'Johnny Calls The Chemist' was released in 1986 and remains one of the most disturbing and complex concept albums ever made in South Africa. It not only documents Nielen Mirror's obsession with the girl in the Wynberg chemist shop, but also gives a short glimpse into his complex and disturbed mind. His alter ego on the album, 'Johnny', was seen by him as a cool rock archetype as in Johnny B Goode, or 'Hey Johnny, what you rebelling against?' from the Brando movie 'The Wild Ones'. It was also a reference to Nielen's old gardener Johnny Roland, who would listen to him reading his stories while not at school. Nielen also remembers Uncle Johnny, a dagga merchant widely known in the Constantia area. There is also an early lyrical reference on the song 'What Are We Here For' off their debut 'Zen Boulders' ('Here's Uncle Johnny to deliver a maid'). So Nielen adopted his 'Johnny' persona, and, as the album begins, finds himself walking down the road to the chemist. For the purposes of the album, Colleen was renamed 'Collette', and Wynberg became 'Automaton Town'…..
1a) 'Automaton Town' – The opening track on the album and one written by Nielen, at Tully's suggestion, specifically as an introduction to the album and Johnny. It opens with a lone guitar, and a thudding, tick-tock electronic beat. Johnny begins speaking in an impersonal, secret agent voice: 'Automaton Town, 9am, Johnny stops outside Automaton Chemist and looks through the window. He sees a young woman, a pharmacist, working at the typewriter. He enters the chemist, stops, looks at her, she looks at him, there is an immediate connection'. The 'Automatons' are the traffic lights and dull people that populate the streets. The line 'She's sending her thoughts out' establishes the presence of a telepathic link.
1b) 'Girl At The Till' – This song was recorded for the original album but was left off by Tully as he felt it didn't gel with the rest of the album. He was probably correct, but due to its relevance in further explaining Johnny's state of mind, it has been included on the new version in its original position as track No 2. It has a newly added, sweet piano intro and a catchy chorus of 'Fast thinker, Head shrinker, Cool flower, You'll know her'. Here Nielen feels sympathy for Collette and her lonely life: 'At home in the evening, away from her work. She's lonely and tired and nothing but hurt'. There is also a frantic guitar solo squeezed into the middle of the song.
2) 'As Sly As A Fox' – Originally the second track on the album, written earlier by Nielen, originally as an abstract poem. It describes Collette and how cunning she was in getting Johnny trapped in her head games. 'As sly as a fox, that's caught in box, she hides behind the counter…But let him ignore her and she'll get him in her lair' Johnny watches Collette from a distance as she busies herself around the chemist. At one point the lyrics become (deliberately?) vague and some kind of sexual encounter (fantasy) takes place after Johnny accepts Collette's invitation to come over to her side of the counter, while the clocks on the wall begin to chime'.
3) 'Johnny Calls The Chemist' – The key track on the album and a mini-epic all on its own. This song was written and completed by Nielen and Allan in less than 30 minutes. Tully and Allan worked hard on the song, shifting keys and adding bridges to make it more interesting. Nielen explained that 'Johnny calls the chemist, but the chemist doesn't come' refers to his approaches to Collette and her rejecting of his advances. For these vocals, Nielen deliberately mimicked Bob Dylan, just as John Lennon had done on 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away' the famous Beatles tribute to Dylan on the 'Help' album. Allan's lovely guitar sound on this song leaves it sounding as gentle as a Bread song, but the lyrics are something quite removed from 'Baby I'm A Want You', which it slightly echoes.
Nielen described the building tension in this song as 'a thundercloud that never breaks'. He also throws another very strange sexual fantasy into the middle of the song: 'He shoots a mental arrow, from the bow of his mind, and piercing through her consciousness, he wonders what he'll find. She's moving to her lover, as he stretches on the bed, and pulling back the covers, thinks of Johnny boy instead '.
Later he sings about 'A lone car on the highway, calls for Johnny in the night. She feels the silent offering, that he's making to the sky, and wonders if he'll hear her, 'cause she's just about to die'. Tie those chilling words in with: 'It could be that she loves him, but the love is underground' and you have some of the most deceptively sinister lyrics ever to feature on a Top 20 single.
4) 'Chemist Girl' – Another song written by Nielen at the time of recording, on Tully's suggestion. Tully felt the album needed an extra narrative song explaining the context a little more. It is about Collette and her activities and duties in the shop, observed very carefully by Johnny. Nielen's deep voiced, monotonous delivery resembles someone who has been brainwashed, giving away information. It also has that famous 'shopping list' of drugs in this song's chorus, which has since passed into local mythology. 'Valium, Mogadon, Lexotan, Phensedyl, Ativan, Vesperax, Obex and Seconal', followed by that girlie chorus of: '…At the chemist in Automaton Street'.
