Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Hide and Seek

I normally don't do this sort of thing, but every now and then something comes along that deserves highlighting.

Imogen Heap's hauntingly beautiful song 'Hide and Seek' is one such thing in my opinion.

As I was saying to a friend online earlier tonight, if I could have something like this under my belt, then I would feel as if there was little more to accomplish.
The song is incredible. The video and it's production values (lighting, framing, grading, editing) are worthy of suitable award.

There's not much that can't be said by instead simply watching and listening to the different flavours, starting of course with her original released version:




Here's a campus a cappella group named The UNC Achordants singing at the ICCA Quarterfinals (Elon University - 2007), at which they placed first, covering Hide and Seek:




Next, a video montage put together by a friend of mine from Denmark. One of the most watched scenes from the TV series 'Lost', re-edited to the song Hide and Seek, arguably making for a much more intense scene:




A live performance of the track by Imogen, from Studio 11 @ Indie 103.1FM. Shows her using the Vocoder setup that the track has become so famous for, and proving that she has what it takes to pull it off live, solo:




A poignant montage put together by a fan, which interprets the song in a totally different way to most, likely including Imogen Heap herself:




And finally, the inevitable 'euro' dance mix. Although I must say, like the style or not (Tiesto et al), it works fantastically well within the genre:



The (brilliant) lyrics:

where are we?
what the hell is going on?
the dust has only just begun to fall
crop circles in the carpet
sinking, feeling

spin me round again
and rub my eyes,
this can't be happening
when busy streets a mess with people
would stop to hold their heads heavy

hide and seek
trains and sewing machines
all those years
they were here first

oily marks appear on walls
where pleasure moments hung before the takeover,
the sweeping insensitivity of this still life

hide and seek
trains and sewing machines (you won't catch me around here)
blood and tears
they were here first

Mmmm what do you say,
Mmmm that you only meant well?
well of course you did
Mmmm what do you say,
Mmmm that's all for the best?
ah of course it is
Mmmm what do you say?
Mmmm that it's just what we need
you decided this
Mmmm what do you say?
Mmmm what did she say?

ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
mid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut outs
speak no feeling
no I don't believe you
you don't care a bit,
you don't care a bit

(hide and seek)
ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
midsweet talk, newspaper word cut outs

(hide and seek)
speak no feeling
no, I don't believe you
you don't care a bit,
you don't care a bit
Song of the moment, hell - top 5 of all time. For me anyhow.

Hope you get suitably praised and awarded for such a breathtaking, original and influential composition, Imogen.

Wikipedia entry

10 Comments:

At 12:50 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this Zarres. I didn't know about all those other versions.

It's a beautiful song. That one with the troops moved me to tears.

 
At 1:04 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is beautiful. It really makes you feel a certain way, can't describe it.
Makes you think about things.

 
At 1:06 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i love this song!!

 
At 1:13 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

/agree. Best Song Ever. Kudos to Imogen Heap (shame that it's being slaughtered on the media though)

 
At 1:16 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OMG i *luv* this song!!!
she has such a powerful and strong voice.

 
At 1:19 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Some1 should mail this to Bush. The one with the soldiers in Iraq. LEts see what he has to say about it. If that was him layin at the side of a road dead and ignored the world would be going crazy. But dont worry its just a nameless soldier.

 
At 1:34 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a beautiful song. She is very talented.

 
At 11:16 am, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This song is fuckin brilliant. Great track. Liked the other versions and vids here too. Thanks.

 
At 12:16 pm, August 15, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow I thought it was a guy that sung this song. *doh*
I love it its very very good.

 
At 1:55 am, August 17, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's the effects on her voice that make it sound like a bunch of harmonies. I think it's called a Vocoder. You can see when she is playing on her keyboard in the live clip she is triggering the harmonies as she sings.

It's a beautiful song and she is a very talented artist.

 

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