mix)
LabelWarp
Songwriter(s)Richard D. James
Producer(s)Richard D. James
Aphex Twin singles chronology
"Girl/Boy"
(1995)		 "Come to Daddy"
(1997)		 "Windowlicker"
(1999)
Music video
"Come to Daddy" on YouTube

Background

James noted his thoughts on the song in a 2001 interview with Index Magazine, notably being uninterested in its popularity.

"'Come to Daddy' came about while I was just hanging around my house, getting pissed and doing this crappy death metal jingle. Then it got marketed and a video was made, and this little idea that I had, which was a joke, turned into something huge. It wasn't right at all."[3]

After its successful release, James claimed that he removed the record from circulation for one week, hoping to prevent it from reaching number one; it peaked at 36.[3]

According to AllMusic, the track has been interpreted as a "send-up" of the Prodigy's hit single "Firestarter."[4]

Music video

The music video for "Come to Daddy" (released in October 1997) was directed by Chris Cunningham and filmed on the same council estate where Stanley Kubrick shot many scenes in A Clockwork Orange.[5] The scene is shot around Tavy Bridge Shopping centre, Thamesmead, which was demolished in 2007.[5] Much of the dark underground car parking is now gone.

Description

The video opens with an old woman (played by Carol Lorne) walking a dog in a grimy, industrial setting. The dog urinates on an abandoned television lying on the pavement, causing it to sputter unexpectedly into life, and a distorted and warping headshot of Richard D. James chants the lyrics. This unleashes a spirit, accompanied by a gang of small children, all of whom bear James' grinning face and who appear to inhabit the abandoned buildings. The children go around wreaking havoc, trashing an alley and chasing a man into his car. The thin man (played by Al Stokes[6]) emerges from the television, screams in the woman's face, then gathers the children around him.

Distinctions and awards

The video is included on the Directors Label volume, The Work of Director Chris Cunningham.[7] The video was also named the number one video of the 1990s by Pitchfork.[8] The video won the Golden Nica (main award) in the Digital Musics category at the Prix Ars Electronica in 1999.[9]

Use in media

"Come to Daddy" was used in the television series Master of None in a scene where Aziz Ansari's character Dev imagines himself as a parent to two bratty children.[10] The show's music supervisor Zach Cowie stated he and Ansari "were both very big Aphex Twin fans. And he shows up a couple times in the series. Growing up as a kid watching 120 Minutes, that video will always be the total personification of an absolute nightmare to me. It just popped into my head."[10] The song was also used at the end of the Joel Schumacher film 8mm. The song (and/or album) is mentioned in Frank Ocean's 2017 single "Provider" following the line "Stiff smile just like I'm Aphex Twin".[11]

Track listing
Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Come to Daddy" (Pappy Mix)4:21
2."Flim"2:57
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Bucephalus Bouncing Ball"5:45
2."Come to Daddy" (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix)3:50

Charts
Chart (1997) Peak
position
Denmark (Tracklisten)[13] 10
UK Singles (OCC)[14] 36

References
  1. Pattison, Louis (18 September 2014). "Aphex Twin – 'Syro'". NME. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  2. "150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years". NME. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  3. "Index Magazine". Index Magazine. 14 January 2001. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  4. Come to Daddy at AllMusic
  5. Inside Housing 2 October 2009
  6. Al Stokes at IMDb
  7. The Work of Director Chris Cunningham (2003) at IMDb
  8. Plagenhoef, Scott (23 August 2010). "Pitchfork: Staff Lists: The Top 50 Music Videos of the 1990s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  9. "Ars Electronica Archiv". archive.aec.at. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  10. Gordon, Jeremy (9 November 2015). "Aziz Ansari on the Music of "Master of None": Father John Misty, Aphex Twin, Arthur Russell, and More". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  11. Frank Ocean – Provider, retrieved 2020-02-04
  12. "Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy (Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  13. "Danishcharts.com – Aphex Twin – Come to Daddy". Tracklisten. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  14. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.