Buggles, The - I Am A Camera Lyrics

Cool version, yet I still prefer the version where Buggles blended into Yes, on the Drama album. There I like both the I Am A Camera single and the full Into The Lens.

Esta canción me recordó al vídeo de Michael jackson - Billie Jeans.

Trevor Horn sings beautiful! I find Adventures in modern recording better that the age of plastic! That's all to the great vocal depth, And the great keyboards! Remember this was 1981 technology! Way ahead of it's time...

Love'em

Shity voice and FUck him for provring MTV his Ugly as Fuck

Ma préféré des buggles 😊😊😊

Modern music owes much to Trevor especially when it comes To multitracking.

Doesn't it remind anyone of a Minecraft soundtrack?

Memories
How they fade so fast
Look back
There is no escape
Tied down
Now you see too late
Lovers
They will never wait

I am a camera (I am a camera)
Camera, camera
I am a camera (I am a camera)
Camera, camera

There
By the waterside
Here
Where the lens is wide
You and me
By the sea
Taken in tranquility

Take heart
I will never let you go
If you
Only let your feelings show
Lovers all
How you never broke your hearts
You lose them
When the feeling starts

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
I am a camera
I am a camera

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
I am a camera
I am a camera

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
A camera, camera, camera, camera

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
A camera!

There
By the waterside
Here
Where the lens is wide
You and me
By the sea

Take heart
I will never let you go
If you
Only let your feelings show
Lovers all
How you never broke your hearts
You lose them
When the feeling starts

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
I am a camera
I am a camera

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
I am a camera
I am a camera

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
A camera, camera, camera, camera

(I am a camera)
(I am a camera)
(A camera)
A camera!

There
By the waterside
Here
Where the lens is wide
You and me
By the sea

I love Yes - one of my favourite bands ever. But I prefer this to Yes's version. I think it captures the essence of the lyrics much better and just has more atmosphere. The Yes version seems a bit forced in comparison. I'd go as far as saying I wish it had come out more like this on Drama.

Memories how they fade so fast
Look back there is no escape
Tied down now you see too late
Lovers they will never wait
I am a camera
I am a camera
Take heart I will never let you go
If you want to let your feelings show
Lovers all how they never broke your heart
You lose them if the feeling starts
I am a camera camera camera
I am a camera camera camera
There by the waterside
Here where the lens is wide
You and me by the sea
Taken in tranquility
Take heart I will never let you go
If you want to let your feelings show
Lovers all how they never broke your heart
You lose them if the feeling starts
I am I am a camera
I am a camera I am a camera
I am I am a camera
I am a camera I am a camera
There by the waterside
Here where the lens is wide
You and me by the sea

Love Trevor Horn

I love the music videos from then, they were so creative with the green screen. It is very funny

With "Lenny" the 2 singles i've bought at that time of the Buggles. So many years later and it's still magic.

I think I like Trevor Horn's voice. This is the first time I have heard it but I have heard the Yes version from Drama many times ("Into The Lens") and have liked that a lot.

This band is so underrated

When you think about it, we are a type of Camera!

ago go..

Trevor Horn... IS A GENIUS ☆☆☆

My all Time favourite. Piono Chords are fantastic spécial l'y . 9th? Chords at the end. Wow

The time when we knew how to make good songs.

when you compare this to Into The Lens, this version is a bit overdone

We still need an higher quality video... :/

I am a cam or ahh

The piano riff looks life C418's Minecraft:-o

i like the yes version with trevor horn better

One of the best Buggles tracks ... so early in the eighties already demonstrating Trevor's amazing vision and production

La vera rivoluzione musicale...spettacolari

Harry fraud

Yes brought me here :3

I have been a huge Yes fan forever- I think I like this version better- it flows with a better continuity- the Yes version seems a bit disjointed- like different movements of a concerto, whereby this version just moves more smoothly from one part to another,

True, Into the Lens is very choppy. But the guitars sound amazing.

How did this not become a No. 1 hit? This version sounds SOOOOO beautifully melancholy... Like it should be... And I REALLY love how Trevor Horn's glasses are made the centerpiece of this video. An aspect usually relegated to the back-burner as just part of his attire is brought to the fore here and used to help convey the message of the song... Just so, SOOO beautifully done...

And this comes from someone who isn't much of a fan of the album this came off of, 'Adventures in Modern Recording'... While the album may be inferior compared to 'The Age of Plastic', 'I Am A Camera' rises above to be perhaps the best song out of both... :)

If you think about it he's the artist that changed music too video music.first video on MTV!!! He changed the world as we know it today.

Or rebadges as 'Into The Lens' by rock group Yes, who Trevor Horn was a member of around the same time.

ho ancora il 7'' ;-)

Chris Squire is a Genius !!!! PERFECT REPLACEMENTS for Jon & Rick !!!! I hear a ROLAND 808 DRUM MACHINE Messiah !!!

More a classic of 1980s,  but who will remember of the 2000s or 2010s songs???

