No Cruise, Cheap ‘n’ Nasty lyrics

Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and Straks, Paard van Troje, The Hague, 18 November 1981

This poster announces the 18 November 1981 concert by Leiden band Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and Delft band De Straks, in the Paard van Troje venue in The Hague. With the band What’s My Name (not on the poster) added at the last minute.

It was an anti-nuclear weapons concert, organised by the The Hague peace movement.

Cheap ‘n’ Nasty line-up then: Raphaelle Devins, saxophone. Herman, vocals. Heleen, bass. Pim, drums, Marco, guitar.

For the first time, Cheap ‘n’ Nasty played the song No Cruise.

Lyrics and music: Herman de Tollenaere.

NO CRUISE

No politician: no say.
So I should get out of the way.
Leave it alone, they know best,
’bout defence of the Free West

Chorus:

They may talk democracy,
they are just hypocrisy.
Kill us all for our own good,
suicide us if they could.

If you want a house to live,
don’t think they will let or give.
If you squat, send cops, tell lies.
So much about human rights.

Chorus

Some old stupid movie star
wants missiles in my backyard.
We don’t want them in this land,
or anywhere else, you understand?

Chorus

Raphaele Devins’ letter, ‘let Cheap ‘n’ Nasty play in Paris’

Raphaele Devins’ letter to the Gibus in Paris to let Cheap ‘n’ Nasty play

Here is a translation of the draft by Raphaele Devins, co-founder of the Lou’s in 1977, of her summer 1981 letter to the Gibus venue in Paris, asking whether her band Cheap ‘n’ Nasty, in which she played the saxophone, could play there:

address [of Cheap ‘n’ Nasty]

for GERARD

I hope that you still remember me, Raphaële ex-Lou’s. I play in a band “Cheap ‘an Nasty”. It is a Dutch band. I include in this mail their 45 RPM record. Maybe you are interested in us playing 2 or 3 concerts in the Gibus.

Reply to me at the address at the top.

It is the address of the manager.

Regards

Raphaële

For the management

[address of the Gibus]

—-

Cheap ‘n’ Nasty did not have an official manager. In practice, there was a sort of management by the three over-20-years-old band members Terry (bass/female lead vocals), Herman (male lead vocals) and Raphaele.

Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and Zounds Nijmegen concert poster

Zounds and Cheap ‘n’ Nasty Doornroosje, Nijmegen poster

This poster from Doornroosje venue in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, is about the last concert on 23 November 1980 in the tour of Zounds and Cheap ‘n’ Nasty in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. A report of that tour is here, p. 4f.

Cheap ‘n’ Nasty pro-choice concert Amsterdam 1980

Cheap ‘n’ Nasty flyer. Pro-choice rally, Amsterdam Vondelpark 1980

This flyer is about Cheap ‘n’ Nasty playing, as only punk band, on 27 September 1980 at a pro-choice rally in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. The rally was against plans by the Dutch government to attack women’s rights on abortion.

It shows a newspaper clipping of a quote by conservative Roman Catholic bishop Simonis, claiming that women should be subject to men, because God supposedly created men first, women later; the ideological basis of abortion ban misogyny.