"Ieya" is a song by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

new wave band Toyah, fronted by

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English musician, actress, and TV presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Willcox has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays an ...

. It was first released as a single in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

Safari Records Safari Records was a British independent record label based in London, England, and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards (former co-manager of Deep Purple), Andreas Budde (the son of German musi ...

to promote the album ''

The Blue Meaning ''The Blue Meaning'' is the second studio album by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Wilcox, released in 1980 by Safari Records. It reached the Top 40 on the UK Albums Chart. Background The album was recorded at the Parkgate ...

''. It was re-recorded and re-issued in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, and met with minor chart success in the UK.

Background

"Ieya" started off as a

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and entertai ...

in the soundcheck before the band's concert in Bath, where it was subsequently performed as the fourth encore that night. Toyah recalled that the band "walked on stage and started 'Ieya', and within the first sixteen bars the audience was behaving in a way I'd never seen before. And because 'Ieya' had no real form, we'd only ever jammed it, what should have been a four-minute song went on for twenty minutes, and the audience didn't stop dancing once, and I just kept making up words as I went along. (...) It was a sequence of chords that grew, so every verse had more chords added to it, and it had a fantastically simple chorus, a chant". The song was written by

Joel Bogen Joel Bogen (born 3 September 1958) is an English rock and punk guitarist. He worked with Toyah Willcox from the late 1970s to 1983 as the guitar player in her eponymous band and was the co-writer on nearly all of the material they recorded. B ...

and Peter Bush, and produced by Steve James and Willcox. According to the singer, it "is about mankind believing in ourselves so much that we believe we are immortal and can become our own gods, therefore challenging

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

as the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

, in the form of the Devil; man being the beast". She later added that it is about "mankind meeting (...) the higher intelligence that put us here", referring to

panspermia Panspermia () is the hypothesis, first proposed in the 5th century BCE by the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids, as well as by spacecraf ...

and the

ancient astronauts Ancient astronauts (or ancient aliens) refers to a pseudoscientific hypothesis which holds that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents suggest that this ...

theory, while the title itself came about by using syllables as a way of expression and the voice as an improvisational instrument. The song's lyrics refer to the ''

Necronomicon The ', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first menti ...

'', a book that Willcox had been given a year before, and which contains images mirroring her past

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

experiences. When the band started recording the song, Willcox recalled, it "turned out to be seven minutes long, which is longer than any average song. But the atmosphere in the studio became terrifying. Just like when ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...

'' was made, things started going wrong. Technical equipment wouldn't work, arguments would start out of nowhere, distrust would enter the studio, and I had a severe problem with writing seven minutes' worth of lyrics in what was a repetitive song. It took days for me to record the vocals. It was a multi-layered song, and the chorus had many voices – all mine. But doing the verses was murder. I hadn't quite learned by this time that the simpler I kept the subject matter and the simpler I kept the phrasing and the words, the more effective the song would be. I always wanted to make things over-complex to try and prove myself". The single was released in several formats, including three different 7" vinyl releases, and for the first time in Toyah's career, a 12" single. It was pressed in black and white vinyl variations. Its B-side, "The Helium Song", was an extended version of the track "Spaced Walking", which, along with a full-length version of "Ieya", were included on the band's second LP, ''

''. Both tracks also featured on the 2005 compilation ''The Safari Singles Collection Part 1: 1979–1981''. "Ieya" was re-recorded in 1982 with a largely new set of musicians, in a distinctly " poppier" style, and produced by

Nick Tauber Nick Tauber is a British record producer best known for his work with Thin Lizzy, Toyah and Marillion in the 1970s and 1980s. Nick Tauber continues to manage, produce, and consult with acts/artists/and producers. In the late 1990s, Tauber was in ...

. It was released as a single in the summer of 1982, again backed with "The Helium Song", but in a different picture sleeve, which featured a close-up of the image from the album cover of ''The Blue Meaning''. The single was again available in white and black vinyl variations, but this time because

allegedly ran out of black vinyl. A shorter edit of the re-recording appeared on promo singles sent to radio stations and used in

jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

es, but not on any commercial single releases. It later featured on the 1984 compilation '' Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! All the Hits'' and a

K-tel K-tel International Ltd is a Canadian company which formerly specialized in selling consumer products through infomercials and live demonstration. Its products include compilation music albums, including ''The Super Hits'' series, ''The Dynami ...

compilation ''Chart Heat'', which one got free with ''Chart Beat'', or vice versa. The single edit of the re-recording was included on the 1999 CD reissue of '' The Changeling'', while the full length version made its CD debut on the 2005 compilation ''The Safari Singles Collection Part 2: 1981–1983''. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was considered, filming at a point of

zero gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G. Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...

and using a

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

, or utilizing the

green screen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...

technique, but due to potential high cost, the idea was never developed. A video for the song was filmed as part of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Background

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

References

External links