«Chimes at Midnight»
When Madrugada regrouped to celebr… Read Full Bio ↴Madrugada
«Chimes at Midnight»
When Madrugada regrouped to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of their classic debut album «Industrial Silence» in 2019, they quickly realised that interest in the band had not waned in their absence. It had, in fact, increased, not least on the European continent.
What’s more, they realised that they loved being back together. Being in Madrugada had never been quite this much fun.
Says vocalist and guitarist Sivert Høyem: «It was if as the last piece of the puzzle had snapped into place. I’d never felt so self-assured on stage before. It was no stress at all, whereas in the past it had always been very stressful to me».
The tour was a triumph, with the band selling out shows in the their native Norway, plenty of festival dates and a host of concerts throughout Europe, where the band now sold out halls that were twice the size of the places they used to play back in the day.
10 years on from when the band called it a day after guitarist Robert Burås passed, the three remaining original members – Høyem, Frode Jacobsen (bass) and Jon Lauvland Pettersen (drums) – felt rejuvenated and ready for more.
They wanted to play more shows. In order to do so, new music had to be made. The trip they were on couldn’t be strictly nostalgic. And so it was that Madrugada, a band that usually takes its sweet time to agree on just about anything, ran straight off the stage and back into the rehearsal room in December 2019.
Jacobsen: «We were on a tight schedule. We booked time at Sunset Sound Studio in Los Angeles at the end of February, and had about a month and a half to come up with the material and whip it into shape. It went rather swimmingly. We were still high from touring, raring to go».
Høyem: «Everyone brought something – melodies, ideas – to the table. And then we’d all be let loose on it. We had the «Industrial Silence» album in our bloodstreams after playing it live on the tour, and I felt there was a direct line back to our formative years. Everything came out sounding like Madrugada».
The band worked in their own rehearsal space/studio in Oslo, in another studio, Velvet Recordings, 45 minutes outside the city, and spent a further week woodshedding in Berlin. 70% of the material they came up with, is spanking new. But they also rescued a couple of older songs from oblivion. «The World Could Be Falling Down» hails from the time of their first album. «Slowly Turns The Wheel» first reared its head somewhere between the third and the fourth.
Lauvland Pettersen: «The process was very different from when I recorded my last album with the band [«The Nightly Disease», 2011]. That was a case of ‘second album syndrome’. We didn’t have much going in, and had to come up with the goods on the clock. This time the material was not only written, but thoroughly arranged too».
The band arrived in Los Angeles in late February, happy to be recording in a legendary studio where classic albums by Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, The Doors and the Rolling Stones had been conceived.
Lauvland Pettersen: «It was a boyhood dream come true, for sure. A terrific gift: I’m here, I’m with my dear friends and we’re having the time of our lives».
Producer Kevin Ratterman (Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket, The Flaming Lips) was waiting for them, and the plan was once again to get in the flow and work fast.
The band had given themselves two weeks to put the music, recorded live in the studio, to analogue tape. They met their deadline, and a good thing too. No sooner was the last song on the album, «Ecstasy», in the can, before the world as we knew it shut down. It was March 2020, and the plan had been for Madrugada to go home, rest up for a week and return to do overdubs and mix the album in a studio in Silver Lake. Instead, they had to go home, and stay home.
Høyem: «It was a ‘last flight out of Saigon’ kind of scene. And the tickets weren’t cheap».
Up until this point, the making of «Chimes at Midnight» had been a whirlwind affair. When it became obvious that the world would remain in a state of emergency for quite some time, it was important not to lose momentum. The album would have to be finished by unorthodox means:
Namely by Zoom and via big screen-TVs, with Ratterman and the American team on one end in Los Angeles, and Madrugada on the other, in Oslo, Norway. Frustrating? Oh yes. But the esprit de corps remained strong.
Jacobsen: «The technology enabled us to do overdubs in real time, with Kevin producing us from the other side of the Atlantic. Unusual, to say the least, and quite interesting. But the process became a lot slower».
It goes without saying that Høyem, Jacobsen and Lauvland Pettersen are painfully aware that one of Madrugada’s founding members, Robert Burås, very sadly isn’t around to work his magic anymore. But what other developments have the nigh-on 14 years since their fifth and hitherto last album, «Madrugada» (2008), and «Chimes at Midnight», begot?
Høyem: «The songs are a reflection of who we are in the present time. We’re older. We’re all fathers. I believe I have a more nuanced view of life than I had 20 years ago, a greater ability to feel several things at once. Madrugada’s aesthetic was very New York City and Berlin, we were a punk band that played the blues. All those elements remain. But this time around it felt appealing to explore the more dreamy aspects of what we do. The city we recorded in encouraged us to do so».
Jacobsen: «Chimes at Midnight» is not a conceptual album, it doesn’t point in one particular direction. That makes it somewhat different, in my mind. But it’s made to played live, just like the other albums».
Lauvland Pettersen: «It’s got maybe more of a singer/songwriter vibe to it, I think. If I want to write a ballad and give it the full orchestral treatment, I’m welcome to do it. It’s been therapeutic too. The shows were pure pleasure, and the album’s given me a feeling of closure».
Høyem: «‘Chimes at Midnight’ was born of an atmosphere of true joy and goodwill. To me, it’s a passionate album».
The members’ respect for their shared history is at the top of their minds at all times.
Jacobsen: «I’ve always had romantic ideas about bands in general, and our band in particular. I never wanted to make music outside of Madrugada. I wanted to make it with the people I started out with».
Madrugada are
Sivert Høyem
Frode Jacobsen
Jon Lauvland Pettersen
with
Cato Thommassen and Christer Knutsen
Album discography:
«Industrial Silence» (1999)
«The Nightly Disease» (2001)
«Grit» (2002)
«The Deep End» (2005)
«Madrugada» (2008)
«Chimes at Midnight» (2022)
Biography from their site: https://madrugada.no/#biography
Theres's another band from the 70's that use the same name:
2) Madrugada was a band from Bergamo, Italy, formed around 1970, and had a long life that lasted until 1978. The group derived from some 60's beat bands like I Condor, that included bass player Alessandro Zanelli and keyboardist Franco Orlandini (from Mat 65 and who later worked with Equipe 84 and Claudio Rocchi), and later changed name to Le Lunghe Storie, and along them from Le Bugie and Gruppo 3. But the basic nucleus came from Terza Classe, which also gave birth to Perdio.
Though not properly a progressive rock album, their first one, only released in 1974 by Philips, contains some interesting parts.
It contains seven tracks, some of which were arranged and signed by Roberto Vecchioni (a singer-songwriter that's still very popular nowadays), while three songs were composed by Mauro Paoluzzi.
The first side shows some influences by a West Coast styled sound, with multivocal parts very well executed but not particularly original. Second side contains the long Mandrax, led by Gianfranco Pinto's keyboards, that's probably the best album track.
Except for a limited use of acoustic guitar on Uomo blu the band didn't use guitars and their sound was strongly based on keyboards and richly arranged vocal parts.
Second album came three years later, this time the trio was helped by some guest musicians like Lucio Fabbri on violin (Piazza delle Erbe and later PFM), the jazz saxophonist Gianluigi Trovesi, and Luciano Ninzatti (from Eugenio Finardi's band Crisalide) on guitar.
With a much better production and sound, this can be considered the best of their two albums, with long tracks like the opening Romanzen or Aragon showing a very good composition quality. Another nice song was È triste il vento, that had previously been played by another group from Bergamo that had a close connection with Madrugada, Perdio.
Like in the first album there are some odd different-styled tracks, like the folky Noter de Berghem and the silly Katmandu (that was also released on single with È triste il vento, but with no success), but Incastro can be surely appreciated by progressive music fans. Unfortunately it didn't have a good promotion by the record company.
In concert, Madrugada played on tour with Area, Claudio Rocchi and Biglietto per l'Inferno, and in Lugano (Switzerland) with Kevin Ayers. Moreover they played in many concerts for political movements like Avanguardia Operaia and the Radical Party and the Re Nudo magazine. The band split at the end of the 1970s.
