Red Light (Siouxsie and the Banshees song)
1980 song by Siouxsie and the Banshees
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Red Light" is a song by rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It is the ninth track from their 1980 album Kaleidoscope. It was co-produced with Nigel Gray.
| "Red Light" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Siouxsie and the Banshees | |
| from the album Kaleidoscope | |
| Released | 1 August 1980 |
| Recorded | 1980 |
| Genre | New wave, electro-rock |
| Length | 3:23 |
| Label | Polydor |
| Composers | Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin |
| Lyricist | Steven Severin |
| Producers | Nigel Gray Siouxsie and the Banshees |
| Music video | |
| "Red Light" on YouTube | |
Writing, recording and video
The song was demoed by Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin at Warner Chappell studios. Severin wrote the lyric. He said: it was "originally a piece of automatic writing called "Exposure" (I was using "cutups" to invent words like "shutterslut")."[1]
It was then recorded as a trio, with Severin on synthesisers, Siouxsie on vocals and Budgie on drums.[2] The song featured the beat of "the Roland compu rhythm and a camera shutter motor rewind".[3] Budgie related: "I wanted the drums to fade in over the electronica beat and evoke a smoky club atmosphere".[4]
Although it was not released as the third single of Kaleidoscope, a promo video for the song was shot by Clive Richardson on the same day as the video for the single "Christine".[5]
Legacy
Santigold recorded an interpolation of the song on her track "My Superman" on her debut album Santogold. She stated: "I remember one of the first times I heard "Red Light" it was at a party, and I remember going up to the DJ and being like, "Who's this?". It was that good. I kind of stopped and was like ... wow".[6]