"(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is a

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian C ...

and was the second single taken from the band's fifth album, '' Rings Around the World''. The track reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart on release in October 2001.

Singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Gruff Rhys Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys (; born 18 July 1970) is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He forme ...

has described the

as being about "rings of communication around the world. All the rings of

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

". Critical reaction to the track was generally positive with many reviewers comparing the song to the work of other groups such as

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

, ELO and

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. A promotional music video was produced to accompany "(Drawing) Rings Around the World"'s release as a single. Directed by Pedro Romhanyi the video features images of fictional television stations including "SFA TV", which shows the band playing along with the track. An alternative video, directed by Sean Hillen, was included on the DVD version of ''Rings Around the World'' on its release in July 2001. This video features the lyrics to the track

scrolling In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, video games and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout ...

slowly from the bottom of the screen upwards in front of an image of a

globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

. The DVD version of ''Rings Around the World'' also includes a Llwybr Llaethog

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of "(Drawing) Rings Around the World".

Themes and recording

According to lead vocalist

, "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is about "all the rings of communication around the world. All the rings of pollution, and all the radioactivity that goes around. If you could visualize all the things we don't see,

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

could look like some kind of fucked-up

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

. And that's the idea I have in my head – surrounded by communication lines and traffic and debris thrown out of spaceships." Rhys has claimed that the theory was initially his girlfriend's father's. The track was recorded in 2000 at Monnow Valley Studio,

Rockfield, Monmouthshire Rockfield is a small village in the community of Whitecastle, Monmouthshire, Southeast Wales. It is located beside the River Monnow, about north-west of Monmouth, at the junction of the B4233 to Abergavenny and the B4347 to Grosmont. Rockfield ...

and was produced by the Super Furry Animals and Chris Shaw.

Musical structure

"(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is 3 minutes 29 seconds long and is in the key of

B major B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its enharmonic equi ...

. The track begins with

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

which plays while drums and a guitar, playing a riff based around a B chord, fade in. The first verse begins on 25 seconds with

singing the lines "You expose the film in me, we're drawing rings around the world" backed by harmony vocals on the title phrase. A short

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

plays, during which the guitar chords change from B, E and F♯ to just E, F♯, E, F♯. Another verse, bridge and verse play before the last bridge which begins at 1 minute 23 seconds. The outro starts at 1 minute 32 seconds with Rhys singing "Ring ring, ring ring, rings around the world" over the chords B, D and F♯ backed by harmony vocals. A guitar

counter-melody In music, a counter-melody (often countermelody) is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody. In other words, it is a secondary melody played in counterpoint with the pri ...

begins at 2 minutes 2 seconds and excerpts from phone calls the band made to random people around the world, including calls to the United States

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...

in Madagascar and Moscow, a record shop in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and a record company in Australia, play as the track fades out.

Alternative version

A Llwybr Llaethog

of "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is included on the DVD version of '' Rings Around The World''. The track is 3 minutes 33 seconds in length and begins with a

reed organ The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

playing a riff in the key of

. The remix largely follows the arrangement of the original but, for the majority of its duration, dispenses with the instrumental backing, featuring just

's main vocals, the band's backing vocals and excerpts from the random phonecalls the group made alongside occasional organ and

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

s. Towards the end of the track the original version's guitar, drums and bass appear briefly before the song ends with the same reed organ riff that appeared at the start.

Critical response

Critical reaction to "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" was generally positive with many journalists comparing the song to the work of other groups. Writing for the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', Ted Kessler described the track as "

for

Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...

-ers with a Manhattan Portage full of millennial tension" and went on to ask "who said there was anything wrong with that?" in his review of the song on its release as a single, despite his earlier review of '' Rings Around the World'' claiming that the album would benefit from the removal of the "Status Quo-ish title track". '' Q'' described the track as "excellent" while ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' claimed the song "sounds so much like ELO that it blows away everything on last year's ELO reunion album" and the ''

Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...

'' stated that "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is a "

Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

/ELO homage as fine as the '70s heyday of

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Wood formed the Move in 1965, and ...

Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCar ...

or very early

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

stated that the song "takes the upbeat

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

of their debut album and layers on spectral details" while '' Uncut'' described the track as "tooled up rock 'n' roll modelled on " Surfin' USA". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' claimed the song's lyrics tackle environmental issues with a "sharp wit" while Drowned in Sound saw them as evidence that chief songwriter

was "taking his lyrics a little bit more seriously". The song was placed at number 21 in the 2001

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

show. "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2001 film '' Me Without You''.. Retrieved 7 August 2009.

