Breadfan

"Breadfan"
Song by Budgie
from the album Never Turn Your Back on a Friend
ReleasedJune 1973
Genre
Length6:04
LabelMCA
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Budgie

"Breadfan" is a song by Welsh Blues Rock heavy metal power trio Budgie, appearing on their 1973 album Never Turn Your Back on a Friend.[2] The title of the song refers to a person's relationship to money, with "bread" being a slang term for money. The lyrics further highlight the moral dilemmas on what to do with money; keep it, give it away, spend it and to be ultimately free of it and not to let it rule a life. The song is featured in the video game Brütal Legend[3] and its introduction used in Brazilian television sports news programme Globo Esporte.

The original version had an initial 17 second excerpt of Winston Churchill's speech at the Mansion House, London on November 10, 1942, citing the words: "I have never promised anything but blood, toil, tears and sweat".[4][5] Due to copyright issues, however, it was omitted from subsequent album pressings.

A promotional clip of the band performing the song was made by the band independently, using 18mm video tape; this was played on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973 as a fill in when one of the scheduled artists failed to appear, but was thought to be lost. The film was later rediscovered, without the sound; this was restored by a technician at BBC Wales, and the clip was made available by the band with the remaster of the Never Turn Your Back on a Friend album in 2004. The video subsequently received over 7.4 million views on YouTube.[6]

"Breadfan" is considered to be an influence on the development of progressive metal.[7]

  1. ^ Guarisco, Donald A. "Breadfan - Budgie | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  2. ^ Prato, Greg. "Never Turn Your Back on a Friend - Budgie | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  3. ^ "Trilha sonora do game 'Brütal legend' traz clássicos do heavy metal". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). São Paulo. August 10, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  4. ^ Sir Winston Churchill - Topic (2015-01-28), "The End of the Beginning" - November 10, 1942, archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2020-06-20
  5. ^ Nothing Like Vinyl (2018-12-22), Budgie - Breadfan (original version with Sir Winston Churchill's spoken intro), archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2019-01-11
  6. ^ Breadfan on YouTube
  7. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo (June 6, 2018). "The Roots of Progressive Metal in 11 Songs". Loudwire. Retrieved March 24, 2019.