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Personal Jesus ~ Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group’s original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). Vince Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album, Speak & Spell, and was replaced by Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums) with Gore taking over songwriting. Wilder left the band in 1995 and since then Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher have continued as a trio.

Depeche Mode’s origins date back to 1977, when schoolmates Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher formed a The Cure-influenced  band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass. Fletcher would later recall, “Why am I in the band? It was accidental right from the beginning. I was actually forced to be in the band. I played the guitar and I had a bass; it was a question of them roping me in.”  In 1979, Clarke played guitar in an “Ultravox rip-off band”, The Plan, with friends Robert Marlow and Paul Langwith.  In 1978–79, Martin Gore played guitar in an acoustic duo Norman and The Worms with school friend Philip Burdett on vocals. In 1979, Marlow, Gore, and friend Paul Redmond formed a band called The French Look with Marlow on vocals/keyboards, Gore on guitar and Redmond on keyboards. In March 1980, Clarke, Gore and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar, Gore on keyboards and Fletcher on bass.

Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clarke and Fletcher switched to synthesisers, working odd jobs including carpentry to buy or borrow them from friends. Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a local scout hut jam session, singing to a rendition of David Bowie’s “Heroes”,  and Depeche Mode were born. When explaining the choice for the new name (taken from a French fashion magazine, Dépêche mode) Martin Gore said, “It means hurried fashion or fashion dispatch. I like the sound of that.”  Gore recollects that the first time the band played as Depeche Mode was a school gig in May 1980.  The band made their recording debut in 1980 on the Some Bizzare Album with the song “Photographic”, which was later re-recorded for their debut album Speak & Spell.

Personal Jesus

The song was inspired by the book Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley. According to songwriter Martin Gore:

It’s a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It’s about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody’s heart is like a god in some way, and that’s not a very balanced view of someone, is it?

Your own personal jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone whos there

Feeling unknown
And youre all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
Ill make you a believer

Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess
I will deliver
You know I’m a forgiver

Reach out and touch faith
Reach out and touch faith

Your own personal jesus…

Feeling unknown
And youre all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
Ill make you a believer

I will deliver
You know Im a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal jesus
Reach out and touch faith

  • Audio from the 1990 album, Violator:

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(1056)

Taxman ~ The Beatles

the-beatlesThe Beatles were a rock and pop band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and skiffle, the group worked with different musical genres, ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, style and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. After the band broke up in 1970, all four members embarked upon successful solo careers.

The Beatles are one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music, selling over one billion records internationally.

Taxman

Taxman” is a song written by George Harrison released as the opening track on the Beatles’ 1966 album Revolver. Its lyrics attack the high levels of progressive tax taken by the British Labor government of Harold Wilson.

Harrison said, “‘Taxman’ was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical.” As their earnings placed them in the top tax bracket in the United Kingdom, the Beatles were liable to a 95% supertax introduced by Harold Wilson’s Labor government (hence the lyrics “There’s one for you, nineteen for me”). In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, Paul McCartney explained: “George wrote that and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what he’ll do with your money.”

In 1980, Lennon recalled in an interview with Playboy magazine, “I remember the day he [Harrison] called to ask for help on ‘Taxman’, one of his first songs. I threw in a few one-liners to help the song along, because that’s what he asked for. He came to me because he couldn’t go to Paul, because Paul wouldn’t have helped him at that period. I didn’t want to do it… I just sort of bit my tongue and said OK. It had been John and Paul for so long, he’d been left out because he hadn’t been a songwriter up until then.”

The backing vocals’ references to “Mr Wilson” and “Mr Heath,” suggested by Lennon, refer to Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, who were the leaders of the Labor Party and the Conservative Party, the two largest parties in British politics. Wilson, then Prime Minister, had nominated all four of The Beatles as Members of the Order of the British Empire just the previous year. The chanted names replaced two refrains of “Anybody got a bit of money?” heard in take 11, an earlier version released on Anthology 2 in 1996.

Recording began on April 20, 1966, but this was left unused and ten new takes occurred on April 21, 1966, the four tracks being filled that day with drums and bass, Harrison’s distorted rhythm guitar, overdubs of his vocal and Lennon and McCartney’s backing vocals. The ending was created on June 21, 1966.

Let me tell you how it will be,
There’s one for you, nineteen for me,
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

(If you drive a car ), I’ll tax the street,
(If you try to sit ), I’ll tax your seat,
(If you get too cold ), I’ll tax the heat,
(If you take a walk ), I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman.

‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Don’t ask me what I want it for
(Haha! Mister Wilson!)
If you don’t want to pay some more
(Haha! Mister Heath!),
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

Now my advice for those who die, (Taxman!)
Declare the pennies on your eyes, (Taxman!)
‘Cause I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
And you’re working for no-one but me,
(Taxman).

  • Audio from the 1966 album, Revolver:
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(107)

Nothing Else Matters ~ Metallica

Metalica was formed in 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a Los Angeles paper called The Recycler looking for musicians who were interested in forming a band.

The original members consisted of Ulrich, James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney. Mustaine and McGovney were later kicked out of the band and replaced by Kirk Hammet and Cliff Burton. Burton was killed when the tour bus skidded out of control and was later replaced by Jason Newsted, who eventually was replaced by Robert Trujillo.

Metalica is considered the pioneer of “thrash metal”, and some critics consider their 1986 release of Master of Puppets to be one of the most influential and heavy “thrash metal” albums.

Nothing Else Matters

“Nothing Else Matters” is a power ballad by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released as the third single from their self-titled fifth studio album, Metallica.

Singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield wrote the song (credited to Hetfield/Ulrich) while he was on the phone with his then girlfriend. Since he held the phone with one hand, he plucked the four open strings of a standard E-minor chord with the other, which eventually made up the first two bars of the song. The lyrics, which talk about being “so close, no matter how far”, were also dedicated to his girlfriend, indicating the bond they shared even when Hetfield was on tour. Initially, the song was not meant to be released, as Hetfield had written it for himself, but after drummer Lars Ulrich heard it, it was considered for the album.

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
And nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know

I never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for things they say
Never cared for games they play
I’d never cared for what they do
I’d never cared for what they know
And I know

Yeah!

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
And nothing else matters

  • Audio from the 1991 album, Metallica:
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