Tears on Tape
by HIM

Album: Tears On Tape (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is the title track to HIM's eighth studio album. In our interview with group's lead singer/songwriter Ville Valo, he explained: "It's my tribute to the music I grew up listening to. It mentions church bells tolling and thunder roaring, and that's a dedication to the first Black Sabbath album and so forth. There are two or three different stories going on at the same time. In one, it describes music verbally, and my favorite songs. And on another level it's a bit more of an emotional journey and relationship-related little ditty."
  • You might detect and '80s sound to this one, which can be attributed to Ville Valo's love of music from that decade - he cites Depeche Mode and Nick Cave as two of his favorites from the era.

    Valo came up with the basic track for this song when he was working on some Electronic side projects that never came to fruition. When it came time to work on the Tears On Tape album, he brought out what he had of the song and gave it the HIM treatment. "I had that melody and I was playing around with that for about eight months," he told us. "Then since we started working on new stuff with HIM, I thought, 'Let's try it out. It's a bit different than the rest of the songs.'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

70s Music Quiz 1

70s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

The '70s gave us Muppets, disco and Van Halen, all which show up in this groovy quiz.

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.

The Punk Photography of Chris Stein

The Punk Photography of Chris SteinSong Writing

Chris Stein of Blondie shares photos and stories from his book about the New York City punk scene.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

Chris Squire of Yes

Chris Squire of YesSongwriter Interviews

One of the most dynamic bass player/songwriters of his time, Chris is the only member of Yes who has been with the band since they formed in 1968.