Who wrote the "new" songs?

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
Post Reply
User avatar
bismarck
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 655
Joined: 04 May 2003, 23:04
Location: Sedan

I'm just wondering: Does anyone know who wrote the "new" songs:

Summer
War on Drugs
Come Together
Crash + Burn
Top Nite Out
Will I Dream?
Suzanne
Romeo Down
Slept

Did I miss some?

What are the writing credits on these tracks? Obviously Eldritch wrote lyrics, but I'm wondering about music.

And wouldn't Summer be a great lead-off single?
The great questions of the day will not be
resolved by speeches and majority decisions,
but by iron and blood.
- Otto von Bismarck
Top
User avatar
Petseri
Overbomber
Posts: 4579
Joined: 15 Apr 2002, 01:00

bismarck wrote:I'm just wondering: Does anyone know who wrote the "new" songs:

Summer
War on Drugs
Come Together
Crash + Burn
Top Nite Out
Will I Dream?
Suzanne
Romeo Down
Slept

Did I miss some?

What are the writing credits on these tracks? Obviously Eldritch wrote lyrics, but I'm wondering about music.

And wouldn't Summer be a great lead-off single?
Summer indeed would have been a wonderful single --- already in 1998! :!: That is when it was due to come out.

As for music to the new songs, check the lyrics page at the official website http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/lyrics/lyrindex.htm. Not all of the new songs are there (i.e. Snub Nose has no lryics!), but several are, and music credits are provided. For example, http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/lyrics/summer.htm for instance, has "© 1997. Words by Andrew Eldritch, Music by Adam Pearson. " All in all, I spot five of the unreleased songs, albeit the olders ones.

Martin
Top
User avatar
Kutan
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 327
Joined: 22 Jan 2007, 15:27

Sorry, thread necro for a particular reason - somebody on the TSOM 1980-1985 facebook page is flaming me just because I dared to question the statement that Andrew Eldritch wrote everything for the Sisters "except for 4-5 songs on FALAA and the last 3 years".

Website says (on the lyrics page):

Romeo Down: Words by Andrew Eldritch, Music by Adam Pearson.
Summer: Words by Andrew Eldritch, Music by Adam Pearson.
War On Drugs: Words by Andrew Eldritch, Music by Andrew Eldritch.
We Are The Same, Susanne: Music by Mike Varjak. (I assume words are by Eldritch)
Will I Dream: Words by Andrew Eldritch, Music by Adam Pearson and Mike Varjak.

Does anybody know the credits for Come Together, Still, Arms, Slept, Top Nite Out, On The Beach and There's A Door?

(I know it has nothing to do with the Sisters 1980-1985 (except FALAA where we all know who wrote what)), but I want to be the one to be right :evil:
Top
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15272
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

Come Together - Music: Adam Pearson / Lyrics: Andrew Eldritch
Top Nite Out - Adam Pearson
Slept - Lyrics: Andrew Eldritch / Music: Adam Pearson
Still - Lyrics: Andrew Eldritch / Music: Chris Catalyst
Arms - Lyrics: Andrew Eldritch / Music: Chris Catalyst

On The Beach and There's A Door - Music and Lyrics (to all likeliness): Christo/Eldritch/Smith
Top
User avatar
Kutan
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 327
Joined: 22 Jan 2007, 15:27

Water to my mills...

