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glitterball
composer
Written by: Kerr / Burchill
publisher
© EMI Music Publishing: (1998 - 2007)
© JKMC-Bucks Music Group Ltd / Hornall Music: (2008 - 2014)
© BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd: (2015 - 2019)
© Universal Music Publishing Group (2019 - 2023)
© BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd: (2023 -)
background
"Consumed by romantic myth - for both of them it's the real death of glamour.... therefore making their worldly
exist entwinded. And dizzily circling the small black wooden floor while the solitary mirrored globe revolves."
"Symbolic of another planet; another desination - somewhere void of the feeling of futility that is omnipresent. LEAVING
WITH STYLE as the drug kicks in - propelling them softly on their fantsatic voyage... the glitterball radiates all around
like some guiding light."
Jim
e-mail
11th March 1998
Charlie wrote the song in early 1996 on
an Omnichord. "The stuff we were working on at that point was getting
elaborate, and I thought it'd be great to give Jim something really
basic, the old standard three chords and a bit of rhythm. It's quite naive in a way, but it sums up for
me the general sound of the album." - Neapolis Press Release.
The first basic musical sketch of Glitterball was called Omni Bass Horn which was one
of the ideas floating around in January 1996. This featured the bare bones of the melody on the eerie tones of the Omnichord. Along with
another early idea called War Baby, Glitterball defined the sound of the album.
Q: Glitterball, the first release from the album, seems to reflect that. Very representative of the
album it's a very basic three chord sound with a bit of rhythm. The lyrics?
A: Well it's about fashion victims... glamour junkies.
Q: What a piss take?
A: Not really. There are people attracted to those sorts of things but I'm not condeming them.
Jim
DV8 Magazine
April/May 1998
Glitterball was one of the tracks mixed at the Olympic sessions in March 1997. Unlike most of the other songs mixed during
the sessions, it had almost reached its final form, although the coda still needed work, being overloaded with backing vocals
and instrumental effects.
It was formally unveiled during the Festival Tour of 1997 where Jim
and Charlie judged the song's popularity. "A defining thing was when we took time out to play
those European concerts last summer. Not only did we get a perspective, but encouragement as well. We came back to the record and
said 'We have the cornerstones, let's go ahead and fill in what's what." - Jim
It was chosen to launch the album campaign, being released
as a single in March 1998. Chrysalis viewed it as an excellent introduction
to the album, but not as good as the follow-up single
War Babies, which was being kept in the wings as a knock-out punch. Oddly, considering the number
of remixes being prepared for the Neapolis singles, no extended version or remix of Glitterball was ever produced.
The video was shot at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and featured the newly reformed Simple Minds of
Jim,
Charlie,
Derek and
Mel.
Glitterball was featured during the following Neapolis Tour but then
disappered from view and has never been featured live since.
see also:
Omni Bass Horn (Demo)
lyrics
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Full of doubt, took the easy way out.
Always said they couldn't find their place.
Among some real dark stuff, they got to thinking enough.
Remember Halcyon Days.
We'll spend our time with a bottle of wine,
And a love that knows no human state.
Never got to wake up early,
Never got to feel so poorly,
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall.
Lifts me up, then leaves me to fall.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall,
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
One step, two step, three step, four.
Drag me to the middle, then you pulled me to the floor.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall,
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
And I've been captured by imagination.
I feel the faint vibration in the air.
Been taken hostage by the one creation.
Anticipate the night that's in your hair.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall.
Lifts me up, then leaves me to fall.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall.
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall.
Lifts me up, then leaves me to fall.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall.
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
One step, two step, three step, four.
Drag me to the middle, then you pulled me to the floor.
Glitterball, radiate round the hall.
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
One final day,
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
Don't make me wait,
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
Don't make me wait,
As the great unloved go dancing all the way.
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discography
videography
live history
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