"Can't See Me" is a song by

Ian Brown Ian George Brown (born 20 February 1963) is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses from their formation in 1983. Following the split in 1996, he began a solo career, re ...

. It was written by Brown and

Mani Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshi ...

and produced by Brown. The song was remixed by Bacon & Quarmby and released as the third single from Brown's debut solo album ''

Unfinished Monkey Business ''Unfinished Monkey Business'' is the debut solo album by Ian Brown released in February 1998 via Polydor Records. The album was self-financed and produced by Brown, and was his first album release since the break-up of The Stone Roses in Oct ...

''. It was released in June 1998, and rose to number 21 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song's lyrics refer to an incident when Brown saw His former

Stone Roses In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

band-mate

John Squire Jonathan Thomas "John" Squire (born 24 November 1962)Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, is an English musician, songwriter and painter. He was the guitarist for The Stone Roses, a rock ba ...

in a village in

Hale, Greater Manchester Hale is a suburb and electoral ward within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the village taken at the 2011 Census was 15,315. It is contiguous with the southeast of Altrincham, about southwe ...

, not long after the split of the band. According to this story, Brown waved to Squire, but Squire hid behind a newspaper and would not acknowledge him.

Recording

In an interview with ''Making Music'' in 1998, Brown spoke about the song: :''It came from

sitting down with his portastudio and coming up with a bassline, but we only found out last week that Reni doesn't actually play on it - it's a breakbeat Mani sampled. I thought it was a sample Reni took from the studio that Mani played to, but it was actually a breakbeat.'' :''I've got a big pillowcase of tapes at home of Roses live shows and rehearsals and stuff, and I was just going through them one day and I found this bassline and remembered it. So I phoned him up, said, 'Can I put some Iyrics over this for my record ?' and he said, 'Course you can'.''

Track listing

;Enhanced Maxi-Single CD 1 #"Can't See Me" (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) - 3:56 #"Can't See Me" (Harvey's Invisible Mix) - 4:40 #"Come Again (Part 2)" - 3:51 #"My Star" (CD-Rom Video) ;Enhanced Maxi Single CD 2 Enhanced #"Can't See Me" (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) - 3:56 #"Can't See Me" (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) - 5:02 #"Under The Paving Stones: The Beach" (Gabriel's 13th Dream Remix) - 4:39 #"Corpses" (CD-Rom Video) ;7" Vinyl Single #"Can't See Me" (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) - 3:56 #"Can't See Me" (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) - 5:02 ;12" Vinyl Single #"Can't See Me" (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) - 3:56 #"Can't See Me" (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) - 5:02 #"Can't See Me" (Harvey's Invisible Mix) - 4:37 #"Can't See Me" (Harvey's Instrumental Mix) - 4:37 #"Under The Paving Stones: The Beach" (Gabriel's 13th Dream Remix) - 4:27

Personnel

*Ian Brown - Rhythm Bass Guitar, Lead Guitar, Producer, Mixing *Mani - Original Bass, Lead Bass Guitar *Reni - Drums *Dave Hyatt - Mixing

References

{{authority control 1998 singles 1998 songs Ian Brown songs Songs written by Ian Brown Songs written by Mani (musician) Polydor Records singles