Divide and Conquer is a song I wrote almost ten years ago for my old project Suicide By Cop. The original version we recorded back then was a slow and powerful epic, co-written with SBC's keyboardist Mick Dunn. After Mick left the band, we tried to rework it without keys. Its original tempo didn't work too well, so we sped it up and gave the drums a more tribal feel. Even though we had some fun with it in the few years to follow, I always felt it was unfinished but by that time it was that ingrained, we struggled to add to it. It desperately needed a mid-section.
With the song being left alone for a number of years and the niggling feeling that there was something unfinished about it, I thought it might benefit from the Elysium treatment. I then set about re-recording it from scratch. When I wrote the lyrics back in 2009, I imagined something more up-tempo, something a bit VNV Nation. Therefore I had that in mind as well as cues from the later SBC live version. It also gave me the opportunity to record the vocals with the original phrasing. Kaz did a brilliant job on the SBC recording but she had changed a couple of things, mainly to assist her in delivering the lines comfortably. The differences are few and subtle but one especially is fundamental to my ears. The chord structure has been retained for the main part of the song and as such is recognisable. Full credit goes to Mick for that. I also added that much needed mid-section and a fitting intro. Emma and Charles added their own bass and keyboard parts respectively to the song, thus completing its "Elysification". This recording is somewhat of an anomaly as it's kind of an imagining of the original song which was in my head when I was writing it, before we put it together in SBC but also kind of a cover of the song it eventually turned into.
Sadly, the song seems to be lyrically more relevant with each passing year. Since writing it almost a decade ago, there have been countless divisive devices deployed in the media to keep us all arguing with each other and the proliferation of social media has only exacerbated this.
lyrics
They say I’m supposed to hate you
Just because I never knew you
And the place where you come from
And the feelings that you feel
I can’t relate to your beliefs
And the things your elders preach
And your idea of right or wrong
This confusion that I see
Separate, separate
Fill them all with fear and hate
Kill them if they make a sound
Divide and conquer, take them down
Suffocate, manipulate
Orchestrate how they behave
Kill them if they make a sound
Divide and conquer, take them down
All this madness, born of fears
From the last two thousand years
This illusion they create
From the man made lies they teach
I see humanity exploding
And our liberty eroding
This division that we crave
This confusion that I see
Separate, separate
Fill them all with fear and hate
Kill them if they make a sound
Divide and conquer, take them down
Suffocate, manipulate
Orchestrate how they behave
Kill them if they make a sound
Divide and conquer, take them down
Striving for a better life
With violence, death and suicide
And sworn defiance to a cause
And sworn allegiance to a flag
Brainwashed soldiers march with pride
To commit their homicide
Desecrating foreign shores
To come home in a body bag
Separate, separate
Fill them all with fear and hate
Kill them if they make a sound
Divide and conquer, take them down
Suffocate, manipulate
Orchestrate how they behave
Kill them if they make a sound
Divide and conquer, take them down
credits
from Divide and Conquer,
released September 21, 2018
All music performed by Dawn of Elysium.
Music written by Mick Dunn / Alec Marlow.
Lyrics by Alec Marlow.
Blood Relative is Publicist's latest post-punk salvo from the Forgive Yourself LP, steered by Zachary Lipez's unnerving baritone. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 17, 2015
