[B210] ‘Lady Lazarus’

Released on: Indian Summer (Single #36), Columbia Records, October 7 2007

Described in Wire’s note to fans as “an ode to all the great female poets”, ‘Lady Lazarus’ is named for a poem by Sylvia Plath and written during the “extraordinarily productive last week of October” 1962. Plath had been referenced before on [T85] ‘The Girl Who Wanted to be God’. This particular poem’s effect is eerie, in part because it references the poet’s 1953 suicide attempt; her next one, months after the poem’s writing, would be successful.

Relative to this, ‘Lady Lazarus’ the song is much more positive, having the acoustic guitar-based, jangling sound of the C86 bands, to which Wire also refers in his note. Wire takes lead vocals, while Bradfield briefly sings in support him.

Unusually for a B-side, ‘Lady Lazarus’ begins with a sample – Carol Ann Duffy reading a part of her poem ‘Words, Wide Night’.

Choice Lyric (Full Lyrics at MSPpedia)
“Keep those demons at bay”