SONG TO
THE SIREN
THIS
MORTAL COIL
SONGWRITERS:
LARRY BECKETT & TIM BUCKLEY
COUNTRY: U.
K.
ALBUM: IT’LL
END IN TEARS
LABEL: 4AD
GENRE: GOTHIC
ROCK
YEAR: 1984
This Mortal Coil was a
music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label
4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were technically the only two
official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating cast of
supporting artists, many of whom were otherwise associated with 4AD, including
members of Cocteau Twins, Colourbox, and Dead Can Dance. The project became
known for its gothic, dream pop sound, and released three full albums beginning
in 1984 with It'll End in Tears.
It'll End in Tears is the
first album released by 4AD collective This Mortal Coil, an umbrella title for
a loose grouping of guest musicians and vocalists brought together by label
boss Ivo Watts-Russell. The album was released on 1 October 1984, and reached
#38 on the UK Albums Chart. It features many of the artists on the 4AD roster
at the time, including Cocteau Twins, Colourbox, and Dead Can Dance; as well as
key post-punk figure Howard Devoto, who sang "Holocaust", one of two
covers of songs from the Third/Sister Lovers album by Big Star. The other Alex
Chilton-penned track, album opener "Kangaroo", was released as a
single to promote the album. Two key songs were performed by Elizabeth Fraser of
Cocteau Twins, including Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren", which
reached #66 on the UK Charts when released as This Mortal Coil's debut single a
year before the album. The song remained on the UK Indie Chart for almost two
years. Fraser also performed on "Another Day" by Roy Harper. 4AD
would go on to release two further albums under the name of This Mortal Coil: Filigree
& Shadow (1986) and Blood(1991).
Valentino Records, a
sublabel of Atco Records, released the album in the United States in late 1984,
the only time a This Mortal Coil album was released simultaneously in the UK
and the US. All three This Mortal Coil albums were later re-released in the US
in 1993 on 4AD/Warner Brothers, and in 1998 solely on 4AD. A remastered and
repackaged CD edition of It'll End in Tears was issued with the complete
This Mortal Coil recordings in a self-titled box set, released in late November
2011. The CD was released individually shortly thereafter.
On the floating, shapeless oceans
I did all my best to smile
til your singing eyes and fingers
drew me loving into your eyes.
And you sang "Sail to me, sail to me;
Let me enfold you."
Here I am, here I am waiting to hold you.
Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you here when I was full sail?
Now my foolish boat is leaning, broken love lost on
your rocks.
For you sang, "Touch me not, touch me not, come back
tomorrow."
Oh my heart, oh my heart shies from the sorrow.
I'm as puzzled as a newborn child.
I'm as riddled as the tide.
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Or shall I lie with death my bride?
Hear me sing: "Swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you."
"Here I am. Here I am, waiting
to hold you."
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