Sometimes you hear a song’s lyrics and you’re not surprised to learn that the writer later went on to author full-length books. Especially if the song in question is somewhat verbose. For instance, in this case, where the word count of my post will likely fall well short of the lyrics.

Why such a brief post? Here’s the extent of the available information on Intaferon: in the early 1980s, a pair of guys named Simon formed a New Wave duo in England; their self-penned song “Get Out Of London” was good enough to score them a deal with Chrysalis; they released three unsuccessful singles. The end.

Simon Gillham apparently went on to become a professor of Philosophy. Meanwhile, Simon Fellowes released a couple of solo albums, followed by a few stand-alone singles, and then turned from tunes to tomes, writing three novels.

Released in 1983, the can’t catch a breath, propulsive energy of “Get Out Of London” sounds like a hit. In fact, it sounds remarkably like the prototype for “Wild Wild West” by Escape Club, a song which hit #1 in 1988. So perhaps Intaferon’s single was a wee bit ahead of its time. Or maybe its chock full o’ syllables style was too much of a Beowulfian epic for a pop public who prefer a simple haiku.

The louder you scream, the faster we go.

Post word count: 219

“Get Out Of London” word count: 568