Wednesday 28 June 2017

song by song: I See You Everywhere That I Go

Kevin is the only one of us whose voice isn't on the Everything Changes album; 'I See You Everywhere That I Go' feature's Paul's vocal contribution: 
"Ya right?" Just before counting us in. It seemed wrong to edit it out.
Written a week before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, 'I See You Everywhere That I Go' (or ICU as is was abbreviated on set lists in ’89-‘91) was a regular in the live list from immediately after writing, the format has changed little since then, it still opens with the single minor chord and hurls itself straight into a chorus before diving into the first instrumental passage which has shrunk considerably and is less John Coltrane/Eight Miles High/far-out than it used to be 28 years ago.The verses still all come together, a sideways shift and then its choruses all the way out. The live popularity is echoed by the number of recordings - live versions exist from ’89 and ’90 as well as the 'At Tree Level' and 'Everything Changes' album takes, plus an as yet unreleased remix from the EC recording. Currently - thanks to it briefly being on the NME website in 2011 - it is also our most watched video.
Although not deliberately obscure, it is open to interpretation in several different ways. The ever present security cameras of the 21st century were relatively uncommon in 1989, but in East Germany one in six people was a Stasi informant, at various times spying on each other often without ever knowing their target was also an informant and reporting back too. 
Lyrically there is a parallel element of paranoia and obsession - it could be a love song or even a stalker song. It''s unclear if the point of view is the watched, or the watcher, or both. This slightly dusty miniature of the paparazzi statue in Bratislava stands next to the CD player in the kitchen,. He Is a reminder that you are always being watched. You are always on camera. So best look sharp.