Accolades

Music videos

Sean Hillen video

A Sean Hillen-directed music video was included on the DVD version of ''Rings Around the World'' released July 2001. The video begins with a static shot of the 1994 collage ''The Great

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

s of

Carlingford Lough Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Carlinford Loch'') is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, the border between Northern Ireland to the nor ...

, Irelantis'' by Hillen, which shows a man in a red jumper sat in a wooded area overlooking a river and three pyramids (this image was used for the front cover of all three formats of the single). The camera moves up to reveal a rotating

in a stary sky. As "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" begins to play, the text "In the beginning... No! Long before that..."

scrolls A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyru ...

slowly from the bottom of the screen upwards. The song's lyrics are displayed in the same manner throughout the remainder of the video as several objects circle the globe including a

flying saucer A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported type of disc-shaped unidentified flying object (UFO). The term was coined in 1947 by the United States (US) news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, Kenneth Arnold claimed fl ...

, metal cube and

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

. Occasionally the camera switches to a close up view of the globe showing models of huge

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

firing

electricity pylon A transmission tower (also electricity pylon, hydro tower, or pylon) is a tall structure, usually a lattice tower made of steel that is used to support an overhead power line. In electrical grids, transmission towers carry high voltage, high-volt ...

s. As the song comes to an end the text "Every building has been built" appears in the middle of the screen and the camera pans down to show a black-and-white version of the Hillen collage used in the opening shot.

Keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

Cian Ciaran has stated that the band deliberately tried to avoid making videos that looked like just "another pop promo ... like

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

" for the DVD version of ''Rings Around the World'' and asked the directors to make the visuals as "extreme as possible". Ciaran claims the directors had to "work even harder at creating something interesting" due to the limited budget available.

Pedro Romhanyi video

A promotional music video, directed by Pedro Romhanyi, was produced to accompany the release of "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" as a single. According to

the band made separate videos for ''Rings Around the Worlds three singles as they saw the videos included on the DVD release of the album as "pure art" whereas they needed promotional music videos that were more like adverts for the songs. The video begins with a shot of the band in an all white room playing along to the track. A

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID, channel ID or bumper (broadcasting), bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand na ...

logo for "SFA television" is seen in the top left and a green graphic appears, showing the volume level being turned up. The camera pans back to reveal a TV which switches channel from "SFA" to a station showing golf. The rest of the video continues this pattern, continually flicking between the band and a variety of other stations, which generally feature similar logos to real life channels but with slightly different names e.g. "Cartoon Animals" (

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

), "CVQ" (

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network and a flagship shopping channel specializing in televised Shopping channel, home shopping, owned by QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group). Founded in 19 ...

), "Animal Channel" (

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

) Actors,

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

s, puppets, a golfer, an

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

and weatherman sing along with the track as the television stops on the channel each appears on. At one point, the band are shown in silhouette in homage to the cover of '' Hot Rocks 1964-1971'' by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

. As the video ends, the camera pans back to show a television in a room with a man having a telephone conversation. The camera continues to pan back showing this image on a television on a shelf in a small room. The camera pans back through three more televisions, each showing an image of the last shot, ending with a TV in a wallpapered room next to an electric fire. A few seconds before the video ends the screen turns to static. The Pedro Romhanyi video appears on the DVD release of the band's greatest hits album '' Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1'' and the

Enhanced CD Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both CD-Audio and CD-ROM players. Formats that fall under the ''enhanced CD'' cate ...

version of the "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" single.

Track listing

All songs by Super Furry Animals. *

Digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

(6719082) #"(Drawing) Rings Around the World" – 3:30 #"Edam Anchorman" – 3:22 #"All the Shit U Do" – 2:30 "(Drawing) Rings Around the World (Video)" – 3:30 * 12" (6719086), MC (6719084) #"(Drawing) Rings Around the World" – 3:30 #"Edam Anchorman" – 3:22 #"All the Shit U Do" – 2:30

Personnel

– vocals * Huw Bunford – guitar * Guto Pryce – bass guitar * Cian Ciaran – keyboards *

Dafydd Ieuan Dafydd Ieuan (born 1 March 1969) is a Welsh musician, best known as the drummer with the band Super Furry Animals, The Peth and The Earth. Ieuan played with Gruff Rhys in their early band Ffa Coffi Pawb. He was a drummer for Welsh band Ca ...

– drums

Singles chart positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drawing Rings Around The World Super Furry Animals songs 2001 singles 2000 songs Epic Records singles Music videos directed by Pedro Romhanyi