One of my true musical highlights this year or so has been Tetra, a late 2012 album from French turntable/beat group C2C.  If you’ve raced at all in the ECCC in 2013, you’ve heard them, clearly enjoyed it, and tragically just not known it.  Anyway, almost all of Tetra is good, but a number of tracks are excellent.  My favorite is Le Banquet.  There’s no official video yet, but there are a number of clip compilations on YouTube.  Among the better done is a Marvel mashup, but a Snatch extract is actually probably the most compelling of these.  Among these options though I find it actually more interesting with just the audio:

In any event, the primary lyrics of the song are actually spoken word sound samples.  Some of them are fairly immediately identifiable as actual recordings of speeches from historical figures.  Assuming—probably incorrectly—that they were all historical, I went looking to try and figure out all of them.  I couldn’t find any list or extensive references online, so below I present most of the sources to Le Banquet, as best as I can assemble.

UPDATE: This blog post, though in French, also has a good rundown of the sources.

C2C

First, a minor digression to highlight some of the other excellent tracks from Tetra which have official videos.

I first heard of the group & the album via Down the Road, played at 3am on some college radio station along the I95 corridor.  The official video is quite good:

The Beat is also excellent, in both song and video:

Delta is pretty different, and has a cool sci-fi cartoon narrative video:

Taking the range even further, Happy is super different musically and has an accordingly different and great video, probably the best one due to the ongoing dance routine:

The Cell, Because of You, F.U.Y.A, Arcades (another actual video, not just music), and Who are You (another fairly different entry stylistically from the core beat tracks) are also standouts.  That’s 10 tracks out of 14 with the others not bad, so it’s a high-value album.

Full Lyrics

But, back to Le Banquet.  First, the full primary lyrics:

C2C—Le Banquet

We are going to begin to act
Beginning, today
To do whatever needs to be done
Let’s get on with the job

World has turned over many times
And it transformed the history of man
Either the will or the skill to fight
We are ready to take part
But now further direction is required
Tonight, the battle has been joined
We will not fail
Regrettably, we now believe that only force will make him leave

I just wanna say this right now
That regardless of what they say about it
There is nothing new, only different
Never forget this
The future is to those who take it
All I say that nothing is easy, and the best things are the hardest

That isn’t enough

It is madness

Some men see things as they are and say why
I dream things that never were and say why not

Epic battle has ended
Thank you, good night, and farewell

Sources

Now, a break down of the sources as best I’ve been able to ascertain them:

C2C—Le Banquet

We are going to begin to act
Beginning, today

<quote not contiguous>

To do whatever needs to be done

President Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, 1981.

Let’s get on with the job

I’m not confident in this as I couldn’t find a clip or script, but it’s possibly from the 1960 film Sink the Bismarck.  It is not from the Johnny Horton song of the same name despite the phrase appearing in there.

World has turned over many times

General Douglas MacArthur’s Farewell Address to Congress, 1951.

And it transformed the history of man

No idea.  My first guess was a Kennedy, but I’m less certain on listening more closely. UPDATE: This appears to be from a Kennedy speech on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962.

Either the will or the skill to fight

<quote not contiguous>

We are ready to take part

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ statement on the fall of Dien Bien Phu, 1954.

 But now further direction is required

President John F. Kennedy’s Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba, 1962.

Tonight, the battle has been joined

<quote not contiguous>

We will not fail

<quote not contiguous>

Regrettably, we now believe that only force will make him leave

President George H. W. Bush Address to the Nation Announcing Allied Military Action in the Persian Gulf, 1991.

I just wanna say this right now
That regardless of what they say about it

Vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon Checkers Speech, 1952.

There’s nothing new, only different

Unknown. UPDATE: This is from an Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign speech, 1952.

Never forget this
The future is to those who take it

The sample could definitely be from the song Press Forward (Interlude) by Swollen Member, on their Black Magic album, 2006 (Youtube recording).  I couldn’t surmise if they created it, or in turn sampled it from somewhere else.  One source that has marked other lyrics of theirs as samples does not indicate that for this song. UPDATE: This is from an Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign speech, 1952.

All I say is that nothing is easy, and the best things are the hardest
That isn’t enough

No idea. UPDATE: This is from an Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign speech, 1952.

It is madness

I’m skeptical, particularly as I couldn’t run down an audio clip or a transcript, but it’s possible this is either a sample or, much more likely within that possibility, just a reference to a George McGovern quote from a rally in 1969, “We must learn that it is madness, not security, to devote 70% of our controllable federal budget to armaments and only 11% to the quality of life.”

Less likely, President Dwight D. Eisenhower also has this phrase in his 1956 Address Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination. UPDATE: Listening to the audio, I now believe this to be the reference.

Some men see things as they are and say why
I dream things that never were and say why not

Ted Kennedy paraphrasing and eulogizing his brother Robert F. Kennedy, 1968.  RFK was in turn paraphrasing the Serpent in George Bernard Shaw’s play Back to Methuselah, 1921.  John F Kennedy was also known to make this reference.

Epic battle has ended

Again Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ statement on the fall of Dien Bien Phu, 1954.

Thank you, good night, and farewell

The voice sounds an awful lot like the same as Dulles’ in the line before (or, potentially, whoever is reading his samples), but I couldn’t find it in any transcriptions or clips.  However, this is also the closing line of Spiro Agnew’s resignation speech, 1973, so presumably that’s the source.

Closing

Any leads on the unknowns would be greatly appreciated, send ’em in!