"Under the Gun" is a song by the English rock band

the Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...

released as the single from their album ''A Slight Case of Overbombing: Greatest Hits Vol. 1''. It is a duet featuring

Terri Nunn Terri is an alternative spelling of Terry. It is a common feminine given name and is also a diminutive for Teresa. Notable people with the name include: *Terri Allard (born 1962), American country/folk singer/songwriter *Terri S. Armstrong, Amer ...

on vocals, and was accompanied by a music video with

Andrew Eldritch Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, 15 May 1959) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the frontman and only remaining original member of the Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, ...

and Nunn. It is the only new song on a greatest hits compilation released in 1993 by Merciful Release on

EastWest Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England. History Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with th ...

, a UK

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

label. This is the band's most recent single as of . The single reached 19 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 was written by

Billie Hughes Billie Keith Hughes (April 4, 1948 – July 3, 1998) was an American recording artist, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known for his successful artist career in Japan, lead vocalist of his band Lazarus and his collaboratio ...

, and

Roxanne Seeman Roxanne Joy Seeman is an American songwriter and lyricist. She is best known for her songs by Billie Hughes, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, The Sisters of Mercy, The Jacksons, Jacky Cheung, and in ...

, It was co-produced by Eldritch and

Hughes Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

. Additional production was credited to

Ian Stanley Ian Christopher Stanley (born 28 February 1957) is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was previously a member of the English band Tears for Fears for most of the 1980s, and played a key role in the making of their multi-plat ...

. Two alternate mixes of "Under the Gun" were included in the 2017 bonus tracks of the Sisters of Mercy's compilation album ''

Some Girls Wander by Mistake ''Some Girls Wander by Mistake'' is a compilation album by English band the Sisters of Mercy, released on 27 April 1992 on their own label Merciful Release, distributed by East West/Warner Music UK. The album collected the complete and unedit ...

'', released on their own label

Merciful Release Merciful Release is a record label started by Andrew Eldritch, frontman with Leeds band the Sisters of Mercy. As Eldritch stated in an early interview, he wanted to hear himself on the radio. He and Gary Marx (Mark Pairman) played and recorded o ...

and distributed by EastWest Records and Warner Music UK.

Song information

Chris Roberts in

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

described the song as "a big

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

ballad (of

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

Roxette Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second a ...

, etc)" with "several thousand epic heartbreaking refrains" of the chorus hook "Are you living for love?" noting Eldritch's "restrained guitar foreplay" and "fiendish subliminal rant", while comparing it to "the melodrama of Bowie's ' Sweet Thing/

Candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

". The song is mostly a cover of "Two Worlds Apart", a song written by Hughes and Seeman and released on Hughes' album ''

Welcome to the Edge "Welcome to the Edge" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Hughes, from his 1991 album of the same name. Written by Hughes, Roxanne Seeman, and Dominic Messinger, the single was released in Japan by Pony Canyon on May 15, 1991, under th ...

''. It appeared earlier as a love theme for the characters of Michael & Julia in the television series Santa Barbara.

Critical reception

Karen Holmes, The Network 40 praised the song: "''Nunn rounds out Andrew's talent for finding incredible females voices to collaborate with. Andrew's contribution to the sexual passion is subliminal with taunting vocals that intensifies Nunn's pipes.''" In a glowing review in Melody Maker, Chris Roberts wrote "This is a colossus of a record...ironic and yet thoroughly serious, the spoof vulture of youth culture chimes in belalugubriously ic...Gothic only as in arch, this is as far from indie as it gets. A black (comedy) beauty". Larry Flick for Single Reviews in

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

lauded the "Pure gothic tune from this descendant act of Bauhaus et al" writing "Vocals blend beautifully in chorus" while opining "the emphasis on max atmosphere may make track obtuse for newcomers."

Artists' commentary

* Terri Nunn (April 2002): " ndrew Eldritchasked if I was going to use it for my record, and since I couldn't get anybody excited about it... It was really strange and dark, and he said 'Well, I want to do it, why don't we sing it?' It was called 'Under the Gun', and we sang it for the Best of Sisters album." "My record company rejected this song for my own record." * Andrew Eldritch (1993): "The tape I was working from already had her vocal on it. Although I met her once in the mid-80's I didn't meet her to make the record. I just fucked around with the tape that her vocal was already on. But that was one of the reasons for my wanting to cover that song and change it around, because I thought her vocal on it was great! So I used the original demo because I don't see the point in re-recording something that is already so great to start with. So I edited it, I changed the bass, the drums and keyboards around what was already there a little bit. I got a friend of mine from Leeds

dam Pearson A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

to put some electric guitars on, and then sang my stuff. So the original version sounds kind of like, I don't know, a sort of

Jennifer Rush Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern; September 28, 1960) is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums including the million-selling single " The Power of Love", which she co-w ...

song I suppose, and the new song sounds like Jennifer Rush from hell!"

Track listings

"Under the Gun" was written by Eldritch, Hughes, and Seeman. "Alice" was written by Eldritch.

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. *

– vocals *

– vocals * Adam Pearson – guitars *

– keyboards, synthesizer *

- additional production

Charts

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Under The Gun (The Sisters Of Mercy Song) 1993 singles The Sisters of Mercy songs Songs written by Roxanne Seeman Songs written by Billie Hughes 1993 songs Songs written by Andrew Eldritch Male–female vocal duets Song recordings produced by Ian Stanley Billie Hughes songs Synth-pop ballads Love themes East West Records singles Rock ballads Pop ballads Pop rock songs