Kiss of Life

Album: Single Release Only (2009)
Charted: 30
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Frontman Ed Macfarlane told the NME June 27th 2009 that this song is inspired by Brazilian music. He explained: "All the rhythms are traditional samba rhythms. All our brass layers from our recent tour drum for the London School Of Samba, so they've been giving us some ideas."
  • Friendly Fires worked on the song with British producer Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Kate Nash). The trio had worked with Epworth before, including on their previous single "Jump in the Pool." However previously their collaborations didn't go, er, swimmingly. Macfarlane admitted to the NME: "We did work with Paul before that and it was a disaster. But we've come round to the idea that maybe producers do have a purpose. When we worked with him in his own little box room studio it worked, whereas when you're flung together in some high-class studio it's quite awkward."
  • Macfarlane had the idea to sample and loop samba drums while hanging out at London's Brazilian club Guanabara. He enthused to The Guardian August 22, 2009: "There's nothing like hearing a huge troupe of drummers playing this massive rhythm, surrounded by beautiful dancing girls in amazing attire and everyone screaming their heads off," he enthuses. "It's dance music at its most exciting and energetic. It had the atmosphere of the best techno raves."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)Song Writing

How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Howard Jones

Howard JonesSongwriter Interviews

Howard explains his positive songwriting method and how uplifting songs can carry a deeper message.

Don Felder

Don FelderSongwriter Interviews

Don breaks down "Hotel California" and other songs he wrote as a member of the Eagles. Now we know where the "warm smell of colitas" came from.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.