"Tell Me When" | ||||||||||
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File:Tellmewhencover.jpg | ||||||||||
Single by The Human League | ||||||||||
from the album Octopus | ||||||||||
Released | 27 December 1994 | |||||||||
Format | 7" single, 12" single, 2 x CD single | |||||||||
Recorded | 1994 | |||||||||
Genre | Synthpop | |||||||||
Length | 3.58 | |||||||||
Label | EastWest | |||||||||
Writer(s) | Philip Oakey Paul Christopher Beckett |
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Producer | Ian Stanley | |||||||||
The Human League singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Tell Me When" is a song by the British synthpop group The Human League. Written jointly by lead singer Philip Oakey and Paul C. Beckett, it was recorded at 'Human League Studios', Sheffield in 1994. The single and the Octopus album were produced by Ian Stanley (formerly of Tears for Fears).
"Tell Me When" was the first Human League single to be released from Octopus and was issued in advance of the album. It was released on 27 December 1994 (but is considered a 1995 single). It became the Human League's most commercially successful single in nine years and reintroduced the band to many of the British general public. It peaked at number six in the UK Singles Chart in early 1995 spending a total of nine weeks in the chart. It was also released in the U.S. peaking at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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The song was originally written and a demo version recorded for Virgin Records in 1991, who instantly rejected it. It then became the first release by the band under their new label EastWest, who had signed the Human League after their dismissal by Virgin in 1992. As it was the first commercial release in the UK by the band for four years it is often incorrectly described as a comeback as many people erroneously believed the band had disbanded in 1990. Band principal Philip Oakey takes issue with this description and will point out in interviews that the band has never stopped recording and performing since its formation in 1977[1] The band had collaborated with Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra prior to signing with EastWest. [2]
EastWest Records wanted to showcase their new headline signing and they announced the release of Octopus in a high profile publicity campaign. Also for the band's first release under them, they financed a very elaborate and expensive promotional music video shot entirely on location in Prague, Czech Republic. Unlike the Human League videos of the early 1980s this time there is no storyline. Instead Oakey, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall are seen in a series of shots of them walking around various Prague landmarks. The other main scene is of Susan Sulley being driven around the Prague streets in a vintage Czech TATRA T2-603 car dressed in a white faux fur coat and hat. Scenes of Oakey were filmed in reverse so he appears to be walking forward with everyone else on the Prague streets walking backwards. At the time the video was described as having the best cinematography of any Human League video since "Don't You Want Me" in 1981.[3]
These versions (*) are identical to the UK mixes.
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Plavka is an American singer of Croatian and Peruvian origin who lives in Los Angeles. She is best known for being the singer of the German trance act Jam & Spoon, whose classically-infused trance sound dominated the international charts in the mid 1990s, as well as for her previous stint with The Shamen.
The Californian-born Plavka is the daughter of a Peruvian mother and Croatian father. At age 21 she moved to London, where she was lead-singer for the seminal British acid-house band the Shamen. She sang on the group's first hit, "Hyperreal". They toured UK and Europe with their traveling show, "Synergy", and recorded a John Peel session in the UK. In 1991, the Shamen with Plavka were covered by UK's Face magazine to take rave to Russia, touring as far as Siberia.
Plavka was then poached by the management of Jam & Spoon to be their singer. Their first single, "Right in the Night", went Top 10 in the UK and they performed on the legendary UK show Top of the Pops. Plavka also song on Jam & Spoon's hits "Find Me (Odyssey to Anyoona)" and "Angel" and on their album Kaleidoscope Skies. The single, "Kaleidoscope Skies", was the first single off the album and made the Top 20 in several European territories. She also performed Jam & Spoon's final single "Butterfly Sign" at the New Pop Festival in Germany.
Trust in me now
All the words that I hear
How can I doubt?
When it sounds so sincere
I've never asked for anything
And yet I'm asking for you my love
Times you would say
There were things to amend
All else aside
Baby you're my best friend
I'm giving all I got to give
Baby, ready or not, I'm yours
Chorus
I'm giving the world to you
There's nothing more that I can do
I don't need nobody else
I'll give it all... Tell me when
Last night I had you on the phone
Thinking about you, maybe you weren't alone
I'm living in a lover's dream
But I've built up my confidence
I'm giving the world to you
There's nothing more that I can do
I don't want nobody else
I'll give it all... Just tell me when
Just one more try and I
Will show you how much I'm reelin' for your love
One more chance, I know I'll get it right
Baby I can do it
Cos' it's all for love
I'm giving the world to you
There's nothing more that I can do
I don't need nobody else
I'll give it all... Tell me when
Give me one more chance now
Cos' you're always on my mind babe
Give me one more chance girl
Cos you know you're on my mind baby