Simple Minds have achieved 24 top 40 singles on the UK Singles Chart, including eight top 10 and one number one, and 26 albums on the UK Albums Chart, including 22 top 40 albums, 12 top 10 albums and five number one albums: Sparkle in the Rain (1984), Once Upon a Time (1985), Live in the City of Light (1987), Street Fighting Years (1989), and Glittering Prize 81/92 (1992). They have sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, and were the most commercially successful Scottish band of the 1980s. Simple Minds have also achieved considerable chart success in the United States, Australia, Germany, Spain, Italy and New Zealand. Despite various personnel changes, they continue to record and tour.
In 2014, Simple Minds were awarded the Q Inspiration Award for their contribution to the music industry and an Ivor Novello Award in 2016 for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors (BASCA). Other notable recognitions include nominations for both the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction and MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction for "Don't You (Forget About Me)" in 1985, nomination for the Brit Award for British Group in 1986 and for the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group in 1987. "Belfast Child" was nominated for the Song of the Year at the Brit Awards 1990.
The nucleus of Simple Minds consists of the two remaining original members, Jim Kerr (vocals) and Charlie Burchill (electric and acoustic guitars, occasional keyboards after 1990, saxophone and violin). The other current band members are Ged Grimes (bass guitar), Cherisse Osei (drums), Sarah Brown (backing vocals), Gordy Goudie (additional guitar and keyboards) and Berenice Scott (keyboards). Notable former members include Mick MacNeil (keyboards), Derek Forbes (bass guitar), Brian McGee and Mel Gaynor (drums).
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Minds
Discography
Life in a Day (1979)
Real to Real Cacophony (1979)
Empires and Dance (1980)
Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call (1981)
New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982)
Sparkle in the Rain (1984)
Once Upon a Time (1985)
Street Fighting Years (1989)
Real Life (1991)
Good News from the Next World (1995)
Néapolis (1998)
Our Secrets Are the Same (1999/2004)
Neon Lights (2001)
Cry (2002)
Black & White 050505 (2005)
Graffiti Soul (2009)
Big Music (2014)
Acoustic (2016)
Walk Between Worlds (2018)
Direction of the Heart (2022)
Premonition
Simple Minds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Fact to fact
Nothing moving happening
Artifact
The waiting room
Waits
Limbo can burn
But the original sin
Fly over land
Where no hearts can beat
The metal rain pouring
Raining
Raining
Raining down on me
Hole in my head
Where the creature has crawled
And It's burning and turning
Out of control
Real to real
Fact to fact
Nothing moving happening
Artifact
I in this land
Sand in the eye
So here we go
The happy man dies
Brave little world
Well you cry once again
Remodel life
Remake and remodel
Remoel men
Protection Protection
The sound of machines
Image is burning
As they grind to a halt
Crying and crying
The sound of the shells
Tears turn to salt
Cry and I cry
Just one more illusion
I cry just for you
There's a hole in my head
Where the voices came through
Fly over land
Waiting and waiting
Where no hears can beat
Machinery's burning
The metal rains pour
Pour
Raining
Raining down on me
Premonition
The lyrics of "Premonition" by Simple Minds are a cryptic collection of words that are open to interpretation. At its core, the song seems to convey a feeling of impending doom and despair, with the singer describing a world where nothing moves or happens, like an artifact. The waiting room is tense, and limbo can burn – it is a place where people are waiting for something to happen, but do not know what that something is. The theme shifts to the idea of flying over a land where no hearts beat, and the metal rain pours down on the singer. There is a hole in their head where a creature has crawled, and they are burning out of control.
The singer then returns to the idea of the waiting room, where they are constantly waiting for something to happen. They describe a sandstorm in the eye of the land, and the inevitability of death. The world is remodeled and remade, and the machines grind to a halt, crying and crying. Tears turn to salt, and the singer cries just for the listener, as there is a hole in their head where the voices came through. The overall message seems to be a warning – a premonition – of a bleak future, where people are trapped in a limbo and can do nothing but wait for the inevitable.
Line by Line Meaning
Real to real
The situation is as real as it can get
Fact to fact
All the facts are accurate and true
Nothing moving happening
Absolutely nothing is happening
Artifact
Everything that's happening is a result of something else that happened before
The waiting room
A state of waiting for something to happen
Waits
Continuously waiting without action or progress
Limbo can burn
The feeling of being stuck can be unbearable
But the original sin
Our innate desire to learn can cause problems
The incentive to learn
Sometimes, the desire to learn overrides everything else
Fly over land
Traveling above the plain, without any interference from the ground
Where no hearts can beat
Traveling to a place that's completely lifeless; it has no heartbeats or movements
The metal rain pouring
The sound of machines is overwhelming
Raining
The sound that the machines are producing is like a steady rain
Raining
The sound that the machines are producing is like a steady rain
Raining down on me
The feeling of being completely surrounded and overwhelmed
Hole in my head
A sense of confusion or lack of clarity
Where the creature has crawled
Something has penetrated the mind and taken over
And it's burning and turning
The sensation is strong and overwhelming
Out of control
The situation feels like it's no longer manageable
I in this land
An individual in this location
Sand in the eye
The discomfort that comes from being in a harsh environment
So here we go
The journey continues
The happy man dies
The difficult reality of life and death
Brave little world
Facing challenges within a tiny universe
Well you cry once again
The difficulty of facing problems that continually arise
Remodel life
Changing and improving aspects of life that are not working well
Remake and remodel
Remaking the self in order to better manage life's challenges; continual self-improvement
Remodel men
Changing the self in a way that promotes positive personal growth
Protection protection
Desire to protect oneself from harm or negativity that may arise
The sound of machines
The sound of technology and machinery
Image is burning
The idea of how things should be is being destroyed
As they grind to a halt
Slowly coming to a stop; losing momentum
Crying and crying
Feeling overwhelmed and emotional, possibly feeling helpless
The sound of the shells
The sound of something violent and unpredictable
Tears turn to salt
The constant flow of tears and emotional turmoil can be very painful
Cry and I cry
Feeling the pain and negative emotions in a very powerful way
Just one more illusion
Feeling deceived by something that was not what it appeared to be
I cry just for you
Feeling the pain of someone else's situation on a deeply personal level
There's a hole in my head
The sense of disorientation and confusion is overwhelming
Where the voices came through
The thoughts and voices in the mind are overwhelming and overpowering
Fly over land
An escape from reality by traveling to a new place in the mind
Waiting and waiting
Constantly waiting for something to happen without any sense of progress
Where no heart can beat
Feeling cut off from reality and a lack of human connection
Machinery's burning
Technology and progress are overpowering and overwhelming
The metal rains pour
The strength and influence of machines and progress are strong
Pour
The machines and technology are overpowering and constant
Raining
The sounds and sensations of machinery cannot be escaped
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BRIAN MCGEE, MICHAEL JOSEPH MACNEIL, DEREK FORBES, JAMES KERR, CHARLES BURCHILL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind