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blood diamonds
composers
Written by: Cook / Kerr / Burchill
publisher
℗ Universal Music Publishing Ltd / JKMC–Bucks Music Group Ltd / Hornall Brothers Music Ltd (2014 - 2017)
℗ Universal Music Publishing Ltd / BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd. (2018 - )
background
Blood Diamonds was originally written by Jim Kerr with
Iain Cook of Chvrches after an introduction by Martin Hanlin. It
was intended to be part of the second Lostboy! AKA album until Charlie
and Steve Osborne felt it was better suited for Simple Minds.
(There's also some confusion over the writing of the song. Jim
mentioned working on a song called Blood Diamonds by Paul Statham
during the week between the European and Irish legs of the
LostBoy! AKA ElectroSet Tour 2010).
"Back in Real World Studios. Working on Blood Diamonds, Concrete And Cherry Blossom,
Honest Town and an updated Planet Zero. It's all good, very good." - Jim, 31st May 2012.
The song was one of two new tracks released on the Celebrate: The Greatest Hits+ compilation in March 2013. It
was exclusively played on the Billy Sloan Show on the 17th February 2013.
After the track further evolved during the Greatest Hits + tour,
the whole band re-recorded the song together, and the new version was released on Big Music.
An stream-driven analogue-synth strip-down was assembled from Jim's lyrics by
ex-Ultravox John Foxx And The Maths. The track, which bubbled along on a seabed of
sparkling ambient synths, was issued as an Internet freebie on the same day that Simple Minds
took to the stage to celebrate
40 Years Of Disruptions by Virgin Records.
MH: Mr Kerr, from Simple Minds, talking about
Big Music, on KX93.5, here on Lacona Beach for the
Real McCoy radio show. We're moving through the album and we're going to play each track. And now
another track you co-wrote with Charlie Burchill and
Iain Cook and that's a song called Blood Diamonds.
JK: I mentioned earlier David Bowie and I think that's us doing
David Bowie – or it's us doing David Bowie doing David Bowie doing
Scott Walker. This is the kind of music we love. Iain Cook
got this beautiful – again it's a great big poppy electro hook – but the chords have a fantastic bed on it for my voice – for
the kind of richness in my voice, it really gave it a great chance to kind of just glide.
JK: I wanted to write a really modern pop song, a love song really I guess, a bitter sweet love song
although we'll be coming to more of that later on, but I remember at the time we were writing, Bowie
had just come out with that last thing, what was it called again, that Bowie song, about two years ago
nearly? [The Next Day] It was beautiful but I was thinking this was the kind of –
Bowie, although he did make that album, probably about his first album in ten years – I remember
when we were working on Blood Diamonds we thought if Bowie's
not going to make great Bowie music anymore then we're going to make it – and that's what I
think when I hear the tune.
MH: Yeah, we're talking about The Next Day record where that track came on and I remember
you and I talking about it at the time and thinking "Oh, wow great" and then out of nowhere this track comes out and
it does all the things you wanted it to do. But there's always been that Bowie influence in
Simple Minds' music – even from the name and the whole lot - and he's always been a go to act as well – there
are a few others, Roxy Music comes to mind. But it's amazing when you listen to it, it's almost like
you do this kind of cooking thing where you just make this musical stew of stuff that influences you. And it always comes
out with something original – and I think that's what you've been doing since the day you started making music.
JK: The DNA's there. The DNA: the music you're influenced by, the music you grew up on – I mean
Simple Minds have been getting a lot of kudos recently from bands, and acts, and younger acts and
especially the generation below us – they seem to be lining up to come out and give us a name check now. Which is
great and actually how you feel about that and it's great if anyone likes your music but if it inspires them to make
a sound of their own then even more wonderful – but we just see it, before we make our music, we're still listening
to the same records we always listen to and it's very much part of our DNA and if there's a lineage are we're put of
that lineage then great but we never hold back in terms of wearing our influences on our sleeves.
MH: Well that's – the last modern version of that is the last Manic Street Preachers
album of course which even takes some of the lyrics from I Travel
and puts it in the song. And so like it's Manic Street Preachers doing Simple Minds doing
Manic Street Preachers and it's fantastic to hear – it's like I get such a buzz out of it when I heard
the track and I thought "this is really, really cool" – because it's something that there's a line in
Brian Eno where you're in I Travel "Airports playing Brian Eno"
that you did and for us it was just like a flag in going "This is great artist and we appreciate it and its influences."
