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MAINMAN
1972
As mentioned the last song on a Bolan album always had special significance, it would on these that Bolan would adopt a different style or lay his soul bare or often a combination of the two. 'The Slider' is no exception, too close 'The Slider', Bolan gave us 'Main Man', this beautiful almost acoustic track, was laced with the usual Bolan melancholy that was normally only found on home demo's, in fact its feel was almost more in tune with 'Tanx' than 'The Slider', perhaps this was the intention perhaps Marc was leaving clues to the sound of his next album. It's strange to think that glam rock is associated with such an optimistic and buoyant attitude, that reality never had to figure, yet so often Bolan went against this, then again he was so much more than just a glam rock star.
Most of the production on 'The Slider', actually places Marc's voice quite low in the mix, allowing the catchy guitar riffs which most of the songs are built around to come to the fore. With 'Main Man', production guru Tony Visconti let the full beauty of Marc's voice take centre stage.
People have spent many years speculating that the song is about various T.Rex people that Marc knew or that it may be about David Bowie, I think the truth is far simpler; I think it is about God and the search for soul. Marc hints throughout The Slider that his life is very lonely and that success is making him crazy and leaving him so alone the pain is almost too much to bear. What better way to close a glam rock album than a track that is about looking for more. 'Are you my main man?', Marc sings, to me Marc is saying I need more and I am still looking for more.
The singing adds further weight to this theory; it is such with an almost sardonic irrelevance, as if Marc is distancing himself from the world. It is on 'Main Man' that you realise Marc to some degree always knew his fate, he knew the rock 'n' fairytale, was just that, a fairytale.
In fact the first line Marc sings is.
'Are you a God Man?'
The rest of the verse continues with.
Are
you now, are you now
Are you a frogman?
Are you now, are you now,
Are you now?
In the next verse attempts to describe his own life, to the outside world Marc had everything, his life should be heaven, he had achieved almost unrivalled success, and the clue to how Marc really felt is in the following verse.
Heaven
is hot babe
Everso, everso
Heaven is hot babe
Watch it glow, watch it glow
Watch it glow
Heaven is hot; because it is not heaven at all it is hell. At the end the glam rock ere in 1974 when Marc poignantly released 'Whatever Happened to the Teenage Dream?' it would be a lyric he would return to, Marc follows this with a name check verse.
Bolan
likes to rock now
Yes he does, yes he does
Bolan likes to rock now
Yes he does, yes he does
Yes he does
What is not in the lyrics is the Elvis impression Marc does after the final word, a clever little name check for a childhood hero, after all Marc was only reinventing rock 'n' roll, so to name check was a good idea, an amusing aside from Marc perhaps.
To confirm his feelings the final two verses give us a good insight.
Is
there a sane man?
Anywhere, anywhere
Got giraffes in my hair
And I don't care, no I don't care
No I don't care
As
a child I laughed a lot
O yes I did, o yes I did
Now it seems I cry a lot
O tell me true don't you
The giraffes line is famous, Marc once remarked is was a reference to Top of the Pops, take this with a pinch of salt if you will, but to Marc madness was everywhere and it seems entire appropriate that Marc should ask if there was sane man anywhere. The final verse is the real harbinger of truth, with Marc questioning the loss of innocent childhood days, the laughter had gone and the tears had come. Marc sings with a sense of naivety as if he does not understand why he cries a lot, of course he knows that is due to the loneliness which in turn stems from the distance he felt was between him and reality at the time. As if to confirm this he asks, 'O tell me true don't you', in fact I suspect most of us do, Marc's venerability that comes through his voice and lyrics is all part of Marc, it is something you connect to as a fan and a human being immediately. As an adult it is far easier to cry for all the pain in the world.
The song fades with refrain 'Are you my main man', like the beginning Marc is joined by backing singers and the vocal is given a heavy chorus effect. This helps to emphasize the feeling in the song and is almost like Marc is pleading.
No demo's exist of the song, although there is an American radio take, where Marc performs it live and totally changes the lyrics, it was recorded before the Slider version was committed to tape, so perhaps Marc was experimenting with ideas. The American radio version name checks Elton John and Jimi Hendrix, in fact it does not bear any resemblance to the Slider version, none the less it is an interesting version.
'Main
Main' is a beautiful piece to end a stunning album, perhaps finally revealing
the true Marc Bolan under its Slider mask. The production is superb, simplistic
and to the point, the whole song has a great feel to it, just Marc's acoustic
lovely loose guitar playing. No one seemed to notice or care that Marc
had ended such a buoyant album, with such low-key introspective piece.
It was a clever touch and shows the sheer the depth there could be to
Marc's music.