Joy! Explained

"Joy!" is a song by the English rock band Gay Dad from their first album, Leisure Noise, released as a single on 24 May 1999. It was featured in FIFA 2000 and in 2002 on a Mitsubishi television commercial. Additional vocals on the track are by Carol Kenyon.

A-Side

While most Gay Dad tracks were a collaborative effort, "Joy!" originates from a recording created by Cliff Jones ten years earlier as a student at Durham University. The finished track combines Krautrock metronomic beats, a fluid bass line and scruffy guitar riffs with a plethora of synth effects ultimately ending with a gospel recital of the lyric "Goodbye my darling I'm ready to die". In a Sound on Sound interview, lead singer Cliff Jones described the song as sounding "like a record that was made 10 minutes in the future".^[1]

Track listing

CD1

1. "Joy!" (single edit) - 3:40
2. "Sly" - 4:56
3. "Desire" - 5:43

CD2

1. "Joy!" (album version) - 5:00
2. "Electrogeist" - 5:39
3. "Twelve" - 4:14

10" Vinyl

1. "Joy!" (album version) - 5:00
2. "Desire" - 5:43

Cassette

1. "Joy!" (single edit) - 3:40
2. "Electrogeist" - 5:39
3. "Sly" - 4:56

Notes and References

1. Web site: CLIFF JONES & MARK FRITH: Recording Gay Dad's 'Joy'. https://web.archive.org/web/20111225160613/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul99/articles/tracks.htm. 25 December 2011. July 1999. Sound on Sound. Bell. Matt. 16 October 2016.