Rise (Public Image Ltd song)

1986 single by Public Image Ltd

"Rise"

Single by Public Image Ltd
from the album  Album
A-side| "Rise"
B-side| "Rise (Instrumental)"
Released| 20 January 1986
Studio| Power Station (New York City)
Genre| Alternative rock
Length| 6:05 (album version)
4:27 (7" edit)
Label| Virgin VS 841
Songwriter(s)|

* John Lydon
* Bill Laswell

Producer(s)|

* John Lydon
* Bill Laswell

Public Image Ltd singles chronology
| "Bad Life"
(1984)  | "Rise"
(1986)  | "Home"
(1986)

|
|

Alternative cover

12" cover

"Rise" is a song by the English post-punk band Public Image Ltd, released as a single on 20 January 1986 by Virgin Records.[1] It was the first single from Album, their fifth studio album.

The song was written by John Lydon and Bill Laswell about apartheid in South Africa, specifically about Nelson Mandela as Lydon stated in a 2013 Glastonbury interview.[2] Lydon also referred to alleged Royal Ulster Constabulary interrogation techniques, such as electric torture, in an MTV interview in 1987.[3] It was one of the group's biggest commercial hits, peaking at #11 on the UK Singles Chart. The song contains the phrase 'may the road rise with you', which is a direct translation of the old Irish blessing "go n-éirí an bóthar leat" (usually translated as "may the road rise up to meet you"). The phrase "anger is an energy" became the title of Lydon's 2014 autobiography.

## Recording

[edit]

Contributors on the song include Steve Vai on guitar, Tony Williams on drums, Bill Laswell on fretless bass, and L. Shankar on violin.[citation needed]

Tom Doyle of Sound on Sound said: "[Sound engineer Jason Cosaro] ...set Williams up at the bottom of The Power Station’s elevator shaft, both close- and distance-miking the kit to create the distinctive drum sound on "Rise" in particular: Shure SM58 on the snare, Sennheiser MD 421s on the toms and Neumann U47 FETs for the ambience." Bill Laswell recalled: “Myself and [guitarist] Nicky [Skopelitis] played in the control room... and everything was a first take. We were using the Fairlight [CMI] computer as a kind of click track, and on the piece that became "Rise", Tony dropped a beat and we went back and dropped in this one beat. Otherwise I thought it was cool to be able to say everything was a first take."[4]

## Legacy

[edit]

"Rise" was featured in the films The Rules of Attraction (2002), The Promotion (2008), Remarkable Power (2008), and Body Brokers (2021). It was also played during credits of the seventh episode of the second season of 13 Reasons Why.

Liam Howlett of the Prodigy included it on his instalment of the Back to Mine mix album series.

## Personnel

[edit]

Public Image Ltd

* John Lydon – lead vocals

with:

* Steve Vai – guitar
* Ryuichi Sakamoto – Fairlight CMI
* Bill Laswell – fretless bass
* Tony Williams – drums
* L. Shankar – violin

When it was performed on Top of the Pops (TOTP), Lydon was accompanied by Don Letts of Big Audio Dynamite (BAD), Kevin Armstrong and Hugo Burnham of Gang of Four, amongst others.

## Chart performance

[edit]

Chart (1986)  | Peak
position

|

Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] | 35
Ireland (IRMA)[6] | 10
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[7] | 29
UK Singles (OCC)[8] | 11

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 18.
2. ^ Video on YouTube
3. ^ Video on YouTube
4. ^ "CLASSIC TRACKS: Public Image Ltd 'Rise'". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
5. ^ "Public Image Ltd. – Rise" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
6. ^ "The Irish Charts – All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
7. ^ "Public Image Ltd. – Rise". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
8. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2014.

## External links

[edit]

* "Rise" at Discogs (list of releases)

* v
* t
* e

Public Image Ltd

* John Lydon
* Lu Edmonds
* Bruce Smith
* Scott Firth

* Keith Levene
* Jah Wobble
* Jim Walker
* Richard Dudanski
* Karl Burns
* Martin Atkins
* Stella Nova
* Ken Lockie
* John McGeoch
* Jeannette Lee

Studio albums|

* Public Image: First Issue
* Metal Box
* The Flowers of Romance
* Commercial Zone
* This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get
* Album
* Happy?
* 9
* That What Is Not
* This Is PiL
* What the World Needs Now...
* End of World

Live albums|

* Paris au Printemps
* Live in Tokyo

Compilation albums|

* The Greatest Hits, So Far
* Plastic Box

Singles|

* "Public Image"
* "Death Disco"
* "Memories"
* "Flowers of Romance"
* "This Is Not a Love Song"
* "Bad Life"
* "Rise"
* "Disappointed"

Related articles|

* Members
* Discography
* Sex Pistols
* The Clash
* The Damage Manual
* Cowboys International
* The Flowers of Romance

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work
* 2

|

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