5) 'Encounter In A Takeaway Shop' –This song was based on an actual incident when Nielen bumped into Collette in the fast food shop in the same arcade as the Lenkem Pharmacy. Nielen said hello and Collette 'went all weird and stalked off'. It was the first time they had met without a counter between them, thereby removing her line of defence. This song was the album's traditional rock 'n roll piece and strongly resembles 'Pharaoh's Song' from the musical 'Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat' as performed on the SA stages by Alvon Collison. The verse and chorus, 'He stood quite frozen in the takeaway shop', raises memories of that unforgettable Elvis tribute.
6) 'Making Out With Granny' – The 12' remix of the track that originally appeared on the 'Zen Boulders' album. Although this song had no relevance to the rest of the 'Johnny' album, Tully and Benjy felt it should be on the album and it is loopy enough to add rather then detract from the overall feel of the album.
The song refers to a store-robbing, shotgun-wielding Granny ('called Marina') who hangs out with her nephew Will, as he explains: 'But I'm not William Shakespeare, he wrote a lot of books, Elizabethan England, has turned us into crooks'. (?) But this is not a happy gang 'Now listen shopkeeper, I hope you're thinking straight, you know my mind is wounded, and my Granny's filled with hate'. Not the kind of couple you'd want to 'Make out with'.
7) 'For A Woman So Opposed' – Again a reference to an actual incident. Nielen and a well-primed lady friend entered the chemist with the intention of convincing Colette that they were a couple, and so, hopefully, provoking some kind of reaction from her. It worked, causing a wild and strange reaction from Colette, who stormed up to the lady friend seemingly all freaked out. This convinced Nielen that Colette was genuinely playing a cat and mouse game with him and had genuine feelings for him. 'For a woman so opposed, she's been really quite exposed…She jumped when she saw her twin brother with another'. Here Tully uses a lone, pounded piano, a la Elton John, with Johnny poshly speaking the verse before singing the chorus over some haunting guitar.
8) 'I Fought For My Friend' – This song was written by Nielen in a previous batch and was not intended for the 'Johnny' album. But Tully had recorded it earlier and liked it and felt it would work well in the context of the album's concept. It is one of the few straightforward, great pop songs on the album. It also adds a happy ending to the situation with Nielen defending his 'friend' and checking into a motel with her. 'Follow me angel, drink of this stream, take me to heaven, walk in a dream, fight for this friendship in these days'.
9a) 'The Ghost Of Collette' – This was written for Nielen's girlfriend Norma who worked in the chemist and took over from Collette when she disappeared for a while. Although Nielen had a warm and happy relationship with her, he still saw her as the 'replacement' or 'ghost' of Collette. Although Norma later died in a car accident, she was still alive and well when the album was released so the irony was not intended.
This is a beautifully sung operetta-type song, full of emotion and tenderness. One can almost imagine Nielen standing in a single spotlight with his hand on his heart looking angelic, singing: 'When they take you to the sanctuary, your mind will fill with ecstasy'
9b) 'Conclusion' – Tully suggested Nielen write an outro lyric to finish off the album and the concept. The result is 'Conclusion', a companion piece to the opening track, 'Automaton Street'. It is now 10.17, 77 minutes later (although the full, new version of the album only clocks in at 54 minutes): 'Johnny steps out of Automaton Chemist into a street that looks like a still frame'. He walks back up the main road with Collette's ghostly voice calling 'Johnny, Johnny'. It starts to rain, bells chime, the percussion, swirling sounds and wailing guitar soar around him to a climactic crescendo before abruptly fading away. This was the original end of the album
10a) 'Prissy Girl' – the second extra track added for the CD release and a good idea of the guide tracks that the band used to lay down for Tully to experiment with (at some point Nielen simply forgets his lyrics). Although it is written in the same style as the other songs on the album, it was left off due to the time and length constraints of vinyl. It starts with Nielen saying 'Okay! we've got two more for Johnny!' It has Allan playing a soft, acoustic lead while Nielen sings in his sweetest choirboy voice: 'Prissy girl walks with her head in the sky…she thinks his motto is be seen and not heard…. She's walking straight home and he follows behind'. Not the first time that Nielen's simplistic lyrics and basic rhyming techniques (ABAB or sometimes AABB) managed to hide some extremely sinister thoughts.
10b) 'Cat And Mouse' – Recorded straight after 'Prissy Girl' in a similar basic fashion and also left off the original album. It has a jagged punk guitar riff and a chilling, menacing and manic vocal performance from Nielen. It is also prefaced with the famous and perceptive comment from Nielen: 'Everything we do is psychotic!'. The truest words Nielen ever spoke! It is a rocking track with Nielen enjoying all the cat and mouse metaphors.
[Stephen Segerman, 2001]
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