Lyrics of “Lord Give Me a Sign”Īs revealed in the first verse, the vocalist acknowledges that the “pain and… hurt” which have been a part and parcel of his existence are still present, with no signs of dissipating. And on top of that he doesn’t really feel he has anyone to talk to, which would be one of the reasons why he is resorting to prayer.īut other rappers, such as Tupac for example, have expressed similar sentiments in song. Yet what makes this track really unique is its overt-Christian tone – more so than most of the songs even dropped by actual Christian artists.ĭMX refers to “ the name of Jesus” in a manner in which it is used throughout the New Testament, as a miraculous appellation which has the power to ‘rebuke the Devil’ for instance. And the reason he’s calling upon Jesus is to intervene in his own life. prayer) with God.Īnother subtheme throughout his career has been his inner struggles. Thus when X does converse with a Higher Power, it’s usually along the lines of the rapper looking for some type of relief from the conflicts within. And such is the case with “Lord Give Me a Sign”. He plays Eventim Apollo, London, on 18 and 19 July.And such was apparently the case with the late DMX. That would apparently be why in-between tracks about blowing opps to smithereens and bonking females he would drop songs like this (“Lord Give Me a Sign”) which, as noted in a later section of this article, he’s actually been doing since day one.Īnd when we say “like this” we mean tunes whose lyrics are themed on him having a humbling conversation (i.e. George Benson’s new album Walking to New Orleans is out now via Provogue. Great people, brilliant music, and an all-time classic. Eventually, Rod said: “You may have a Piaget but I’ve got all these” and he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a whole armful of cheap Timex watches. George was a dandy, and enjoyed flashing these $50,000 Piaget watches, while Rod would look at him and roll his eyes. He once came into the studio in a tiger onesie complete with a tail and said: “Right let’s go!” He was quietly writing amazing pop music, while his persona was like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers. Meanwhile, Rod would sit on the side smoking, constantly, giving this dry, magnificent, wisecracking narrative.
Nobody yelled at each other but there was tension, because he wouldn’t always do what Quincy told him to. George was under pressure to have a crossover hit. Then engineer Bruce Swedien created a sound nobody had heard before, using synthesisers, which were new then. Quincy made small but crucial changes, the master tweaker. Rod heard entire productions in his head – his demo versions were finished songs. Rod sang the melody to me in his horrible voice: “Patti, go ‘Dibby dabba dabba dabby whoo whoo.’” And I had to interpret it. You have to be able to walk in, sight-read and make whatever product the jingle is plugging sound orgasmic. When I went in to the studio the tracks were already recorded. We’d all worked together on Off the Wall, and by the time we got to George we were on fire. But his chord changes are insanely sophisticated, constructed through sheer tenacity and genius. He would hear a chord in his head and play each note individually.
He could not read music and could barely play the piano. Songwriting was a storytelling process Rod had down to a science.
The song is about the club scene – they immersed themselves in it. Everyone thought they were just being playboys, but they were doing research, listening to tempos. Before we started the Give Me the Night sessions, Quincy and Rod would go out clubbing. You just know when something is going to be gigantic. I had the same feeling about Give Me the Night as when I did my first backing session, on James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World, and heard the strings against his sandpaper vocals. Photograph: ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images ‘You just know when something is going to be gigantic’.
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