[VGMP] The Tune, the Kart and the Saatchi
Rory Joscelyne • 8 March 2022
VGMP: EXCLUSIVE on Sega Saturn's Hidden Song
Formula Karts was a 1997 go-karting "simulator" released on the Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation and PC. It was produced by UK-based Manic Media Productions Ltd, whose only other games were two 1995 releases - Super Karts and Manic Karts. On the Saturn and PC, it was published by SEGA themselves.
So far, so bland. Some generic Karting game, released in only one region and has been lost to the annals of time. Why are we talking about this
now?
Well, Formula Karts on the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation (named Formula Karts: Special Edition) has a unique song on the disc - one never
utilised in game and can only
be heard by sticking the disc into a generic CD player - a song titled "Timebomb". This song is not
an official part of the soundtrack, and doesn't fit into the audio scored (and licenced for) the game - but it has a unique legacy.
To showcase why it doesn't fit in with the game, let's start off with a sample of Formula Karts' actual soundtrack.
As you can hear, Formula Karts' soundtrack has a distinctly mid-90s Trance vibe throughout. This soundtrack is credited to Martin Simpson, Jon Stuart and J. Philips with the sole exception being the then-popular trance track "36 Weeks" by The Thrillseekers, which was licenced for the Japan course in the soundtrack.
However Timebomb isn't a Trance song. It has an almost country-rock vibe to the sound. Listen to it below to hear just how misplaced it sounds.
So what's going on here? Why is there a random song pressed on an old video game CD, who made it and has the song ever seen a proper retail release? Well, we can now exclusively
reveal the answers to all of those questions!
Let's discuss a retail release first - does Timebomb exist in an official, purchasable format? Yes. Yes it does.
A female musician, Sam Brown, released the track as part of her
ReBoot album. I'll include a link to her
Spotify track here, but for expediency I'll also have a playable version below. If you like the song, please support the artist.
But Sam Brown's release isn't
the origin of this song. Not only is she clearly not the vocalist on the Formula Karts iteration, but she also released her album three years after
the release of Formula Karts. You can search and search, from discogs to wikipedia, you'll find no earlier release of this song - yet here it is. Clear as day. The enigma that is "Track 11" - Timebomb.
Before we move on to my investigation, I will note that there are some lyrical changes between the Formula Karts and Sam Brown iterations of Timebomb. The main structure and chorus are largely intact, as is the first verse, but the second verse sees the lyrics deviate quite heavily and the third verse is missing in the Formula Karts version - showing that the track was improved upon in the missing three years.
Here are the lyrics for each version for comparison.
Track 11 (Timebomb) - Formula Karts (1997)
Gonna shout, gonna scream
Modern life's a mean machine
Out of luck, out of space
I'm praying for the human race
Laugh out loud, to let off steam
It's funny 'cos I know your face
Permanently inbetween
Laugh out loud, to let off steam
It's funny 'cos I know your face
Running through my dreams
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away
Time, time, time, tick, ticking away like a timebomb
Time, time, time, ticking away
Tick ticking away
Time, time, time, tick, ticking away like a timebomb
Going on, clutching fast,
I'm hoping that it's not gonna last
Stay cool, no-one's a fool
I'm the weirdest kid you knew at school
Laugh out loud, to let off steam
It's funny 'cos I know your face
Running through my dreams
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away
Time, time, time, tick, ticking away like a timebomb
Time, time, time, ticking away
Tick ticking away
Time, time, time, tick, ticking away like a timebomb
Laugh out loud, to let off steam
It's funny 'cos I know your face
Running through my dreams
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away
Time, time, time, tick, ticking away like a timebomb
Time, time, time, ticking away
Tick ticking away
Time, time, time, tick, ticking away like a timebomb
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away
Time, time, time, tick, ticking away like a timebomb
[Ticking away like a timebomb]
Timebomb - ReBoot
Gonna shout, gonna scream
Modern life's a mean machine
Out of luck, out of space
Praying on the human race
Laugh out loud, to let off steam
Funny 'cos I know your face
Permanently inbetween
You draw a king, they draw an ace
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away like a timebomb
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away like a timebomb
Try to stay cool, you're no-one's fool
The weirdest kid you knew at school
Forgetting or just breaking rules
From where he stands the world looks cruel
Throw him out, his roof removed
Stamped upon him not approved
Victims, yeah the people who
The jungle tries to keep from you
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away like a timebomb
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away like a timebomb
Moving, breathing, wheeling, scheming
Nearly stealing, double dealing
Hold on tight, you're clutching fast
Hoping it's not gonna last
Pinch myself, but I don't wake up
Someone stole my buttercup
Caress turned to karate chop
Mercy someone, make it stop
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away like a timebomb
Time, time, time, tick ticking away
Tick ticking away like a timebomb
So what's going on? Is this proof of time travel (now that would be a real timebomb)?
