Honestly!
Do we need to know if he really came inside her mouth?
How will all this affect me
Now and later?
You know that we belong
In a presidential suite
Armed guards in the street
Waving back at crowds who greet
And when I look over
Over my shoulder
I can't see my past
It seems so far away
Found an icon that gave him a hard one
Little Boris just can't help himself
Got so hot in the decadent nineties
Pass another vodka dear
We can dance
'Til the early hours of the morning catches up
Then we'll return to business
If there's any of it left
You know that we belong
In a presidential suite
Armed guards in the street
Waving back at crowds who greet
And when I look over
Over my shoulder
I can't see my past
It seems so far away
What makes you think that
We belong in a presidential suite
Armed guards in the street
Waving back at crowds who greet
Yes indeed
You know that when we met
There were fireworks in the sky
Sparkling like dragonflies
Spelling "All bad folk must die"
And when I look over
Over my shoulder
I can't see my past
It seems so far away
It seems so far away
Far away
Quote (1) (Gruff on ringsaroundtheworld.co.uk):
"It's about Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton and was written during the Monica Lewinsky affair, but I didn't want to release it at the time. It's a reflective look back at the decadent nineties. I suppose it's about what kind of super ego makes someone want to be president. It's a ballad with another top Sean O'Hagan string arrangement. I think it's the most complete song I've ever written in a conventional way, in terms of chord structures and lyrics and narrative. 4K did an amazing-looking film that cost five grand. It looks like a Terry Gilliam-style cold war epic: I keep expecting a big foot to come down and destroy everything! The central character is an old jet that flies around the United States and Russia and the obstacles that get in its way."
Quote (2) (Gruff):
"We did some stuff with John Cale last year (2000) too. I met him, and he was wearing leather trousers. I said I'd like to arrange some strings. He says, 'How do you usually arrange strings?' I said, well I hum the melody to someone who can write the music down. And he said, 'Well that's exactly what I do as well so there's no point in me doing your string arrangements.' So he played a bit of piano on Presidential Suite instead."
Where:
Monnow Valley Studios/Bearsville Studios
When:
2001
Source:
Track 11 (Rings Around The World): 5 minutes, 25 seconds
Status:
Complete!
DVD director:
4K - Probably the most unusual and serene of all the films. An animated airplane flies slowly through a rich cityscape collage of graphic and photographic layered elements, from buildings to objects, food and people. We perceive Presidential Suite as a nostalgic, dreamy, political, exotic, romantic ride, and the flythrough can employ a variety of commercial and political styles, laced with nostalgia and nonsense. Inspired by Terry Gilliam, Paul Rand, Yellow Submarine, The Dadaists as well as more obscure ones, the graphics will have a rough, naïve edge. The grander, swirling, gyrating chorus is treated with super-8 style footage of a funfair, with point-of-view shots from the flying carousels, blissful images with a thousand coloured lights, reminiscent of having fun, oblivious of the world below. The character of the airplane 'Super Furry Animals' ties the two themes together. To mirror a slightly 'Banana Republic' feel in the song we have chosen 'Tibidabo Parque de Atracciones', a wonderfully old-fashioned funfair at the summit of Mount Tibidabo in Barcelona, Spain, for the live-action shots. 4K is a design and moving image company based in London. 4K is driven by the need to speak many languages, visually as well as conceptually. 4K is inspired by style, thinking, attitude, humour, maximalism, genius, dissonance, absurdity, filth, technology, truth and tortilla.
Remixed by:
The High Llamas - Rings Around The World DVD: 4 minutes, 18 seconds
Phat Eric - Rings Around The World DVD: 5 minutes, 16 seconds
Notes:
An early version of this song appears on the soundtrack to the film Beautiful Mistakes alongside other Welsh pop stars.
