"Hymn" is a 1982 song from

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...

's sixth studio album ''

Quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

''. Released as the album's second single, it reached #11 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 ...

and the Top 10 in Germany and Switzerland.

History

The song was written by

Warren Cann Warren Reginald Cann (born 20 May 1950 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian drummer, drum machine programmer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the British new wave band Ultravox, for which he was one of the ma ...

Chris Cross Chris Cross (born Christopher Thomas Allen, 14 July 1952, Tottenham, London) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist in the new wave band Ultravox. Biography Early years Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, ...

Billy Currie William Lee Currie (born 1 April 1950Ultravox.org.uk
) is a ...

and

Midge Ure James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...

and produced by

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

. The cover art depicts certain symbols of

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, most notably the

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

and the

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

. The melody of the song was heavily inspired by The Zones' song ''"Mourning Star"'' (1977). Lyrically, the song describes a time of corruption, in which "all that's good will fall from grace" and "Different words ..have other meaning"; the protagonist expresses his worldly ambitions for "power and glory" in phrases from

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

("the storybook"), especially

The Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

. In line with this theme, the music video, directed by Ure and Cross, depicts a diabolical figure (played by

Oliver Tobias Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director. Biography Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Rober ...

) seducing men struggling in their fields (an actor, a politician, a musician and an office assistant, played by the four Ultravox members). After signing a contract, they all achieve success, though - as hinted at by the final scenes - at a cost. Multiple synthesizers are listed in the creation of the track, including the

PPG Wave The PPG Wave is a series of synthesizers built by the German company Palm Products GmbH from 1981 to 1987. Background Until the early 1980s, the tonal palette of commercial synthesizers was limited to that which could be obtained by combining ...

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "perf ...

E-mu Emulator The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use among ordinary m ...

, and

Yamaha CS-80 The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of hardwired preset voice set ...

Track listing

7" version

# "Hymn" ingle edit– 4:24 # "Monument" – 3:16

12" version

# "Hymn" – 5:46 # "Monument" – 3:16 # "The Thin Wall (live 17 Oct 81 at

Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

)" – 5:54

Covers

The song has been covered by numerous acts including Cabballero (1994),

Cosmo Cosmo may refer to: Business and media * Cosmopolitan (magazine), ''Cosmopolitan'' (magazine), a magazine for women, sometimes referred to as "Cosmo" * ''Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure'', a 1992 video game * Cosmo On-Line, a Brazilian generic Intern ...

(1994), German electro project Music Instructor (1995),

Supporters In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the Escutcheon (heraldry), shield and depicted holding it up. Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. H ...

(1997), The Stunned Guys (1998),

Edguy Edguy is a heavy metal band formed in Fulda, Germany in 1992. History Demos, AFM years (1992–2003) Edguy was founded in 1992 by 14-year-old students Tobias Sammet, Jens Ludwig, Dominik Storch and Dirk Sauer. The name "Edguy" was an affecti ...

(1998),

DJ Jaxx A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

(2000), 4 Clubbers (2002)

Gigi D'Agostino Luigino Celestino di Agostino (; born 17 December 1967), known professionally as Gigi D'Agostino (), is an Italian DJ, remixer, singer and record producer. In 1986, he started his career as a DJ spinning Italo disco. His biggest chart successes ...

(2003),

Lunatica Lunatica is a Swiss symphonic metal band, formed in Suhr in 1998. Biography Formation Founded by keyboardist Alex Seiberl and guitarist Sandro D'Incau, lead vocalist Andrea Dätwyler joined the band in 2001. Atlantis Their debut album ''Atla ...

(2004),

Tina Cousins Tina Patricia Cousins (born 20 April 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and former model. She has had five singles in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with others, including " Mysterious Times" w ...

(2004), Polish DJ Psychophaze (2005), Mägo de Oz (under the name "Mañana empieza hoy") (2005), Raz Ohara (2005),

Age Pee Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

(2006), Trancemission (2006), Parasytic (2008)
PROXIMITY
(2010), Kirlian Camera (2011), Mägo de Oz again (2013),

Marnik Marnik is an Italian progressive house duo formed by Alessandro Martello and Emanuele Longo. History On 17 March 2017, Marnik scored their first hit with "Children of a Miracle", a collaborative effort with Don Diablo and Galantis singer Reece ...

& Danko (2018) and

again (2020)

References

External links

Ultravox - Hymn (7", Single)

Ultravox - Hymn Hymn (12")
{{authority control 1983 singles 1982 singles 1982 songs Ultravox songs Songs written by Midge Ure Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written by Warren Cann Songs written by Chris Cross Songs written by Billy Currie Chrysalis Records singles