Amusant ce bidouillage expérimental pour l'époque. Ah Trevor tout de même !!!! En tout cas cela explique la couverture de l'album.

Trevor must be blind as a bat!

It couldn't be less in sync if music was played from mars and video was broadcast from pluto.

Where is the camera?

your eyes

it's still out of sync. Why don't you serparate the two streams and fix the audio delay issue with something like Besweet and upload it agian?

One of the best song from this amazing band.. I love you mister Horn <3

Fantastic state of the art video and music at the cusp of the punk age. Very posh. I Am A Camera was a book written by Christopher Isherwood, which was the inspiration of Cabaret - the tragi-comedy about the last days of the mad multi-sexual world of Berlin before the Nazis came to power. The Ivre St Laurent glasses dropping from the sky and the broken lenses and mirrors were a fantastic parody of the collapse of art and self identification that marked the beginning of the Thatcher years and the end of Christianity. Insanely beautiful, erotic, and ultimately sophisticated. Way ahead of its time.

Jesus christ

Or it's just a Yes cover over a disco beat.

@Panhead49EL may i remind you that Horn and Downes were part of Yes at some point aswell? 1980's Drama album

@MFC 4 Thank you for motivating me to read up on it. I had it in my head that Drama was much earlier than The Buggles work. Still not a fan of the disco rhythm section, but I was wrong in calling it just a cover. Thanks again.

Trevor's horn was a genius

best song ma the album not success into to lens as say the word of this song as in a camera as really 1981

It's just a bug with YouTube that so many vids end up out of sync. I know; I've uploaded a few of my own performances (on a different channel) and they always end up with the video and audio out of sync. Good effort, though!

You're 100% Mr. EYPTS on both comments... I was a sound engineer.... young but music is shit now...;(

tres bon souvenir

People always consider acts like the Human League and Devo as representing 1980s synthpop, but the Buggles made artists and bands like those look like fucking Rebecca Black.

EYTPS Ummmmm.... I have NEVER heard of Devo representing 80s Synthpop, considering they were around for well before the 80s even began and probably had an influence on Trevor Horn here. Devo was solidly planted in the punk movement, but due to their not sticking to only guitars like the other punk rockers, they helped create New Wave. Then some artists associated with New Wave started recording with even more synths than Devo, leading to the rise of bands like The Buggles and Human Leauge. Of course, the person who had the biggest representation of synthpop at the time was Gary Numan (he was even called "The King Of Synthpop" by the press of the day). While I agree that The Buggles were a much more incredible act than a lot of the sludge that washed up during that time, Devo was NEVER a synthpop band, but some dudes that started in the early 70s and started putting out records consistently by the mid 70s, whose influence on what would become Synthpop can't be understated. Because they had one hit in the 80s, people forget that they weren't really contemporaries of the other 80s acts, those 80s acts were more polished imitators of them (and even bands that got their start in the late 70s like The Buggles here took a lot of notes out of their book). Also, seriously, forgetting Gary Numan as a reference to 80s synthpop is simply silly, as the breakout of him and Ultravoxx in the late 70s is what paved the way for The Buggles' biggest hit to even be able to hit the charts in 1979...

EYTPS You are a true fan, indeed... :) Thanks a MILLION for giving us back 'Elstree', the return of that lost gem means SOOOO much. :D

bangin!

Trevor Horn's bass playing on this song is exceptional!

+Hairmetallurgist perfect fresh night song

I thought Trevor Horn was also really good during his brief stay in Yes plus his influence on the 90125 album - I liked what he brought to that already incredibly eclectic table

+cattybound2011 yea that Yes album was in a sense Rabin's album and kind of his band as well, but Horn was a strong catalyst on making that album what it was. Rabin did not want OOALH on it all all. look up Trevor Horn discusses...

@***** There is a CD called 90124. It is a Rabin album containing the original demos that evolved into what would be Yes' comeback album. From what I remember, there isn't an early version of "Leave It" but there is an OOALH and two songs that have elements of HO.

+ybrix101 I have heard that demos and I have to say they suck, thank God to Trevor Horn put his hands over Rabin's work and converted it into the classics we have now.

The production values are Horn’s with Rabin’s strong songwriting. The ‘sound’ of Owner is what Horn contributed, that’s the way some producers work.

Horn was allegedly asked to sing, but took on the producer role.

2:55 to 3;22 love the synthesizer sound

+Davin Dx That's a vocoder

This reminds me of driving around with my best friend listening to Yes' Drama album (the "Into the Lense" version of this song). Still love it.

Stalley - Petrin Hill Peonies

Never heard this one version .Buggles name was "I am a camera"
Yes, was "into the lens" did they change its name?
I like both versions though.
Yes version has more guitar force , more Steve Howe influence I guess.

I was not a fan of the Yes version. In interviews, Horn has said that he actually likes the Buggles version more.

This must have only been heard in Canada and England. USA has always preferred the raunchy simple music over the embellished electronic or symphony-inspired music. I need to buy this album. Better late than never. Good sound at 2:55 and afterwards.

