The Wrong People · 1986 · Stiff Records
Brilliant Mind
Written by Jim Irvin, Hamilton Lee, Sally Still, Tim Whelan
Published by Warner Chappell / Copyright Control
I am at the stage Where everything I thought meant something Seems so unappealing I'm ready for the real thing but nobody's selling, no Except you and you're saying Open up your eyes and ears And let me in You must be out of your brilliant mind You must be out of your brilliant mind You are at the stage You want your empty words heard And everybody's ready They want to know your secret but you are not telling You're just gesturing Saying open up your arms and hearts And let me in You must be out of your brilliant mind You must be out of your brilliant mind I am at the stage Where I want my words heard And no one wants to listen No one wants to listen 'cos everybody's yelling About you and yours And how I'd have the answer if If I'd only open up, up, up and let you in They must be out of their brilliant minds They must be out of their brilliant minds I said shame, shame on you Shame, shame on you you… You must be out of your brilliant mind You must be out of your brilliant mind And they must be out of their brilliant mind Everyone out of their brilliant minds I must be out of my brilliant mind My brilliant mind.
Commentary
We were going nowhere, Jim wrote some of this on the top of a bus (Didn't he have a notebook?) on his way back from the dole office. A year or so later we decided that we needed a hit and that this was it. Only Stiff Records agreed and (eventually) let us release it exactly as we heard it. A hit in Britain in the summer of 1986.
Band commentary — She Gets Out the Scrapbook — 1991 inlay (compiled by Jim, Tim, Hami)
The chorus came to me as I got on a 110 bus to Hounslow, after signing on the dole. The only way was up. And, ironically, this was the song that did it. Nick "The Captain" Stewart, the man who discovered U2, signed us to Stiff on the strength of the demo.
Jim Irvin — Band commentary, 2010 Cherry Red reissue booklet (compiled by Jim, Tim and Hami)
[Head of Stiff] Dave Robinson said it would never be a hit without a back beat. They all had them in those days! Video shoot was at 7am at the Wag Club on Wardour Street with an invited audience of friends. Runners were dispatched to buy cigarettes for them to puff on, to create an atmosphere of a smoky club, as someone had forgotten the smoke machine.
Hamilton Lee — Band commentary, 2010 Cherry Red reissue booklet (compiled by Jim, Tim and Hami)
Robbo shot us in the morning, in black and white, and Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin's cover of The Locomotion in the same setting, in colour, in the afternoon. Our video was simple but very effective, though we're sure Robbo reckoned the Stewart/Gaskin single was the better bet.
Jim Irvin — Band commentary, 2010 Cherry Red reissue booklet (compiled by Jim, Tim and Hami)
In essence, Brilliant Mind is a note-to-self about being a bit autistic and trying to understand the rest of mankind. Started as being about the big, empty sound of '80s music and Thatcher-era attitudes — expansion, scale, big money, big drums (Simple Minds, U2). Broadened in the other verses into not really getting the way the world is going, or the way other people think.
Jim Irvin — BanBanTonTon interview, 2019
On Brilliant Mind reaching the Balearic scene: made him very happy. There'd been "argy bargy" about the rhythm being too left-field — why didn't they put a standard 1980s Linn Drum on it. When people wanted to dance to it, it proved their point.
Tim Whelan — BanBanTonTon interview, 2019