Brian: “This process of renewal, of looking for something new, is imperative for me, I really don't want to be bored with Placebo. You have to really push yourself to find different methods, challenging situations, things to say that you find important, to basically do something that feeds you, because without that self-feeding, why would you do that? I would ask myself that question all the time” (France Info, March 30th 2022).
๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฉ: Placebo once did something similar with “Infra-Red” from the album “Meds” when Brian wrote the lyrics of the song backwards. He admitted that because of that he first had no idea what “Infra-Red” was about. “I started with the last line and worked my way to the first. I’d never done that before. So it wasn’t until I got to the first line that I was able to take a step back and understand what it was about” (Suicide Girls, May 14th 2006).
Different to the previous albums Brian and Stefan also started to work on “Never let me go” without a drummer. “We wanted to make an album without drums and just do it with a drum machine and that has influenced the process a little bit. [...] And just having those beginnings a little bit different from the previous records, the result is very different from all the last records. I don't know, but it was important to incite to make the journey a little bit different”, Stefan explained in an interview with Alfa 91,3 FM Mexico. But in the end they even had two drummers instead of none at all: Matt Lunn, who is a touring member of the band and first joined them in 2004, and Pietro Garrone of Husky Loops.
Brian said that “Sad White Reggae” was written during a period of insomnia. In the middle of the night he decided to play something by The Police but ended up writing his own song (see quotes below). He stated that the title is a private joke for him. The song includes references to Jane Birkin, Samye Ling and Lama Yeshe, Dundee and Brian's mother.
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| Photo credit: Matej Grgiฤ |
Explanation: The military wanted to use the area for target practice. – The petition was successful and the place was safe in the end.
๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป is an English-French singer and actress who Brian admires. She is best known for her releationship with Serge Gainsbourg and their scandalous duet “Je t'aime moi non plus” which Brian and Asia Argento covered for Dimitri Tikovoi's music project Trash Palace in 2002. Two years later Brian recorded a song called “Smile” with Birkin, it was released on her album “Rendez-vous”.
๐ “Sad White Reggae” is not the first song that has a ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง'๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ in the lyrics. There's also “Blue American” from the 2000 album “Black market music”. Amongst others it include the line “I wrote this novel just for Mom / For all the mommy things she's done”.
๐ ๐๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฒ is a coastal city in Scotland where Brian partly grew up. Despite the fact that he had to move a lot with his family when he was young he also once said that if he were to have some patriotic feelings it would be for this place.
“Sad White Reggae” is part of the current tour. The shared video was recorded at Bearded Theory's Spring Gathering festival on May 27th 2022. This song is one of my absolute favorites on the new album and also live.
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| Photo credit: Matej Grgiฤ |
๐ข "A lot of these songs were written during periods of insomnia and 'Sad White Reggae' is one of them. It's about three o'clock in the morning. Can't sleep. And for some reason I decided I was going to work out how to play Roxanne by The Police, and I couldn't and I ended up writing this song instead. And because I was trying to copy The Police I called it, 'Sad White Reggae' because that's essentially what the first two Police albums is. It's just 'Sad White Reggae', so it's a little in-joke for me, private joke, which kind of makes its way onto the album. That's my song for Scotland. I think Dundee is going to give me the key to the city when this record comes out. I managed to get Jane Birkin, Lama Yeshe, and my mum into the same song and Dundee. "
(Maniacs, March 25th 2022)
๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ก ๐ข๐ก “๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข” ๐
๐ข “I wanted to express something visceral, something very human. I just hope that other people will understand it and that it will move them. I hope that I’ve been somewhat courageous with this record so that it might inspire courage in others. It might help them stand up for what they believe in. That’s all. That’s what music did for me.”
(The Guardian, November 12th 2021)
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด (๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด, ๐ซ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ) ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ.
๐ข “For me, it was also about trying to create discomfort. My friend and mentor David Bowie always used to say `if you're feeling comfortable, you're doing it wrong.’”
(Vice Magazine, January 17th 2022)
๐ข “I wanted to do something that had a certain brutality to it, either sonically or lyrically.”
(Rolling Stone UK, February 1st 2022)
๐ข “It is our “Fuck you record”, quite right. It is by far the most angriest and most upset we ever did . And it is very focused in its vexation and anger. Because of my lifestyle change I got much more clarity as in former times. The drugs no longer stand in the way of my attitude. I’m more precise and concrete in these songs. I communicate big ideas in a few words as possible.“
(SLAM Issue 121, April 2022)
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| Photo credit: Matej Grgiฤ |
I got the man on the way
I wanna sleep on the way down
So many miles away
I used to dance in a fountain
I got the man on the way
Measure for measure
So many miles away
Drunk on a mountain
I got a message for Jane
Float on a feather
I hope the kids are okay
Now for the kicker
I'm stuck on a train
Heading for Scotland
They took my mom away
Illuminati
And I'm thin as rake
I'm no longer fleshy
I'll go to Samye Ling
See Lama Yeshe
Where the skies are grey
And the skies are cloudy
And every river flows
Back to Dundee
I won't give into the pain
I'll smile in the mirror
There's no one else to blame
Collapse into never, collapse into never
Collapse into never, collapse into never
Collapse into never, collapse into never
Collapse into never, collapse into never
Collapse into never, collapse into never
Collapse into never, collapse into never
Collapse into never, collapse into never
Post by Silke
