‘Strength (July 1985 Marcus Studios rough mix)’ [5:44] (The Alarm), The Alarm
Lead Vocals:Mike Peters
Lyrics
:
GIVE ME LOVE GIVE ME HOPE GIVE ME STRENGTH GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR Who will light the fire I need to survive Who will be the life blood Coursing through my veins Like a river flowing That will never change I need someone I can depend on 'Cause I'm a man of emotions And I can't hide the tears I'm a man of feeling But I can't hide the pain I'm alone on the outskirts of town Where no one knows my name I'm at the point in my life Where I need affection Someone better Give me love Give me hope Give me strength Give me someone to live for Give me love Give me hope now Give me strength Give me someone to live for I need it now I need it now Someone write me a letter I need to know that I'm still alive Someone give me a telephone call I need to hear a human sound I've been lonely place so long I don't know where I'm going and where I'm coming from I've been caged up for oh so long I don't know if I'm living or dying Someone better Give me love Give me hope Give me strength Give me someone to live for Give me love Give me hope Give me strength Give me someone to live for I hear the sound of bells in my head I can't control what I'm going through now Who will light the fire that I need to survive Who will donate the life blood Coursing into my veins Come on open up the door & let me out of this place I've been caged up for oh so long I don't know if I'm living or dying Oh won't you Give me love Give me hope Give me strength Give me someone to live for Give me love Give me hope Give me strength Give me someone to live for I need it now I need it now I need it now
Notes
:A rough mix with a keyboard intro, no backing vocals and an acoustic guitar part left out of the final released mix.
Recorded at Marcus Studios, Westbourne Grovem London, June – July 1985.
Mixed at Marcus Studios 15th July 1985.
Mike Peters Notes
:Strength is a song that was one of the first songs we’ve ever written
together as a band. It started off during the tour. We were
rehearsing “Shout To The Devil” off Declaration to play one night,
and Dave was messing about with the riff to “Shout To The Devil”,
and all of a sudden he started playing what eventually became the
riff the “Strength”. When he got it into that shape, I just started
singing over the top, and then Eddie added some melody and Twist
added a bit. We played a particular inspirational show in Newcastle
one night, and I remember lying in bed in the hotel after the show,
thinking “Give Me Love”, I got this chorus in my head and I thought,
I’ve gotta get the guitar out, so I ran to the van in my underpants,
It was good there were no fans hanging about at the hotel, I got the
guitar out of the van, came back up into the hotel, and tried out
this chorus and thought “oh yeah, its quite good”, and then showed it
to the lads the next day. Dave changed a few of the chords around
in it, and then we had the song. The lyrics just came out of that
feeling of being caged up, and being suppressed. Its a very powerful
song. Its the first one we’ve done as the entire band, and I hope
it is not the last as it is one of the best songs we’ve ever written.
(1985, Backstage Pass 91X)
Dave Sharp Notes
:We named the album after the song “Strength” because it spoke about that uniqueness between people. That chemistry, searching for that something to take you through when you are down. You wanna be up, and you’ve got to find something to achieve that. For me, I go down to the sea, but for someone lese it could be totally different. “Strength” is about realising what that thing is and where to find it inside you.
(Strength Tour Program, 1985)
Eddie MacDonald Notes
:
?
Nigel Twist Notes
:
?
