‘Peaches’ is the second single by the Stranglers, taken from their debut studio album Rattus Norvegicus (1977). Notable for its distinctive bassline, the track peaked at No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. The single was a double A-side with ‘Go Buddy Go’. The latter was played on UK radio at the time and also was performed on the band's first BBC TV Top of the Pops appearance, because the sexual nature of the lyrics of ‘Peaches’ caused the BBC to censor it. Still, ‘Peaches’ was ranked at No. 18 among the top "Tracks of the Year" for 1977 by NME, and it reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. In a 2022 feature, Guitar World named ‘Peaches’ as having the 4th best bassline of all time.
The lyrics to ‘Peaches’ featured coarse sexual language and innuendo to a degree that was unusual for the time. The song's narrator is girl-watching on a crowded beach one hot summer day. It is never made clear if his lascivious thoughts (such as "there goes a girl and a half") are an interior monologue, comments to his companions, or come-on lines to the attractive women in question. The critic Tom Maginnis wrote that Hugh Cornwell sings with "a lecherous sneer...spill[ing] into macho parody or even censor-baiting territory". The radio cut was re-recorded with less explicit lyrics: "clitoris" was replaced with "bikini", "oh shit" with "oh no" and "what a bummer" with "what a summer". The catalogue number of the radio version was FREE 4.
The Stranglers’ frontman, JJ Burnel explained to Songfacts how the song came together: "In the very early days, in order to earn a bit of money, we had a little PA, and one day we were signed to a black label called Safari, which was more or less a reggae label. We hadn't released anything. But the owner phoned us up one day and said, 'Look, do you want a few pounds to augment your PA to a sound system?' Well, we didn't know what 'sound system' was. So, we turned up in a part of London and we were the only white guys there. We stuck our PA to their sound system, and there was an awful lot of grass going about. We were kind of excluded from the line of grass. And lo and behold, I discovered sound systems, which were I suppose an early form of rap. You'd have a toaster: a black guy talking sort of stream of consciousness over mainly a bass and drums backing rhythm. Reggae. It was all reggae. What you might know as 'dub.' So you have a delay on the snare or something, there'd be a lot of separation and mainly bass speakers throughout the total.”
Burnel continued, “So, we stayed there for the whole gig. And at the end of it, I was hooked on the idea that the bass should be the most dominant feature. So, I went back to where we were living and that night, came up with the three notes which constitute 'Peaches.' And of course, I wanted to make a reggae song out of it. But we didn't quite get the snare in the right beat. But never mind. We Strangle-fied it. We interpreted a reggae theme in The Stranglers way, which became 'Peaches.'"
Label – United Artists
Songwriters – Jean Jacques Burnel, Hugh Cornwell, Dave Greenfield, Jet Black
Producer – Martin Rushent
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1: Hugh Cornwell and all]Strolling along minding my own business
Well, there goes a girl and a half
She's got me going up and down
She's got me going up and down
[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches
[Verse 2: Hugh Cornwell and all]
Well, I got the notion, girl
That you got some suntan lotion in that bottle of yours
Spread it all over my peelin' skin, baby
That feels real good
All this skirt, lappin' up the sun
Lap me up
Why don't you come on and lap me up
[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches
[Verse 3: Hugh Cornwell and all]
Well, there goes another one just lying down on the sand dunes
I'd better go take a swim and see if I can cool down a little bit
'Cause you and me woman
We got a lotta things on our minds
You know what I mean?
[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches
[Verse 4: Hugh Cornwell and all]
Will you just take a look over there
(Where?)
(There)
Is she tryin' to get outta that clitoris
Liberation for women
That's what I preach preacher man
[Chorus: All]
Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches
[Bridge: Hugh Cornwell]
Oh shit, there goes the charabanc
Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer
Well, what a bummer
I can think of a lot worse places to be
Like down in the streets or down in the sewer
Or even on the end of a skewer
[Organ Breakdown]
[All and Hugh Cornwell]
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches just look at all the firm bodies
Down on the beaches just look at all the sunglasses
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches just look at all the peaches
Down on the beaches
[Outro: Hugh Cornwell]
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm
Mm, mm
Mm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm