"Life on Your Own" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by The Human League | ||||
from the album Hysteria | ||||
Released | 18 June 1984 | |||
Format | 7" single, 12" single | |||
Recorded | 1984 | |||
Genre | Synthpop, new wave | |||
Length | 4.09 | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Writer(s) | Philip Oakey, Jo Callis and Philip Adrian Wright | |||
Producer(s) | Chris Thomas and Hugh Padgham | |||
The Human League singles chronology | ||||
|
"Life on Your Own" is a song by the British synthpop group The Human League. Written jointly by lead singer Philip Oakey, Keyboard players Jo Callis and Adrian Wright, it was recorded at AIR Studios between 1983-1984. Originally an album track on Hysteria, it was then released as a single in the UK.
The song was conceived, written and recorded at a time when the band were under considerable pressure to provide Virgin Records with a follow up album to equal the enormous international success of Dare. The band had taken up residence in the £1000 a day Air Studios; they were there a full year and were agonizing (and arguing) over every note of every track. Dare producer Martin Rushent had already quit because of the rows and indecision causing further delays. Nick Heyward of Haircut One Hundred famously mocked the Human League in the media for taking the same time to program one drum machine as it took him to record his entire album at Air. The drum machine in question was the LinnDrum and it was being programmed for the track "Life on Your Own", a task that took two months.
"Life on Your Own" is heavily drum machine and synthesizer led and is a return to the sound of the Human League pre-"Don't You Want Me" era. The overall sound is intentionally slow, downbeat and deliberately melancholy. It was released as a single in June 1984, and become a hit by getting in to the UK top 20, reaching number 16. The lyrics were deemed "depressing" and starting with the line "Winter is approaching, there is snow upon the ground", it didn’t sit well with the 'happy' summer holiday records it was on sale next to. Despite this, the tune of the song is fairly upbeat in contrast to the melancholy of the lyrics. It remained in the UK charts for a further six weeks. Critically it was better appreciated and NME said "Life on Your Own" was one of Hysteria's best moments"