Thanks a lot, Being645, that was exactly what I wanted!
Top
User avatar
H. Blackrose
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 623
Joined: 26 Jun 2005, 06:06
Location: laying down the long white line

The only album/set of songs which Eldritch wrote all on his own was _Floodland_. He jealously guards the words but is happy to allow other members songwriting credit where deserved. (Tony James claims to have come up with one line of "Vision Thing")
"We're Hawkwind and this is a song about love." - :von: , 1993

"We will miss them when they are gone" - M. Andrews, 2024
Top
User avatar
iesus
Overbomber
Posts: 4455
Joined: 15 Mar 2006, 11:15
Location: x-EU

Also to add in ARE WE GOING TO BE BAD? (Christo/Eldritch/Smith/Varjak)
It is rumoured that Varjak gave the title and also line(s) ? :) :bat:
'Are we the Baddies?'...
"Someday! Someday, everything you need, is just gonna fall out of the sky..." -A.E. Reading 1991
"Don't forget that most of the judges in witches trials had harvard degrees."
Top
User avatar
Dan
Overbomber
Posts: 2014
Joined: 25 Sep 2002, 01:00
Location: Leeds

Being645 wrote: ↑21 Mar 2023, 23:51 Come Together - Music: Adam Pearson / Lyrics: Andrew Eldritch
That can't be right. It was demo'd in Dec 1985, titled 'Ritual' but almost unchanged.
Top
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15272
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

Dan wrote: ↑22 Mar 2023, 15:31
Being645 wrote: ↑21 Mar 2023, 23:51 Come Together - Music: Adam Pearson / Lyrics: Andrew Eldritch
That can't be right. It was demo'd in Dec 1985, titled 'Ritual' but almost unchanged.
Oh! Thank you for the information! I didn't know that... :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: ... :) ...
So I would bet on - Lyrics & Music: Andrew Elldritch (as Gary had left).

Btw, was it done in HH or at what recording session? ... :?: ...
Top
User avatar
Dan
Overbomber
Posts: 2014
Joined: 25 Sep 2002, 01:00
Location: Leeds

Slaughterhouse Studio, Dec'85.
Torch was also demo'd at the same session.
Top
User avatar
Jan
Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 207
Joined: 18 Jul 2002, 01:00
Location: in a corner of a foreign field
Contact:
Contact Jan

Dan wrote: ↑22 Mar 2023, 19:36 Slaughterhouse Studio, Dec'85.
Torch was also demo'd at the same session.
Yep. Think it was in Mark Andrews' book that roots "Come Together" back to 1985 as "Ritual".

I remember reading somewhere that the music to "Crash And Burn" and "Slept" have been written by Adam Pearson as well. That said, sadly Chris Starling (RIP) apparently wrote no music for the Sisters.
"For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." (John F. Kennedy, 1963)
Top
User avatar
czuczu
Overbomber
Posts: 2191
Joined: 24 Oct 2005, 14:11
Location: UK

From memory, Chris Starling was editing the live footage for the never to be released DVD around 2002-2003ish.
Top
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15272
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

oh hell, I should definitely work through that book, now that I've got time ... more or less so to say...

OR anybody else could add / correct one or other information to/in the SistersWiki, but that's obviously proven not more than an occasional dream ....
Top
User avatar
H. Blackrose
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 623
Joined: 26 Jun 2005, 06:06
Location: laying down the long white line

Chris Sheehan kept all his original material for his solo work
"We're Hawkwind and this is a song about love." - :von: , 1993

"We will miss them when they are gone" - M. Andrews, 2024
Top
User avatar
H. Blackrose
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 623
Joined: 26 Jun 2005, 06:06
Location: laying down the long white line

iesus wrote: ↑22 Mar 2023, 06:48 Also to add in ARE WE GOING TO BE BAD? (Christo/Eldritch/Smith/Varjak)
It is rumoured that Varjak gave the title and also line(s) ? :) :bat:
Denice says "Are we going to be bad?"

https://www.thesistersofmercy.com/gen/w ... oddess.htm
"We're Hawkwind and this is a song about love." - :von: , 1993

"We will miss them when they are gone" - M. Andrews, 2024
Top
User avatar
alanm
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 266
Joined: 03 Mar 2020, 13:11
Location: this is not my map at all

Reckon Denice should get the writing credit then.
Do you remember a time when angels... do you remember a time when fear?
In the days when I was stronger, in the days when you were here?
Top
User avatar
iesus
Overbomber
Posts: 4455
Joined: 15 Mar 2006, 11:15
Location: x-EU

