Telegram Sam

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"Telegram Sam"
File:Trextelegramsam.jpg
Single by T. Rex
from the album The Slider
B-side
  • "Cadilac"
  • "Baby Strange"
Released21 January 1972
Recorded1971
GenreGlam rock
Length3:45
Label
  • T. Rex Wax Co. (UK)
Reprise (US)
SongwriterMarc Bolan
ProducerTony Visconti
T. Rex singles chronology
"Jeepster"
(1971) 		"Telegram Sam"
(1972) 		"Metal Guru"
(1972)

"Telegram Sam" is a song written by Marc Bolan for the British rock group T. Rex, appearing on their 1972 album The Slider. The song was their third UK number one single, remaining at the top of the charts for two weeks.[1]

Background and recording

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"Telegram Sam" was allegedly written by Bolan about his manager Tony Secunda (Telegram Sam = Tony Secunda) who was his 'main man' in respect to being Bolan's manager and narcotics supplier.[2][page needed]

The lyrics feature numerous figures such as Bobby (a natural born poet who is just outta sight), Golden Nose Slim (who knows where you been), Jungle Faced Jake (about whom no mistake must be made) and Purple Pie Pete (whose lips are like lightning and capable of generating a heat power sufficient to liquefy females). Despite their charms, the singer expresses his loyalty to his "main man", the titular Sam.

The song also contains these lines Marc Bolan wrote to refer to himself: Me I funk/but I don't care/I ain't no square/with my corkscrew hair, a line which industrial rock band KMFDM would later borrow for their song "Me I Funk".[citation needed] The riff is similar in character to T. Rex's worldwide hit from the previous year, "Get It On" but in the key of A rather than E.[citation needed]

The single was recorded at the Rosenberg Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark in November 1971 along with its b-sides "Cadilac" and "Baby Strange" as well as the "Metal Guru" b-side "Thunderwing".[3]

Release and reception

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"Telegram Sam" was the first single to be issued by Marc Bolan's own T.Rex Wax Co. label, released on 21 January 1972. The UK b-side featured two songs, "Cadilac" (as printed on the EMI label of the original single) and "Baby Strange", the latter also included in the album The Slider. The single was considered the official follow up to "Get It On", as previous record label Fly had released the intervening number 2 hit "Jeepster" without Marc's permission. With T. Rextasy in full swing it became the group's third number one in their home country although it lagged at number 67 in the Billboard Hot 100, a disappointment after the American top ten success of "Get It On".[3] It would be the group's last charted single in the US.

The song was received with high praise in the British press, where Chris Charlesworth of Melody Maker enthused that "Boley piles on the guitar riff and the strings top around him, rocking menace."[3] Penny Valentine of Sounds, while noting the guitar riff as similar to "Get It On", nonetheless remarked that it reminds of "those good time real rock and roll records of the past". Derek Johnson of NME gushed that it was a "good old fashioned stomping rocker" that is "beaty, compelling, insistent, and catchy".[3]

In 1980, the song was covered by the gothic rock band Bauhaus as a single, which peaked at number 12 in New Zealand.[4]

Personnel

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Chart performance

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Bauhaus version

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"Telegram Sam"
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Single by Bauhaus
Released1 December 1980
Genre
Length2:08
Label4AD
SongwriterMarc Bolan
Bauhaus singles chronology
"Terror Couple Kill Colonel"
(1980) 		"Telegram Sam"
(1980) 		"Kick in the Eye"
(1981)

"Telegram Sam" is the fourth single released by British gothic rock band Bauhaus. It was released in 7" and 12" format, the latter featuring a cover of John Cale's "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores" as an extra track.

Track listings

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7"

Side A:

  1. "Telegram Sam" - 2:08

Side B:

  1. "Crowds" - 3:13
12"

Side A:

  1. "Telegram Sam" - 2:08

Side B:

  1. "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores" - 5:31
  2. "Crowds" - 3:13

Song appearances

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Bolan - The Rise and Fall of a 20th Century Superstar - Mark Paytress
  3. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  7. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). You have to use the index at the top of the page and search "T. Rex"
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). Only one result when searching "Telegram Sam"
  9. ^ "T. Rex – Telegram Sam" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  10. ^ https://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener&qsongid=3677#n_view_location search Listener
  11. ^ "T. Rex – Telegram Sam". VG-lista.
  12. ^ "T. Rex – Telegram Sam". Swiss Singles Chart.
  13. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  14. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – T. Rex – Telegram Sam" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 18 March 2019. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON T. Rex"
  15. ^ "T. Rex – Telegram Sam". Top 40 Singles.
  16. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).

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