Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

English band

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Stuart Kershaw (drums); McCluskey has been the only constant member. Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming central figures in the late 1970s/early 1980s emergence of synth-pop.

OMD performing at The Summer Pops at Aintree Pavillion, Liverpool
OMD at the Corona Capital in 2011 (left Andy McCluskey, right Paul Humphreys)

Song lyrics edit

All songs were written by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, except where noted.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark(1980) edit

  • Our one source of energy:
    Electricity.
    All we need to live today,
    A gift for man to throw away.
    The chance to change has nearly gone,
    The alternative is only one.
    The final source of energy:
    Solar electricity.

Organisation (1980) edit

  • Enola Gay, is mother proud of little boy today?
    Ah-ha, this kiss you give, it's never ever gonna fade away.
  • The more I see you,
    The more I want you.
    Somehow this feeling
    Just grows and grows.
    With every sigh I become
    More mad about you,
    More lost without you.
    And so it goes.

Architecture & Morality (1981) edit

  • It's my direction, it's my proposal.
    It's so hard it's leading me astray.
    My obsession, it's my creation.
    You'll understand it's not important now.
    • "Souvenir", written by Paul Humphreys and Martin Cooper
  • I gave her everything that I ever owned
    I think she understood but she never spoke
    She should have not tried to be that way
    She shouldn't have to go there ever again
    Without me
    Without me.
  • If Joan of Arc had a heart,
    Would she give it as a gift?
    To such as me who longs to see
    How an angel
    Ought to be.

Dazzle Ships (1983) edit

  • These are the little children,
    The future in our hands.
    When all God's children on this Earth
    Inherit all our plans,
    These are the lies they tell us.
    But this is the only way,
    When all God's children on the Earth,
    Will ever more be saved.
  • I've got a telegraph
    In my hand.
    Words on paper
    Written in sand.

Junk Culture (1984) edit

  • Tes-tes-t-t-t-t-tes
    Tesla girls, Tesla girls
    Testing out theories,
    Electric chairs and dynamos.
    Dressed to kill, they're killing me,
    But heaven knows their recipe.
  • Crossing every ocean for the sake of Locomotion
    Crossing every ocean for the sake of Locomotion.

    Across every ocean,
    For the sake of Locomotion.
    But I wouldn't have a notion
    How to save my soul.
    I walk down the sidewalk,
    Run down the boardwalk,
    Stop and make small talk,
    But I can't say no to you.

    • "Locomotion", written by Humphreys, McCluskey, and Gordian Troeller
  • Talking loud and clear,
    Saying just what we feel.
    Lying in the grass
    With the sun on our backs
    It doesn't really matter
    What we do or what we say
    With every little movement
    We give ourselves away.

Crush (1985) edit

  • I was so impressed by you,
    I was running blind.
    I would fall for every trick,
    Every twist of mind.

    Heaven is cold
    Without any soul.
    It's hard to believe
    I was so in love with you.

  • I've got a secret and I can't explain.
    All the time I've waited for this day.
    All along I was never in doubt.
    I've always knew it would never get out.
    There are things that I cannot tell.
    And there are things that you know damn well.
    This is getting very hard for me.
    I guess you'd better just wait and see.
  • La femme accident,
    A woman full of want.
    Her heart's on the line.
    You haven't got the time.
    She suffers like some Joan of Arc.

The Pacific Age (1986) edit

  • I never wanted another.
    Come over to me and discover
    How I want to be near you
    And you need to be far away
    You always seem to make me feel at home
    Hey you.
  • If there's one thing I know,
    Things are gonna change.
    There's gonna be a different ending,
    Though I'm not one to complain.

    But there's never been a right time.
    And we've never been too far.
    But you're the only single reason I know
    That's holding back my heart.

    • "Shame", written by Humphreys, McCluskey, Weir, Weir
  • We've got to get a message to the stars above
    Like radios in heaven hearing just enough
    And every single teardrop along the way
    We put them in our pockets for a rainy day.

    But here we are in trouble,
    Like we always are.
    Just praying for a miracle
    And reaching for stars.

    • "We Love You", written by Humphreys, McCluskey, Stephen Hague

Pretty in Pink soundtrack (1986) edit

  • If you leave, don't leave now.
    Please don't take my heart away.
    Promise me, just one more night,
    Then we'll go our separate ways.
    We've always had time on our side,
    Now it's fading fast.
    Every second, every moment,
    We've gotta make it last.

    I touch you once, I touch you twice.
    I won't let go at any price.
    I need you now like I needed you then.
    You always said we'd still be friends someday.

  • If you leave, I won't cry;
    I won't waste one single day.
    But if you leave, don't look back,
    I'll be running the other way.
    Seven years went under the bridge
    Like time was standing still.
    Heaven knows what happens now.
    You've gotta say you will.
    • "If You Leave"

The Best of OMD (1988) edit

  • If you were born in heaven girl,
    I'd understand so well.
    But ever since I've met you child,
    You've made my life such hell.
    With every day that passes,
    I fall nearer to the ground.
    It seems that I've been looking for
    Something that won't be found.

    I was only dreaming.
    I was only trying to catch your eye.
    I was only wishing you would notice me,
    Instead you said goodbye.

Sugar Tax (1991) edit

  • Sick and tired, and I don't know why
    Skin and bone won't touch the sky
    Sex and lies can't bring me down
    Because I've sold my soul all over town
    And I'm so in awe of you
    That I don't know what to do.
    And I'm sailing on the seven seas so blue.
  • And all the stars you kissed
    Could never ease the pain.
    Still the grace remains.
    And though the face has changed,
    You're still the same.

    And it's a long long way
    From where you want to be.
    And it's a long long way,
    But you're too blind to see.

  • So many things I do, so many things I say
    Give you the wrong idea.
    So many things I do, so many things I say
    Just make a fool of me.
    Then you turn away.
    Then you turn away.
  • I've seen a new sensation,
    I heard you call in pain.
    But running round in circles
    Won't make it right again.

    The telephone keeps ringing.
    Your head is in the sand.
    The future is unfolding,
    But it's not what you had planned.

Liberator (1993) edit

  • We always stick together
    Like we're something made of glue.
    And justify the passion,
    Saying one is more than two.

    But if you don't believe the words,
    They're surely to come true.
    There's one thing that's so obvious,
    But it's something you won't do.

    Because you stand above me
    But I know you don't.
    You say you love me,
    But I know you won't.

  • Everyday,
    I'm on my knees to pray.
    Since I kissed you once
    And I held you once,
    Things have never been the same.

    And I've tried,
    God knows I've tried,
    But there's nothing left
    In the world today
    That's making sense in any way.

    • "Everyday", written by McCluskey, Humphreys, Kershaw

Universal (1996) edit

  • It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white
    Or the god that you choose to pray to.
    It doesn’t matter about the clothes you wear
    Or which creator made you.
    We all bleed the same blood,
    We all need the same love,
    And when we die there’s no heaven above.
    It’s Universal, It’s Universal.
  • When I was only seventeen,
    My head was full of brilliant dreams.
    My heart would call and I would gladly go
    At twenty one the world was mine
    And I was yours and you're divine.
    And nothing else would matter to us so
    I don't believe in destiny,
    I don't believe in love,
    I don't believe that anything will ever be enough...

External links edit

 
Wikipedia