"Human" | ||||
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Single by The Human League | ||||
from the album Crash | ||||
B-side | Extended Instrumental Version | |||
Released | 11 August 1986 | |||
Format | 7" single, 12" single | |||
Recorded | February 1986, Flyte Time Studios in Minneapolis | |||
Genre | Dance,pop,soul | |||
Length | 4:24 (album version) 3:48 (single "fade-out" version) 5:00 (extended version) 5:05 (Original Remixes & Rarities version) |
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Label | A&M, Virgin | |||
Writer(s) |
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Producer(s) | Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis | |||
The Human League singles chronology | ||||
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"Human" is a song recorded by British synthpop band The Human League, and released as the first single from their 1986 album Crash. The track, which deals with the subject of infidelity, was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
In 1985, the recording sessions for the Human League's fifth album were not going well, and the band did not like the results, which was causing internal conflict. Virgin Records executives, worried by the lack of progress from their at-the-time most profitable signing, suggested the band accept an offer to work with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who already had material to work with; and had expressed an interest in the band from their U.S. releases. Jam and Lewis had recently emerged as in-demand talent due to their success with Janet Jackson and her Control album.
Of the ten songs on Crash, Jam and Lewis wrote three, "Human" being one of them. It is a mid-tempo ballad which lyrically is an exchange between a man and a woman in a relationship who have reunited after a separation. In the first two verses Philip Oakey is apologizing to his partner for being unfaithful during her absence, and in the song's breakdown Joanne Catherall's spoken-word confession reveals that she too was unfaithful. The song's title is derived from the chorus, in which both parties in the relationship explain that they are "only human" and "born to make mistakes". The song is a composition in common time with a tempo of 102 beats per minute. It is set in a key of A♭ major, with a chord progression from D♭-E♭-f.