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signal and the noise


composers
Owen Parker / Jim Kerr


publisher
???


background
MH: How are you this morning?
JK: Great. I’ve been here about a week amongst getting some work done – in fact, this morning I was working on a new song. You and I know each other really well and you know how when sometimes a thought just pops up you have to case it so it messed up my plan. My plan was to get up really early – which I did – and go jogging. But, as I was having my coffee, this idea – loose idea – for a song popped up so I've been chasing it for the last couple of hours. I’m getting ready to pack – I will go for a jog – and then head for the airport. And as you know Simple Minds begin touring again in the middle of this week in Europe and really looking forward to that.
MH: So are you going to tell me what the title of this song is? Or is it not there yet?
JK: Signal And The Noise.
MH: Signal And The Noise? Nice... nice. Is it from a piece of music you've had for a while? Or is this just an initial idea of a lyric?
JK: It is. It's a piece of music from someone you introduced me to – Owen Parker – who co-wrote Broken Glass Park. He intermittently sends me some pieces and I've had this for a while. I was enchanted by it but I never thought – or thought maybe it's an instrumental. It was very cinematic and when you get these pieces they already sound sometimes complete. You think "Why would I put a voice on this? It would detract?” or it wouldn't live up. But the great thing about the whole MP3 thing – and of course with iTunes and stuff – is that I've got thousands of songs and stuff just pops up randomly. And it's amazing sometimes, a month later, two months later, that you thought I'll never have an idea for that and the music comes on and you're right there and I'm harmonizing with it and that was the case this morning.

Jim Kerr and Martin Hanlin
17th November 2013

The song was eventually recorded for Walk Between Worlds.


lyrics
The lyrics have not been published