Actually, it's Varjak that says that Denice says that. Can't tell that it's Denice, perhaps there is no Denice at all, or it's a nickname of someone else that said the original line. Can we know? No. Even Varjak could not be 100% sure if Denice or someone else said that. Could be true person, could be fictional character. :lol:
Do you know for sure? I don't for sure ;D :notworthy: :bat:
'Are we the Baddies?'...
"Someday! Someday, everything you need, is just gonna fall out of the sky..." -A.E. Reading 1991
"Don't forget that most of the judges in witches trials had harvard degrees."
Top
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15272
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

Whoever wrote it (or is going to write it), I would love to hear that song ... :) ...
Top
Fallon
Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 119
Joined: 27 Dec 2018, 03:49

Do we think that Varjak gets a co-credit purely based on the title, or do we think that it may be a song fragment which the other lads have built something new out of? I tend to think the former, because I think a large part of the reason for so much new and in-progress material, and for a setlist which skews almost 50/50 old and new, is that it allows them to avoid paying too much in the way of royalties to other songwriters.

I would think Young Andy might be more inclined to use a title or phrase coined by a former member than to resurrect a songwriting idea.
Top
User avatar
Todashi
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 352
Joined: 21 Jun 2019, 09:53

I'd be surprised if there's much to pay for paying 10 or 12 gigs a year or so in performance royalties. None of the new songs are recorded and released, which means no publishing, sales or streaming royalties for anyone involved. I'd guess the main beneficieries are the guys actually on stage performing the songs, and hence getting a cut of the door/merch etc.

Anyone know more about how that kind of thing plays out?
Top
User avatar
markfiend
goriller of form 3b
Posts: 21181
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 10:55
Location: st custards
Contact:
Contact markfiend

Todashi wrote: ↑29 Mar 2023, 10:05 I'd guess the main beneficieries are the guys actually on stage performing the songs, and hence getting a cut of the door/merch etc.

Anyone know more about how that kind of thing plays out?
I don't know if this is true but I heard that the guitarists are on musicians' union minimum. No cut of the door, no cut of the merch.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
Top
User avatar
Todashi
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 352
Joined: 21 Jun 2019, 09:53

I feel a bit 'icky' discussing anyone's specific wages - it's really none of my business - but I'd be surprised if that's the case. It just seems unlikely given that Ben in particular has been around for a long time now, and you'd imagine there'd be some recognition that if either or both Ben and Dylan were unavailable then it'd be hard for the show to go on.

Not that it couldn't, but it'd be a lot of hassle. You'd have to think there's a monetary value attached to avoiding that hassle. But as I said, it's personal stuff for those involved.

I was really wondering more about how things like performance royalties trickle down if, say, you write a song and then other musicians take that song on tour. Like, does Von have to pay Chris if the girls decide to play Still every night on tour?
Top
User avatar
markfiend
goriller of form 3b
Posts: 21181
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 10:55
Location: st custards
Contact:
Contact markfiend

Chris had been in the band for what, 14, 15 years and then Dylan was drafted in at pretty short notice when Chris was unavailable for the Sisters (on tour with Ghost) so it's not like it's not been done before.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
Top
User avatar
Todashi
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 352
Joined: 21 Jun 2019, 09:53

True.
Top
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15272
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

markfiend wrote: ↑29 Mar 2023, 10:20
Todashi wrote: ↑29 Mar 2023, 10:05 I'd guess the main beneficieries are the guys actually on stage performing the songs, and hence getting a cut of the door/merch etc.

Anyone know more about how that kind of thing plays out?
I don't know if this is true but I heard that the guitarists are on musicians' union minimum. No cut of the door, no cut of the merch.
AFAIK this also depends on the venue ... :wink: ...
Top
Post Reply

Return to “Sisters Chat”