A Song A Week #31: Separated Bodies

I guess this song is somehow inspired by Depeche Mode’s Blasphemous Rumours, at least when it comes to the mood. It started out with a loop of the metallic noises in the intro, and just grew from there. I think it’s all made using the Roland D-20. By this time we knew this synth inside and out, using our favourite samples over and over again, but also pitching them a lot to make them sound fresh.

Bild 11-032 retuschSongwriting-wise I think the best part is the middle-8, where Måns takes the melody up some steps to raise the intensity. It creates a nice turning point for the song.

This song messed up our CDs. The Nuclear Princess was our first demo mastered on DAT and burned on CD-R, a brand new technology at the time. Jonas’ brother Johan worked as a sound engineer at a theatre where they had a CD-R burner. It worked at 1x speed and the discs cost $30 a piece! The track numbers were created automatically on the first sound detected after a few seconds of silence, which worked OK in most cases. But the silence after the first metallic sound on Separated Bodies was long enough to trigger a new track number. So on our CDs Separated Bodies were both track 7 and 8 :)

Recently Separated Bodies  was included on the Swedish Electro #2 compilation by Swedish Electro Scene. Check it out, 36 great songs for free!

Lyrics

From time to time we all need some
I could never do without
You know it
But still, all most the time
We’ve got separated bodies

Secretly I admire them
And their capability
To carry on
But you have to admit
It feels better though
We’ve got separated bodies

I have a fair chance to survive
Still knowing that time will pass
Until I see you again
But one day and forever
We won’t have
Separated bodies

Lyrics: Rain in the south

After that night we put on our emotional shields.
Now, when some time has passed, I think it’s time we break those seals.
Let’s relax our grip, let’s face our problems of today
Let’s admit that it’s nice to slip away somtimes.

Oh, there’s a rain in the south. I think I’m gonna go there.
Oh, there’s a rain in the south. I think I’m gonna go there.

Held by no sense of time we searched for another way
You are maybe forced to play a part in this silly play
Tell me anyway if something will happen backstage
Maybe if nobody knew you’d be able to make me to stay.

But there’s a rain in the south. I think I’m gonna go there.
Oh, there’s a rain in the south. I think I’m gonna go there.

Oh there’s a rain in the south. I think we’re gonna go there.
There’s a rain in the south. I think we’re gonna go there.

Lyrics: Stains

we pointed him out to the ruler himself
never again
we looked in his eyes to see the darkness inside
never again
i tried to disagree with you
but your cruel words put me back
i’d like to change a word with you
but your mind is far away

i met a beggar yesterday
and he reached out his hand
his palm was full of grey-blue stains
and his clothes were full of mud
the dirt will never come off my eyes

no guilt
no shame
no filth
no pain
no pill
no gain
no bill
no stains

sometimes i like to save his soul
but you tell me not to
let’s help this man to ease his pain
let’s not let him go
we’ll give him all he needs to live
a normal life again
we’ll follow him just to make sure
that he keeps on the road
personal security

no guilt
no shame
no filth
no pain
no pill
no gain
no bill
no stains

Lyrics: Building

Perhaps I should not have told you those things about me
Your knowledge seems to fill my day with anguish
In times when you are analyzing me
It feels like knives going through me

How can you say that you think that I should spend more time with you
You should know I have got more important things to do

In all my sides that I try to hide from you
The real me is almost breaking through
So don’t be frightened by the way I treat you all
It’s my only way to prevent a fall

How can you say that you think that I should spend more time with you
You should know I have got more important things to do