Pinto and Zanelli collaborated with Mauro Paoluzzi in his shortlived Pangea project, which produced only a promotional album in 1976.
Keyboardist Pinto has collaborated with many Italian and international artists (Patty Pravo, Roberto Vecchioni, Adriano Pappalardo, Riccardo Fogli, Gianna Nannini, Brian Auger), and in the late 90's with the reformed progressive group Perdio.
He works in a music school in the Parma area and still plays now in studio, with live bands and in the piano bar circuit.
Bass player Billy Zanelli formed the semi-punk group Judas, with an album on Spaghetti label in 1978, and later played with Roberto Vecchioni.
Discography
LPs
Madrugada (Philips, 1974)
Incastro (Philips, 1977)
CDs
Madrugada (AMS/BTF, 2006 / Universal, 2010)
Incastro (AMS/BTF, 2006 / Universal, 2010)
Singles
Katmandu / È triste il vento (Philips, 1977)
Only When You're Gone
Madrugada Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gonna need a hammer and nails
To construct this bitter love song
This cruel testamented song
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
Rude are the tongues of love
That speak of mercy for us all
And leave us only with a song
And leave us only with a song
Now it's a cold and hollow whisper
That consoles my body when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
And its only when you're gone
And away
Your ghost runs through me in that special way
It's a nice old town
My hometown
Come for the darkness in this prison cell
I love you long and I love you well
So bury me in the kitchen
Bury me in the stones
Oh, bury me everywhere you go
In the shadows of the hallway
Oh, for we do no longer know
What we can no longer hold
On days like these our heads fill up with smoke
And our memories grow old
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only, only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gone away
And gone away
Oh
The lyrics to Madrugada's "Only When You're Gone" evoke a sense of loss and despair that is palpable from the beginning of the song to its end. The repetition of the phrase "only when you're gone" emphasizes the singer's inability to cope with the absence of their loved one. The use of the hammer and nails in the line "gonna need a hammer and nails to construct this bitter love song" creates a powerful image of a broken heart that needs mending. The singer is trying to construct a love song, but it is a bitter one, not a happy one. The song is a cruel testament to a relationship that has ended, and it only rings out when the loved one is gone.
The second stanza speaks to the idea that love can be cruel, and it is uncertain whether love speaks of mercy for all. The line "now it's a cold and hollow whisper that consoles my body when you're gone" is a tragic portrayal of the emptiness that the singer feels when their loved one is not around. The third stanza speaks to the theme of memory and how it can be fleeting. The singer misses their hometown and wants to be remembered in every place the loved one goes. The idea of being buried in the kitchen and the shadows of the hallway shows that the singer wants to be remembered in the mundane, everyday places, not just in grand gestures.
Line by Line Meaning
Only when you're gone
The true pain and complexity of our love is only felt when you're not around.
And away
Your physical absence is what triggers the intense emotions within me.
Gonna need a hammer and nails
Constructing this painful song requires a lot of effort and hard work, just like building a physical structure.
To construct this bitter love song
The song is a representation of our love, which is bittersweet and full of pain.
This cruel testamented song
The song is a testament to the harsh reality of our love and the emotions it stirs within us.
That rings out only when you're gone
The song only comes to the surface when you're not around to mask our true feelings.
Rude are the tongues of love
Love can be harsh and cruel in the way it speaks to us.
That speak of mercy for us all
Despite love's cruel nature, it still provides mercy and kindness to us all in some form.
And leave us only with a song
All that remains after the love is gone is the memory of the pain, which is represented in the form of the song.
Now it's a cold and hollow whisper
The memory of you is now distant and empty, leaving me feeling cold inside.
That consoles my body when you're gone
Despite the emptiness, the memory of you still brings some sense of comfort in my physical being.
Your ghost runs through me in that special way
Your presence still haunts me, but it's a comforting haunt that I cannot let go of.
It's a nice old town
My hometown is a reminder of the past, and how things used to be before the pain of lost love set in.
