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Lazy (X-Press 2 song)

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"Lazy"
Single by X-Press 2 featuring David Byrne
from the album Muzikizum
B-side"AC/DC"
Released8 April 2002 (2002-04-08)
StudioRocksteady (London, England)
GenreDeep house[1]
Length
  • 6:58 (album version)
  • 4:17 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • X-Press 2
  • David Byrne
Producer(s)X-Press 2
X-Press 2 singles chronology
"Smoke Machine"
(2001) 		"Lazy"
(2002) 		"I Want You Back"
(2002)

"Lazy" is a single by British house duo X-Press 2, featuring vocals from singer and Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. It was written and produced by X-Press 2 and co-written by Byrne. The song was released on 8 April 2002 through Skint Records and reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, held off number one by "Unchained Melody" by Gareth Gates,[2] and spent four weeks in the UK top 10.

"Lazy" won the Ivors Dance Award at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2003.[3] Byrne later included an orchestral re-recording of the song on his 2004 solo album Grown Backwards, and performed the song during his American Utopia tour.

Background

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David Byrne initially approached X-Press 2 to ask them to be his backing band, but they turned the offer down. They confessed, "We had to tell him we're just a bunch of studio gits."[4] As Byrne told Drowned in Sound, "I love the idea of a throbbing beat, and a dancefloor filled with energised bodies, and the singer proclaiming the merits of laziness."[4] Byrne recorded his vocals at his home in New York and then sent them to X-Press 2's recording studio as an email attachment.[5]

Critical reception

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Writing in The Guardian, Gary Mullholland called the song "a cheery dance-pop record",[6] whilst Helen Brown of The Daily Telegraph praised it as a "glorious dancefloor collaboration".[7]

Music video

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The music video was directed by Howard Shur. It features an extremely lazy man (played by American actor Bob Stephenson) who has created a series of contraptions that enable him to go through his daily routine without moving at all.

The video begins with two shots of a bath with a green hosepipe covering the tap, before switching to a transparent pipe in the toilet, with what appears to be urine flowing through it. The camera follows the pipe all the way back to the man, who is urinating into it while sitting on a sofa. He pulls a number of levers that control his furniture and utilities, including his breakfast and hygiene. The man then presses a button which activates a remote-controlled car (or "robot", as it is referred to in the video). As it collects his breakfast, he lies on his side and begins watching TV, but can't find anything on that is worth watching, so he pulls another lever to insert a video labelled "X-Press 2" into the VCR. The video plays a workout video called "XPress-ercise 2", which features four women in thin black outfits. Upon seeing this, the man likes it and sits up. He uses another robotic arm to pick up the phone and hold it to his ear so that he can call someone. As the robot arrives with breakfast, it accidentally spills coffee on itself after driving over a cable and short-circuits, stopping just outside the man's reach. In response, the man hangs up the phone and stretches to reach the food, but falls off the sofa. Looking to his right, he sees a half-eaten Snickers bar covered in dust. Not wanting to stand up and collect his breakfast and continuing to have no luck stretching for them, he grabs the Snickers and starts eating it. The camera zooms outwards as he falls to sleep on the carpet.[8]

Live performances

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During a performance on Top of the Pops, Byrne sang while X-Press 2 sat on a bunk bed and at a desk.[1]

Track listings

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Credits and personnel

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Credits are adapted from the European CD single liner notes.[12]

Studios

  • Recorded at Rocksteady Studio (London, England)
  • Mixed at Rollover Studios (London, England)

Personnel

  • X-Press 2 – writing, production, arrangement, art direction
  • David Byrne – writing, vocals, arrangement
  • Pete Z. – keyboards
  • James Brown – engineering, mixing
  • Adam Wren – mixing
  • Tom Hingston Studio – art direction, design
  • Jason Evans – photography

Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[30] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 8 April 2002
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
 Skint [31]
Australia 15 April 2002 CD [32]
New Zealand 27 May 2002 [33]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Coultas, Jimmy (27 January 2014). "X-Press 2 Interview". Skiddle. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  2. ^ "Gates stays at number one". BBC News. BBC. 14 April 2002. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Ivor Novello Awards 2003: Winners". BBC.
  4. ^ a b Smith, Jon (21 April 2002). "Single Review: X-Press 2, David Byrne – Lazy". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  5. ^ Allen, Jeremy (9 March 2018). "The Guide to Getting into David Byrne". Vice. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  6. ^ Mulholland, Garry (18 September 2005). "'Give It' by X-Press 2 feat. Kurt Wagner". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  7. ^ Brown, Helen (20 October 2005). "Perfect playlist: Talking Heads". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  8. ^ "X-Press 2 Ft. David Byrne - Lazy [OFFICIAL VIDEO]". YouTube. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  9. ^ Lazy (UK CD single liner notes). X-Press 2. Skint Records. 2002. SKINT74CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ^ Lazy (UK 12-inch single sleeve). X-Press 2. Skint Records. 2002. SKINT74.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ Lazy (UK 12-inch single sleeve). X-Press 2. Skint Records. 2002. SKINT74X.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ a b Lazy (European CD single liner notes). X-Press 2. Skint Records. 2002. SKI 672468 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ Lazy (Australian CD single liner notes). X-Press 2. Skint Records. 2002. 672620 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ Lazy (US maxi-CD single liner notes). X-Press 2. Columbia Records, Skint Records. 2002. 44K 79754.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ^ "Issue 636" ARIA Top 100 Singles. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  16. ^ "X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  17. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 20, no. 18. 27 April 2002. p. 11. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  18. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Lazy". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Top 10 Dance Singles, Week Ending 18 April 2002". GfK Chart-Track. Retrieved 3 June 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  20. ^ "X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy". Top Digital Download. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  21. ^ "Tipparade-lijst van week 20, 2002" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  22. ^ "X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  23. ^ "X-press 2 feat. David Byrne – Lazy". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  24. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  25. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  26. ^ "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  27. ^ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  28. ^ "Dance Club Songs". Billboard. 6 July 2002. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  29. ^ "2002 UK Year-end Charts" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  30. ^ "British single certifications – X-Press 2 ft David Byrne – Lazy". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  31. ^ "New Releases – For Week Starting 8 April 2002: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 6 April 2002. p. 28. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  32. ^ "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 15/04/2002" (PDF). ARIA. 15 April 2002. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 April 2002. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  33. ^ "New Releases". netcd.co.nz. 27 May 2002. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
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