JK: Yeah. Well you see it in America, you see it in Americana, when you see
Springsteen and then there was acoustic, you see Dylan and you see Dylan
you see Woody Guthrie. You see Woody Guthrie well there's Johnny Cash
might've been there as well between Dylan and Woody Guthrie. But there's lineage and
there's a kind of passing down of the torch.
MH: Yeah, absolutely. So this is a track, we're going to play
Blood Diamonds. And I'm sitting here – you gave me a lovely present before
I left London recently and it's the vinyl version of Big Music. And going
back to how we grew up, so this is the end of Side One. So this is Blood Diamonds
written by Iain Cook and Jim Kerr and
Charlie Burchill.
Martin Hanlin
The Real McCoy
KX 93.5
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lyrics
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I feel you, there's no need to search.
And I hear you, from so far away.
There's a town, that's beyond this place.
And there's a space, 'cause you're not here.
Or could I be wrong?
Imagination strikes.
I hear those uneven songs,
Returning like ghosts in flight.
Once we were lovers,
Once we were pure as friends.
Once we were blood,
Diamonds to the end.
Do you hear when the world descends.
Let's make truth once again.
Or could I be wrong?
Could there be other ways?
Or could I be wrong?
You can't untrain the heart.
Once we were lovers,
Once we were pure as friends.
Once we were blood,
Diamonds to the end.
Yeah - once we were lovers,
Once we were true as friends.
Once we were blood,
Diamonds to the end.
Diamonds to the end.
Or could I be wrong?
Could there be other ways?
Or could I be wrong?
You can't untrain the heart.
Once we were lovers,
Once we were pure as friends.
Once we were blood,
Diamonds to the end.
Yeah - once we were lovers,
Once we were true as friends.
Once we were blood,
Diamonds to the end.
Diamonds to the end.
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discography
Album Version (3:55)
Produced by: ???
Engineered by: ???
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John Foxx And The Maths Remix (5:46)
Produced by: ???
Engineered by: ???
Remixed by: John Foxx And The Maths
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Live Version (29th March 2013) (4:48)
Recorded: Sands Centre, Carlisle, UK
Mixed By Concert Live
Remastered By Derrick Carter
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Live Version (6th April 2013) (4:47)
Recorded: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK
Mixed By Concert Live
Remastered By Derrick Carter
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Live Version (15th April 2013) (4:48)
Recorded: O2 Academy, Bournemouth, UK
Mixed By Concert Live
Remastered By Derrick Carter
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Live Version (26th January 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Palladium, Riga, Latvia
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (27th January 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Circus, Helsinki, Finland
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (29th January 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Circus, Stockholm, Sweden
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (30th January 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (31st January 2014) (4:50)
Recorded: Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (1st February 2014) (4:49)
Recorded: Huxleys, Berlin, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (4th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Docks, Hamburg, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (5th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Jovel Music Hall, Munster, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (7th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Stadthalle, Bremerhaven, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (8th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Sparkassen Arena, Aurich, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (9th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Ringlokschuppen, Bielefeld, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (11th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Tollhaus, Karlsruhe, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (12th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Europahalle, Trier, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (14th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Palladium, Köln, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (15th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Konzerthalle, Olsberg, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (9th June 2014) (4:59)
Recorded: KulturPur Festival, Hilchenbach, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Album Version (4:20)
Produced by Andy Wright, Gavin Goldberg and Simple Minds
Mixed by Gavin Goldberg
Assisted by Lewis Chapman
Additional Programming by Iain Cook and Steve Osborne
Additional Engineering by Tom Dalgety
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downloads
John Foxx And The Maths Remix (5:46)
Produced by: ???
Engineered by: ???
Remixed by: John Foxx And The Maths
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Live Version (26th January 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Palladium, Riga, Latvia
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (27th January 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Circus, Helsinki, Finland
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (29th January 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Circus, Stockholm, Sweden
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (30th January 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (31st January 2014) (4:50)
Recorded: Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (1st February 2014) (4:49)
Recorded: Huxleys, Berlin, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (4th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Docks, Hamburg, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (5th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Jovel Music Hall, Munster, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (7th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Stadthalle, Bremerhaven, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (8th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Sparkassen Arena, Aurich, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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|
Live Version (9th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Ringlokschuppen, Bielefeld, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (11th February 2014) (4:48)
Recorded: Tollhaus, Karlsruhe, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (12th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Europahalle, Trier, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (14th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Palladium, Köln, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (15th February 2014) (4:47)
Recorded: Konzerthalle, Olsberg, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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Live Version (9th June 2014) (4:59)
Recorded: KulturPur Festival, Hilchenbach, Germany
Mixed By Bleecker Street
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live history
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