You'll be Warm in the Arms of a Mystery Bass Beat

For a couple of years I've been tortured by a song. It's played dozens of times at restaurants; nobody could name tune or band, and the times I tried to use a phone app (Sound Hound) to identify it there was too much background noise. My favorite restaurants are inevitably full of happy people, and get a bit loud.

I love nearly everything about this song, from the apparently simple, driving bass beat to the breathless, non-stop vocal melody. Sometimes I couldn't hear anything but the bass yet I instantly knew the tune and could play all the parts in my head.

With unintelligible lyrics (thanks to ambient noise levels).

Tonight, with my phone about three feet from a speaker, I finally ID'd the song: "The Mayor of Simpleton" by XTC. As soon as I knew the song, lyrics began to resolve in my head. A quick youtube play and they were all back. How weird, to forget an entire song's worth of lyrics.

And I may be the mayor of simpleton
But I know one thing
And that's, "I love you".

Victory is mine. Yes, it's a rather trivial victory, made even more so by needing a smart phone to Name That Song. But I love music, and this song has intruded on well over half our date night meals and meals out with friends the past couple of years. A victory is a victory. I'll take the small ones along with the big ones.

If depth of feeling is a currency,
(please be upstanding for the mayor of simpleton),
Then I'm the man who grew the money tree,
(no chain of office and no hope of getting one).
Some of your friends are too brainy to see,
That they're paupers and that's how they'll stay.

THE MAYOR OF SIMPLETON (intro/verses) by Andy Partridge
Copyright 1989 Virgin Music Ltd.
Bass line as arranged and recorded by Colin Moulding
As reported by Jeff Truzi on http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_TheMayorOfSimpleton.html