"Living in Another World" is a song by English band

Talk Talk Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drummer), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). The group achieved early chart success with the synth-pop singles "Talk Talk (Talk Talk s ...

. It was recorded for the band's 1986 album ''

The Colour of Spring ''The Colour of Spring'' is the third studio album by English band Talk Talk, released on 17 February 1986. Written by Mark Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene, the album combines elements of jazz and art pop in an effort by Hollis to embrac ...

'' and was the second single from the album, making the top 40 in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

. The track was one of those selected to promote contentious 1991 remix album ''

History Revisited ''History Revisited: The Remixes'' is a 1991 album comprising remixes of hit Talk Talk songs. It followed the successful greatest hits collection '' Natural History'', released the year before. The band itself did not take part in the making of ...

''. The artwork for the single was by James Marsh.

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

is played by guest musician

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

Composition

The song has been noted for its cyclical musical structure. Kenny Anderson, aka

King Creosote Kenny Anderson (born January 1967), known primarily by his stage name King Creosote, is an independent singer-songwriter from Fife, Scotland. To date, Anderson has released over forty albums, with his latest full length, '' Astronaut Meets Apple ...

: "I never tire of

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

and yet I don't quite understand how they managed to make it sound like a musical version of that famous Escher staircase." Songwriter

Mark Hollis Mark David Hollis (4 January 1955 – February 2019) was an English musician and singer-songwriter. He achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the 1980s and 1990s as the co-founder, lead singer and principal songwriter of the band ...

was inspired by the

modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Although precedents exist, modal jazz was crystallized as a theory by compose ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

. In an interview on Italian TV in 1987, Hollis explained that the studies of

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

inspired the lyrics.

Artwork

The illustration for the song continued the "

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

" theme developed by James Marsh for the ''Colour of Spring'' album and singles. It was the only painting in the series to have pre-existed, having been created by Marsh for his first book. It appeared opposite a verse entitled "Tiger Moth".

Music video

A promotional video for "Living in Another World" was directed by long-time collaborator

Tim Pope Timothy Michael Pope (born 12 February 1956) is a film director most known for his music videos, for having directed feature films, and for a brief pop career. Early life and career Pope grew up in the north London suburb of Enfield. Both his ...

. It features the band being suspended 20ft in the air (shot upside down but filmed the right way round), hanging onto a grand piano whilst a

wind machine The wind machine (also called an aeoliphone or aelophon) is a friction idiophone used to produce the sound of wind for orchestral compositions and musical theater productions. Construction The wind machine is constructed of a large cylin ...

blows violently in their faces.

Cover versions

"Living in Another World" was covered by

Lights Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...

featuring

Darkstars The first Darkstars were a group of intergalactic policemen that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics. They were introduced in ''Darkstars'' #1 (October 1992 in comics, 1992), and were created by Michael Jan Friedman and Larry Stroman. ...

for the 2012 tribute album ''Spirit of Talk Talk''.

References

External links

Sleeve design on James Marsh's website

Lyrics on Google Play Music
{{authority control Talk Talk songs 1986 singles 1985 songs Songs written by Mark Hollis (musician) Songs written by Tim Friese-Greene Song recordings produced by Tim Friese-Greene Music videos directed by Tim Pope Parlophone singles EMI Records singles