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"I Die: You Die" | ||||
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Single by Gary Numan | ||||
from the album Telekon (reissue) | ||||
B-side | "Down in the Park" (Piano Version) (UK) "Sleep by Windows" (US) | |||
Released | 22 August 1980 [1] | |||
Recorded | Matrix Studios, London, 1980 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:40 | |||
Label |
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Songwriter(s) | Gary Numan | |||
Producer(s) | Gary Numan | |||
Gary Numan singles chronology | ||||
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"I Die: You Die" is a song by the British musician Gary Numan, released as a single in August 1980. Released shortly before his fourth album, Telekon , it continued the anthemic style Numan had begun earlier in the year with "We Are Glass". The composer himself described the two singles as "Much the same thing. Both very chorus-orientated with the guitars as the main rhythmic device and the keyboards tinkling over the top". [2]
Like "We Are Glass", "I Die: You Die" had been premiered live during the final legs of Numan's 1979-80 concert tour The Touring Principle, before being recorded. It has since featured regularly in Numan's performances and on his live albums. Stephin Merritt from The Magnetic Fields covered the song on the Random tribute album in 1997. It was remixed for the 1998 collection The Mix and appears on numerous compilation albums.
Lyrically the song was aimed at what Numan saw as an increasingly vitriolic music press: [3]
They crawl out
Of their holes for me
And I die you die
Hear them laugh
Watch them turn on me
And I die you die
See my scars
They call me such things
Tear me, tear me, tear me
The single entered the UK Singles Chart at number 8 and peaked at number 6 the following week [4] but was not included on the vinyl release of Numan's Telekon album, released two weeks later. It did, however, appear on overseas releases of the album, replacing the song "Sleep by Windows", as well as the cassette release. Dutch pressings of the vinyl single were issued in a variety of different colours. [5]
An alternative mix was used for the music video and a limited edition, white-labelled single release. This mix is the version used on all subsequent reissues of Telekon as a bonus track.
The UK single B-side was a solo piano version of one of Numan's most popular songs, "Down in the Park" which is played by Denis Haines. In the US, Australia and other countries where "I Die: You Die" supplanted "Sleep by Windows" on Telekon, the latter track was used as the B-side of the single.
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles Chart [4] | 6 |
Irish Singles Chart [6] | 16 |
American Singles Chart [7] | 102 [8] |
Gary Anthony James Webb, known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two studio albums with the band, he released his debut solo studio album The Pleasure Principle in 1979, topping the UK Albums Chart. His commercial popularity peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s with hits including "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". Numan maintains a cult following. He has sold over 10 million records.
"Cars" is the first solo single by English musician Gary Numan. It was released on 24 August 1979 and is from his debut studio album The Pleasure Principle. The song reached the top of the charts in several countries, and is Numan's most successful single.
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