"Pop Song" is a song by the English singer-songwriter

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...

. The song was released in late 1989 as a non-album single concurrent with the release of the 1989 retrospective box set ''

Weatherbox Weatherbox is an American indie rock band from San Diego, California, United States, led by singer/songwriter Brian Warren and currently composed of Warren and varied touring members. Discography Weatherbox was originally signed to Doghouse Reco ...

'', though it did not appear on it. (A promo-only sampler released for the box set at the time did include it.) It made its initial official compilation appearance in 2000 on the ''

Everything and Nothing ''Everything and Nothing'' is a compilation album by David Sylvian. Released in October 2000, the album contains previously released and unreleased, re-recorded, and alternate versions of tracks from Sylvian's twenty years with Virgin Records. ...

'' album.

Background

When the budget for the single was agreed, Simon Draper at Virgin Records was adamant that Sylvian said he needed some studio time to record "A Pop Song". But Sylvian swore blind that he had said: "It’s called Pop Song. It is NOT 'A' Pop Song..." Sylvian said about the song in 1989: "It’s a strange piece, a real one-off. A lot of different interests brought it into being. It rekindled the fascination I had when I went into music in the first place, and it got me working with synthesizers again. Lyrically, it's kind of playful, dealing with what I see in popular culture which is, basically, a waste of creative potential and a willingness on the part of the public to be a party to that, to a lost believe in popular culture more than their own lives." "It frightens me that people depend so much on those vacant icons which give people nothing in return. 'Pop Song' doesn't delve too deeply into all this. It's playing the game, in a sense. Being subversive from within." "Pop Song" was recorded in London's Marcus Studios at the end of the summer of 1989, with Steve Nye producing. "Pop Song" and its B-side "A Brief Conversation Ending in Divorce" were pretty much finished by the time pianist John Taylor came in. Japan keyboardist

Richard Barbieri Richard Barbieri (born 30 November 1957) is an English musician, composer and sound designer. Originally a member of new wave band Japan (and their brief 1989–1991 reincarnation as Rain Tree Crow), more recently he is known as the keyboard ...

said: "David did 'Pop Song' using the extrapolated tunings on the

Roland D-50 The Roland D-50 is a synthesizer produced by Roland and released in April 1987. Its features include subtractive synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analogue synthesis-styled layout design. The external Roland PG ...

, where you can widen out the octave or bring the octave in. We started messing around with something like that on Tin Drum." The two instrumental b-sides, "A Brief Conversation Ending In Divorce" and "The Stigma Of Childhood (Kin)" were later appended as bonus tracks on the remastered version of Sylvian's 1985 album '' Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities''. "The Stigma of Childhood (Kin)" was originally recorded for a dance piece ''Kin'', by Gaby Agis, with set design by Kate Blacker and with music by David Sylvian. ''Kin'' was premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London 8–13 September 1987.

Chart positions

References

{{David Sylvian 1989 songs 1989 singles David Sylvian songs Songs written by David Sylvian