It was formally recorded for Empires And Dance, and became one of the favourite live numbers from that album.

"We wrote "Room" in the BBC Studios in Delaware Road, London, for a John Peel session. The producer was Budgie from Mott The Hoople. We were at the end of the session, and Budgie asked if we had any more songs as we had about ten minutes left. we said "No... but hang on..." Then Jim, Charlie and myself hurriedly worked out a new track and that was "Room." Mick and Brian joined in and the song made the album almost exactly as it was in the radio show. That is why Simple Minds made the grade. We had a telepathic grip on song writing. Great Minds and all that."

Derek Forbes
www.derekforbesmusic.com
June 2016

"Film, and certain film directors in particular, have been as much an influence on our work as almost any musicians or songwriters.

"Director David Lynch would easily be considered one of those who managed to entrance us with his work over the last 40 years, and I recall with clarity the excitement of heading out as a band, after a long day's work in our London studio to experience late night showings of his initial cult movie, Eraserhead. It was from out of that movie that the burgeoning and somewhat unique reputation of David Lynch started growing. From that point our own fascination with his entertaining and unnerving vision kicked in hard.

"Years later, while working on our Real Life album we would down tools around 9PM most thursday evenings when weekly instalments of his television series Twin Peaks were showing in the UK. Infatuated by the series, to this day whenever I hear our song, When Two World's Collide, I feel certain that the kind of creeping sexuality that song exudes would have made it fit right in with what Lynch was then delivering to our screens.

"Coincidentally, at that time we were recording among the ethereal forests and small country towns of Scotland. I myself lived for a couple of months in a lakeside log cabin. (Well, we call them lochs actually.) And with much of the surrounding landscape seemingly mirroring the Twin Peaks backdrop, we could almost have been living inside one of those still memorable episodes. Least that is how it occasionaly seemed.

"Many movies later, Mulholland Drive perhaps the highlight of his career for me, I'm now looking forward to the imminent release of Lynch's written chronicles. The title of his considerable book is Room To Dream. Itself the sort of title we might have come up for one of our own songs/albums.

"In fact, if I had to choose one Minds song above all else that I feel might have been inspired by the same kind of disquieting and dreamlike underworld that gives birth to Lynch's tales? I reckon "Room" from our 1980's Empires And Dance album might just fit that bill. In truth though, who the hell needed us, considering the great job Angelo Badalamenti did with the soundtrack to Twin Peaks? Either way, where some find the narrative of his movies inexplicable, and his style gnawingly pretentious etc. We feel that our lives have been enriched by the brilliance of David Lynch." - Jim, 24th June 2018

In your room, In your room, Silent man, Once again. The razor's song, The razor's song, Wear the mask, Another fave, In your room, In your room. City red, City red, Wear the mask, Wear the mask, A private hell, A secret sin. A friend of mine, Waiting for, A western man, Waiting for, New kind of glory, A view of glory, From this room. I only live here, I only live here, A fragile man, Waiting Waiting. Echoes..., I only live here, Echoes, In this room. Echoes....

Album Version (2:30) Producer: Leckie Engineer: Jones
Session (4:18) Producer: Trevor Dann Engineer: Nick Gomm Mastered by: Simon Heyworth Recorded: 19th Dec 79 Broadcast: 7th Jan 80
Live Version (25th February 2012) (5:22) Recorded: Barrowland, Glasgow, UK Recorded by: Olivier Gerard Mixed by: Olivier Gerard Engineered by: Rudy Coclet ISRC: GB01A1201417