Marc Bolan (September 11, 1981) – "You Scare Me To Death" b/w "The Perfumed Garden Of Gulliver Smith": UK
Updated: 1 day ago
Released on 11 September 1981, this Cherry Red 7" single presents Marc Bolan’s posthumous track You Scare Me To Death, drawn from 1966 demos later enhanced with newly recorded backing instrumentals. Issued four years after Bolan’s passing, the single formed part of Cherry Red’s album project of the same name, compiling early outtakes and songwriting experiments from Bolan’s pre‑Tyrannosaurus Rex period. The single reached number 51 on the UK chart and early pressings included an interview flexidisc.
Both tracks originate from Bolan’s 1966 demo recordings. In 1981, producer Simon Napier‑Bell added new instrumentation and arrangements to Bolan’s original vocals and acoustic guitar.
The B‑side, The Perfumed Garden Of Gulliver Smith, also stems from these early sessions.
STYLE & THEMES
The A‑side blends Bolan’s youthful, quirky vocal delivery with a newly constructed 1981 backing track. The B‑side retains the same era’s lyrical eccentricity and acoustic roots, expanded with added production.
TRACK‑BY‑TRACK NOTES
• You Scare Me To Death — A 1966 demo rebuilt with 1981 instrumentation, showcasing Bolan’s early songwriting tone.
• The Perfumed Garden Of Gulliver Smith — Another 1966 composition, later enhanced with new production for Cherry Red’s posthumous release.
Initial pressings included an interview flexidisc. The single reached number 51 on the UK chart. Issued as part of the You Scare Me To Death posthumous album campaign.
PERSONNEL
Marc Bolan — vocals, acoustic guitar Simon Napier‑Bell — production, arrangement
Artist: Marc Bolan
Title: You Scare Me To Death Label: Cherry Red
Country: United Kingdom Catalogue: CHERRY 29
Date: September 11, 1981
Format: 7" Single
Tracklist (7"):
A — You Scare Me To Death
B — The Perfumed Garden Of Gulliver Smith
Notes: Initial pressing included interview flexidisc. Posthumous release based on 1966 demos with 1981 overdubs.
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53, KENSINGTON GARDENS SQUARE, LONDON W2 4BA. Tel: 01229 8854/5..
MARO POLANA NEW SINGLE, ALBUM AND BIOGRAPHY
There was never anyone more sure of himself or directly to the point
than Mare Bolan. In 1966 he got hold of my home number and called me up. "I'm a singer and I'm going to be the biggest British rockstar ever, so I need a good manager to make all the arrangements."
I told him to send a tape to the office, but he said he just happened to be near where I lived. Could he drop it in?
Ten minutes later he rang the bell and walked through the door with a guitar around his neck. He said, "To tell the truth, I don't have a tape, but I could sing for you right now."
He was dressed in Dickensian street-urchin clothes, about five-foot-two with a mop of black curly hair, and unlike most mall people he was delighted with his sise. He played down to it.
To further diminish himself he chose the biggest armchair and sat in it cross-legged. He put a capo on the neck of his guitar and said, "I don't play guitar too well but the songs are fantastic. You're going to love them."
He wasn't boasting or being immodest. To him the songs really were amazing and exciting. The fact that he'd found them inside himself rather than lying around lost in the street was no reason to lessen the praise he gave them. He didn't think of them as specifically his. He just happened to have come across them and he wanted to share them with everyone.
But he never did
Because, one way or another, although I did become his manager and recorded all those early songs just as he'd played them to me, they never got properly finished, and they spent the next fifteen years in a cellar full of mildewing tapes.
Then, ten weeks ago, I suddenly decided to make the album with Maro that I'd always wanted to make, so I searched out the tape of those original songs and went off to the recording studios.
I tried to imagine myself in exactly the creative state of mind that Maro would be in if he were still alive today. He'd be contemporary. He'd be a perfectionist, but he'd still want that rough edge of vitality in everything. He'd know recording techniques from the past and would want to make use of them, but not to the detriment of natural atmosphere and spontaneity
During the time I was making this new album, I listened a lot to his other albums, and by the time I'd finished, there was so much Bolan swirling around in my head that I decided I should finish off the project by coupling the record with a book. So I got together with music-business journalist Chris Welch, and together we are producing a definitive biography. Not one of those quickly knocked-out sulogies of top-ten stars, but a properly researched story of Marc's life, both private and public, and an appraisal of his importance in the history of popular music.
SIMON NAPIER-BELL, August 1981
The single "You Soare Me To Death" is now released on Cherry Red Records (Cherry 29), and the first 20,000 copies come with a limited edition flexi-disc featuring Marc talking about famous people.
The album and book will follow together as a package in October
P.R. by Connie Filippello, Connie Filippello Ltd. 45/53 Sinclair Rd. London W14
Director: Lain McNay
SOURCES Discogs, 45 World, Wikipedia. BBC Official Charts Prince Vault, Sleeveographia2
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