Def one of the best in 80s electro for me

Cutting edge for the 70's. The instruments used for the making of this song were the latest state-of-the-art in electronic technology. Not just amazing, OUTSTANDING!!

This was from 1982/1983.

Dolphiweb this is from 1981.

Its just such a gorgeous song.   I have ZERO tolerance for what is considered pop music these days. 

it's the lack of thematic layering (musical and ideological) which most bothers me about today's "pop".  

Yet this guy is still producing pop hits today. If there's a way to find out what he's doing, support his work

I always try to follow trevor horn. he produced the bulk of Seal's catalogue.

Poopy-di scoop
Scoop-diddy-whoop
Whoop-di-scoop-di-poop
Poop-di-scoopty
Scoopty-whoop
Whoopity-scoop, whoop-poop
Poop-diddy, whoop-scoop
Poop, poop
Scoop-diddy-whoop
Whoop-diddy-scoop
Whoop-diddy-scoop, poop

@Davin Gladwell What's wrong with hip hop and jazz? Their just as much genres of music as European classical music is. Maybe if you actually opened up your ears to modern pop, you might discover that some of it is good! Granted, a lot of it sucks but I blame that on lazy songwriting and production, not hip hop and jazz being inherently bad and ruining everything.

3 Dislikes...or loosely translated people with crap taste

Harry Fraud brought me here.
Stalley- Petrin Peonies (wave mix)

I like the two version ..Yes and this of the Buggles

Your idea of 'in sync' video clearly differs from ours. Try harder next time and avoid bold claims.

@TheOptimod "or more in-sync than the others"

This is actually cover. Yes` "Into the lens" is actually original.

Not a cover. The Buggles had written this song BEFORE 'Drama' was made and it was one of the contributions they took into the studio. Horn wanted to include it on this album in its originally-conceived version "without all the Yes fiddle-faddle" (Steve Howe's words).

It tickles me because that was my favorite song on "That Yes Album With the Fake Jon Anderson."  Seriously, I think it was a year before I figured out who Trevor Horn even was!

WAIT-... is this song predicting the rise and fall of google glass?

So ahead of it's time!

Buggles effin' rule!!!!!!!

A lot better than the later Yes version as this glorious slab of melancholic pop is allowed to breathe without getting suffocated by and cluttered up by intrusive guitar solos and a kitchen sink production.

+Mark Liddell to me this version is better. has a much more symphonic feel to it. although i agree with you, i like how the Yes version gets rocking. what would be cool is for there to be a new version taking the best elements of both. you may have already seen it but on Yes' GREATEST VIDEO HITS, Steve talks about how they had trouble with the production on where they were taking the song.

by saying the production is "kitchen sink" on the yes version is saying that this is kitchen sink production too because it was produced by the same person.

I think the yes version is 75% better, but is horrible when the chorus is going on, where as the chorus sounds better here, but the sweeping lyrics after the chorus are worse.

No... if you're gonna compare this to the Yes version then this is the bad one. Everything about the Yes one is fantastic. This is OK but not even close to the Yes one... at all.

The Yes version was earlier. A drum machine vs Alan White? Hmmm...

Éxito de canción

I like both versions, although I think it's a shame the Buggles version doesn't include the bit that goes: "And you may find time will blind you, This to just remind you all is meant to be" which is one of my favourite parts of the Yes version.

yes! That part just fits in perfectly in that song. I don't think it would go well here, that part was mostly involved with the guitars and I think this type of song would've ruined it.

He hums it for about 5 seconds and that’s about it

Mhmmmmm, I heard it a little bit

it's an odyssey

I love this song
This is my personal version reproduced in my studio,and sung by me:
Buggles- I am a camera --Timeless (cover)

the better parts of Yes and the worse parts

are all members nominated to the R&R HOF

despite the nuance of time
may find when they look back there will be nothing left.

great song...

La musica de harry fraud

Éxito de canción

I love this song in ways I can't describe.

Me No Leica!

Clever Trev really did fancy himself as an 80s 'Buggles' Holly.

NO! This is better!!!!

well, it's not in-sync... actually

I love this song. For me it's perfect!

This is an interesting version, but I miss Maestro Howe's guitar parts :)

I'm the only 15 years guy who comes here?

The main reason any of us love Horn's and Downes' work over Yes' versions is that the work is true to its original formula and not forced as it was when it was redone in Yes. The Buggles didn't follow a set format. Plus, new wave and prog is different.

One hell of an underrated classic. It's a shame this song wasn't as popular as it should've been.

That was very well said. Awesome.

The 'one' person who disliked this video is a Justin Bieber fan

To my opinion this song is the perdect "bridge" between the hot popular disco mid 70's rhythms (hear the bassline) and the cold early 80's forthcoming decade ( drum machine typical early 80' s sound , deep piano , vocoder voices) ..the split happens from 1:52 to 2:23 and then from 3:38 to the end.

I was 13 when this came out and I fully remembered this track.