SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES – "FOLLOW THE SUN" (B-side, 1981)
- 7 years ago
This is the B-side of SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES single 'Spellbound' that was released on Friday, 22 May 1981 in the UK and stayed in the Top75 Singles chart for a total of 8 weeks peaking at #22 on 27 June 1981.
'Follow The Sun' was recorded [most probably] on 30 March 1981 at 'Surrey Sound' studios as an out-take from the JUJU sessions, and employed a simple tribal drumbeat with eerie lyrics to chilling effect.
BILLY HOULSTON: "Prior to one of the takes [during the recording] of 'Voodoo Dolly' in the absence of [guitarist] John McGeoch, Steven and Budgie began 'jamming' accompanied by Siouxsie’s lyricless intonations. […]"
SEVERIN: "Budgie and I jammed this out one night at Surrey Sound. I was heavily influenced by Holger Czukay of Can and was playing around with octave patterns a lot. [...]"
BILLY HOULSTON: "[…] John McGeoch, observing Siouxsie, Steven and Budgie's actions from the mixing-desk, prompted [producer] Nigel Gray to record the trio's spontaneous session. When they'd finished, they all listened to the playback, and were astonished by the results, but it still needed a guitar track and lyrics. So, John provided both backward and forward guitars, and Siouxsie provided the lyrics."
Besides Siouxsie’s admitted lyrical preoccupation with the word 'skin', apparently there’s another one with 'sun', a word that seems to turn up quite often in the lyrics of several Banshees' tracks and has even made it into the titles of a couple of their b-sides the likes of 'Follow The Sun' (1981), 'Shooting Sun' (from 1987, a year in which the band toyed with the idea of covering Traffic's 1967 classic 'Paper Sun'), 'Black Sun' (1995), and the instrumental 'Sunless' (1988).
Also, although not ever mentioned by the band, the line "children of the corn" in the lyrics of the song, is most likely a reference to a short horror story of the same name by author Stephen King, first published in March 1977, and later collected in King's 1978 compilation book of short stories titled 'Night Shift' (!) which Siouxsie had apparently read or at least knew about. The story "Children of the Corn" involves a couple's exploration of a strange town and their encounters with its denizens after their vacation is sidelined by a car accident. Several films have been adapted from the short story and it spawned a horror franchise beginning in 1984.
SIOUXSIE: "The sound and performance by everyone on this song is bliss."
BUDGIE: "I believe we unwittingly managed to record a sunbeam."
[Note: This private video footage was filmed live at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on 17 July 1981.]
'Follow The Sun' was recorded [most probably] on 30 March 1981 at 'Surrey Sound' studios as an out-take from the JUJU sessions, and employed a simple tribal drumbeat with eerie lyrics to chilling effect.
BILLY HOULSTON: "Prior to one of the takes [during the recording] of 'Voodoo Dolly' in the absence of [guitarist] John McGeoch, Steven and Budgie began 'jamming' accompanied by Siouxsie’s lyricless intonations. […]"
SEVERIN: "Budgie and I jammed this out one night at Surrey Sound. I was heavily influenced by Holger Czukay of Can and was playing around with octave patterns a lot. [...]"
BILLY HOULSTON: "[…] John McGeoch, observing Siouxsie, Steven and Budgie's actions from the mixing-desk, prompted [producer] Nigel Gray to record the trio's spontaneous session. When they'd finished, they all listened to the playback, and were astonished by the results, but it still needed a guitar track and lyrics. So, John provided both backward and forward guitars, and Siouxsie provided the lyrics."
Besides Siouxsie’s admitted lyrical preoccupation with the word 'skin', apparently there’s another one with 'sun', a word that seems to turn up quite often in the lyrics of several Banshees' tracks and has even made it into the titles of a couple of their b-sides the likes of 'Follow The Sun' (1981), 'Shooting Sun' (from 1987, a year in which the band toyed with the idea of covering Traffic's 1967 classic 'Paper Sun'), 'Black Sun' (1995), and the instrumental 'Sunless' (1988).
Also, although not ever mentioned by the band, the line "children of the corn" in the lyrics of the song, is most likely a reference to a short horror story of the same name by author Stephen King, first published in March 1977, and later collected in King's 1978 compilation book of short stories titled 'Night Shift' (!) which Siouxsie had apparently read or at least knew about. The story "Children of the Corn" involves a couple's exploration of a strange town and their encounters with its denizens after their vacation is sidelined by a car accident. Several films have been adapted from the short story and it spawned a horror franchise beginning in 1984.
SIOUXSIE: "The sound and performance by everyone on this song is bliss."
BUDGIE: "I believe we unwittingly managed to record a sunbeam."
[Note: This private video footage was filmed live at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on 17 July 1981.]