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today i died again


composers
Composers: Kerr / Burchill / MacNeil / Forbes / McGee
Authors: Kerr
(Earlier sleeves simply state:- Lyrics: Kerr: Music: Simple Minds)


publisher
© EMI Music Publishing.
© Bucks Music/Hornall Brothers/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (Post 2012 credit)


background
"I never heard anything like this then, and I've still never heard anything like it." - Charlie, 24th March 2015

This song's reincarnation theme was inspired from Jim's reading of the Bhagavadgita.

"Jim and I would have great conversations. And in Jim's lyrics I would see things we'd been talking about. I was a big Monty Python fan and there was a sketch from Monty Python that went 'The suit he wears dates back to 1956' or whatever, and 'The suit he wears dates back to the war' was what Jim put in." - Derek Forbes, 2012

Whilst it featured the line which titled the album, Today I Died Again became a fairly obscure song, only featuring live during the end of the Real To Real Cacophony tour and the start of the Empires And Dance tour.


"I remember writing "Today I Died Again" at Rockfield. John Leckie asked me to bend some notes on the bass, as I played, and it worked a treat. I used to say "the suit I am wearing dates back to 1956" inspired by Monty Python and I was delighted when I heard the second line of the first verse. Lyrically, Jim was untouchable during these creative years of the band, when only the music mattered."

Derek Forbes
www.derekforbesmusic.com
June 2016




lyrics
The human drum,
Beats a rhythm of life.
The clothes he wears,
Date back to the war.
He talks alot,
Often to himself.
She don't say much,
Just cuts his hair.
She can't remember,
Before the heat.
He can't remember,
His wife's christian name.
Paint me a picture,
Towers in sand,
America can fall.

Today I died again,
I died again,
I died today.
Today I died again,
I died again,
I died today.

Back to a year,
Back to a youth,
Of men in church and drug cabarets.
Is this the age,
Of empires and dance?
Oh what a world,
Oh what a world.
She can't remember,
Before this heat.
He can't remember,
His wife's christian name.
Paint me a picture,
Bodies in sand,
Presidents can fall.

Today I died again,
I died again,
I died today.
Today I died again,
I died again,
I died today.



discography
Album Version (4:39)
Producer: Leckie
Engineer: Jones


Empires And Dance LP Empires And Dance MC Empires And Dance LP (Virgin Reissue) Empires And Dance MC (Virgin Reissue) Empires And Dance CD Empires And Dance CD (Virgin Budget Reissue) Empires And Dance LP (Virgin Budget Reissue) Empires And Dance MC (Virgin Budget Reissue) Compact Collection Empires And Dance Remaster Promo CD Empires And Dance Remaster Limited Edition CD Empires And Dance Cacophony Remaster CD X5 Empires And Dance Promo X5 The Vinyl Collection (79,84)

Live Version (24th February 2012) (3:31)
Recorded: Academy, Birmingham, UK
Recorded by: Olivier Gerard
Mixed by: Olivier Gerard
Engineered by: Rudy Coclet
ISRC: GB01A1201408

5X5 Live Promo CD #1-1 5X5 Live Promo CD #2-1 5X5 Live 5X5 Live Irish Promo CD 5X5 Live LP 5X5 Live Export LP




live history
Real To Real Cacophony Tour: 1979-1980
Empires And Dance Tour: 1980
Empires And Dance Tour: 1981
Lostboy! AKA Promo Tour: 2010
5X5 Tour: 2012
Festival Tour: 2012
South Africa / Europe: 2013