Come for the darkness in this prison cell
The pain and sadness is a kind of prison in which I am trapped.
I love you long and I love you well
Despite the pain and sadness, my love for you remains strong and true.
So bury me in the kitchen
I want to be buried in a place that reminds me of the domestic aspects of our love.
Bury me in the stones
I want to be buried in a place that is strong and unbreakable, just like the love we once shared.
Oh, bury me everywhere you go
I want to be a part of every place you go, even if I cannot physically be there with you.
In the shadows of the hallway
I want to exist in the darkness and mystery that remains between us.
Oh, for we do no longer know
We have lost sight of what once existed between us, and are now left with uncertainty.
What we can no longer hold
Our love is too painful to hold onto, and we must let it go.
On days like these our heads fill up with smoke
The pain and sadness of lost love fills our minds, making it hard to see clearly.
And our memories grow old
As time passes, the memories of our love fade away and become distant.
Gone away
Your absence is what makes everything feel lost and empty.
And gone away
The truth is that you are gone, and it's a reality that I must face.
Contributed by Hailey P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Anna Maria
LYRICS:
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gonna need a hammer and nails
To construct this bitter love song
This cruel testamented song
That rings out only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
Rude are the tongues of love
That speak of mercy for us all
And leave us only with a song
And leave us only with a song
Now it's a cold and hollow whisper
That consoles my body when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
And it's only when you're gone
And away
Your ghost runs through me in that special way
It's a nice old town
My hometown
Come for the darkness in this prison cell
I love you long and I love you well
So bury me in the kitchen
Bury me in the stones
Oh, bury me everywhere you go
In the shadows of the hallway
Oh, for we do no longer know
What we can no longer hold
On days like these our heads fill up with smoke
And our memories grow old
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only, only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gone away
And gone away
Oh
Alana Almeida
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
E longe
Somente quando você se for
Eu vou precisar de um martelo e pregos
Para construir esse amargo amargo
Este testamento bruto na música
Isso soa apenas quando você se vai
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
E longe
Somente quando você se for
Oh
Rudes são as línguas do amor
Isso fala de misericórdia para todos nós
E nos deixe apenas com uma musica
E nos deixe apenas com uma musica
Agora há um sussurro frio e oco
Sussurro
Isso consome meu corpo quando você se vai
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
E longe
Somente quando você se for
Oh
E é só quando você se vai
E longe
Seu fantasma se move através de mim dessa maneira especial
E é um bom hotel
Meu hotel
Venha encher a escuridão desta cela de prisão
Eu te amarei muito
E eu vou te amar
Bem
Então me enterre na cozinha
Me enterre na loja
Oh, me enterre em todo lugar que você for
Nas sombras do corredor
Ah, porque nós não sabemos mais
O que nós não podemos mais segurar
Em dias como estes, nossas cabeças se enchem de fumaça
E nossas memórias envelhecem
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
E longe
Somente quando você se for
Somente quando você se for
Só quando você se vai
Somente quando você se for
E longe
Somente quando você se for
Foi embora
E foi embora
Oh
Fatih
Gece yarısı.Son otobüs.
Biletçi kesti bileti.
beni ne bir kara haber bekliyor evde,
ne rakı ziyafeti.
Beni ayrılık bekliyor.
Yürüyorum ayrılığa korkusuz ve kedersiz.
İyice yaklaştı bana büyük karanlık.
Dünyayı telaşsız, rahat seyredebiliyorum artık
Artık şaşırtmıyor beni dostun kahpeliği,
elimi sıkarken sapladığı bıçak.
Nafile, artık kışkırtamıyor beni düşman.
Geçtim putların ormanından baltalayarak
nede kolay yıkılıyorlardı.
Yeniden vurdum mihenge inandığım şeyleri,
çoğu katkısız çıktı çok şükür.
Ne böylesine pırıl pırıl olmuşluğum vardı,
ne böylesine hür.
İyice yaklaştı bana büyük karanlık.
Dünyayı telaşsız, rahat seyredebiliyorum artık.
Bakınıyorum başımı kaldırıp işten,
karşıma çıkıveriyor geçmişten
bir söz
bir konu
bir el işareti.