To try and get some clarity I
contacted Martin Simpson, one of the credited musicians on Formula Karts. I was unable to locate a contact for Jon Stuart and I couldn't determine exactly who J. Philips was as I was unable to verify their first name. This immediately hit a dead end when Martin Simpson simply responded by saying he had no connection to the track whatsoever. So I had to dig deeper. I went on the Wikipedia page for Sam Brown's album and found something interesting. While most of the album was written by Sam Brown, it was revealed she had no hand in writing Timebomb. The credited writers were Ian Sugar and Phil Saatchi.
Phil Saatchi is the fourth of the Saatchi brothers, with the more renowned two being Charles Saatchi (the owner of the Saatchi Art Gallery in London, England) and Maurice Saatchi (who, along with Charles, co-founded the famous advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi). Phil has no direct involvement in his brothers' businesses and instead has a storied career as a music producer in Brighton, England.
Phil was kind enough to respond to my emails asking about this elusive song, and was even able to namecheck those involved in the recording.
NOTE: That Youtube link is now dead, however I'll link to his new upload at the end of the article.
He mentions Jon Stuart ran a media games company (as well as being a musician). Looking over the credits for Formula Karts again shows Jon Stuart is credited as the Producer and Director of the game - so it's likely the company he ran was Manic Media Productions itself. The track was written by Phil Saatchi and Ian Sugar and was performed by Saatchi, Stuart and a vocalist called Annie Moss.
There is
an album release in 1997 that verifies Phil Saatchi and Annie Moss working together, seen here on
discogs - Virginia MacNaughton's album "The Music". Phil Saatchi seems to have been heavily involved in the production of this album, with Annie Moss providing Backing Vocals on the track "'Til Hell Freezes Over" and both Flute and Piano on the track "Senseless Thing".
I responded to Phil, asking if he could give me any more information on the song's age, previous releases or if it had been performed at live gigs prior to Sam Brown's release. I also asked him to confirm any potential involvement from Martin Simpson or J Philips on the track.
He verifies that the only official release was Sam Brown's album release, however the song was played by Phil and a band at various live gigs prior to this. This is likely where Jon Stuart first heard it, and requested to record a cover of it himself. Phil also verified that he didn't know J Philips so we can remove them from the production of the song entirely.
According to Phil's recollection, Martin Simpson worked as the engineer on the recording session and potentially contributed musically to it - despite this running contrary to Martin Simpson's own response. This isn't unusual as there could be a case of misremembering going on. Either Phil Saatchi is misremembering the engineer who worked on the track, or Martin Simpson doesn't recall working on the session - not unusual, as the session would have been less than a day's work decades ago.
As to why the track is included on the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation discs? We couldn't get any verification on this. It's likely that Jon Stuart wanted to release the track, or show it to his friends, and the only route to release available to him was on a game disc (since that was his company's focus). But this is all speculation. Without contacting Jon Stuart, we'll never get the answer to that elusive question.
Before you go, please give a watch/listen to Phil Saatchi's own video release of this track to support the artist. I really love this version he recorded with Jet Cohen and the Aerials. Lyrics are almost identical to the Sam Brown version, although the performance and vocalisation are very different.
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