Söz dostça
koku güzel,
el eden sevgilim.
Kederlendirmiyor artık beni hatıraların daveti
hatıralardan şikayetçi değilim.
Hiçbir şeyden şikayetim yok zaten,
yüreğimin durup dinlenmeden
kocaman bir diş gibi ağrımasından bile.
İyice yaklaştı bana büyük karanlık.
Artık ne kibri nazırın, ne katibin şakşağı.
Tas tas ışık döküyorum başımdan aşağı,
güneşe bakabiliyorum gözüm kamaşmadan.
Ve belki, ne yazık,
hatta en güzel yalan
beni kandıramıyor artık.
Artık söz sarhoş edemiyor beni,
ne başkasının ki, nede kendiminki.
İşte böyle gülüm,
iyice yaklaştı bana ölüm.
Dünya, her zamankinden güzel, dünya.
Dünya, iç çamaşırlarım, elbisemdi,
başladım soyunmağa.
Bir tren penceresiydim,
bir istasyonum şimdi.
Evin içerisiydim,
şimdi kapısıyım kilitsiz.
Bir kat daha seviyorum konukları.
Ve sıcak her zamankisinden sarı,
kar her zamankinden temiz.
Tony Stark
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gonna need a hammer and nails
To construct this bitter love song
This cruel testamented song
That rings out only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
Rude are the tongues of love
That speak of mercy for us all
And leave us only with a song
And leave us only with a song
Now it's a cold and hollow whisper
That consoles my body when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
And it's only when you're gone
And away
Your ghost runs through me in that special way
It's a nice old town
My hometown
Come for the darkness in this prison cell
I love you long and I love you well
So bury me in the kitchen
Bury me in the stones
Oh, bury me everywhere you go
In the shadows of the hallway
Oh, for we do no longer know
What we can no longer hold
On days like these our heads fill up with smoke
And our memories grow old
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only, only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gone away
And gone away
Oh
GREETINGS FROM GREECE...!!!
AZRAEL
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gonna need a hammer and nails
To construct this bitter love song
This cruel testamented song
That rings out only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
Rude are the tongues of love
That speak of mercy for us all
And leave us only with a song
And leave us only with a song
Now it's a cold and hollow whisper
That consoles my body when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Oh
And it's only when you're gone
And away
Your ghost runs through me in that special way
It's a nice old town
My hometown
Come for the darkness in this prison cell
I love you long and I love you well
So bury me in the kitchen
Bury me in the stones
Oh, bury me everywhere you go
In the shadows of the hallway
Oh, for we do no longer know
What we can no longer hold
On days like these our heads fill up with smoke
And our memories grow old
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
Only when you're gone
And away
Only when you're gone
Gone away
And gone away
KONSTANTINOS DRAKAKIS
watching the cigarette smoke slowly fading, with a glass of whiskey by my side, listening to this masterpiece...saying all the things I never said... damn.. best 6:30 minutes of my life...
Giorgos Giorgaras
Exactly the same
Ionut-Catalin Pascu
Excellent said, Sir!
born in gallifrey
öyle bir ses tonu ki, kulağımdan girip ciğerlerimden çıkamıyor. ruhuma fısıldıyor resmen
Eylül
Bildiğiniz bu tarz şarkılardan önerebilir misiniz??
Özcan
born in gallifrey benimle sevişiyor keşke fısıldasa
diowalther
Κομματαρα για όλες τις εποχές!!!! Κάθεσαι στις Καβουροτρυπες με την πλάτη ακουμπισμένη στη λευκή πέτρα,κοιτάς ψηλά και τρέχεις σε άλλους κόσμους....ν
Georgia Apostolou
3:01 σ'αυτό το σημείο μαζί με την μουσική, έχει σταματήσει και η καρδιά μου! Μου κόβει την ανάσα η φωνάρα του, δεν το αντέχω!
Άννα Γκουνταρά
Ναι ναι ναι ναι ❤️
Georgia Apostolou
Eru Ilúvatar :( :( :(