Songfacts®:

• This sultry track was conceived by Love And Rockets guitarist Daniel Ash, who also handled lead vocals. It describes an encounter with a mysterious woman who gives him a rush of passion, making him feel so alive. The song has a real-life inspiration.
  
  "We had the weekend off and I had gone to a party on a Saturday night," Ash told Songfacts. "I saw this woman on the other side of the room at the party and I was completely transfixed. I never went up to her because it wasn't appropriate – I was married at the time. But she had long brown hair, and it was like I'd known her in a different lifetime or something. It was just this thing that hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't stop thinking about her."
• After the English band Bauhaus broke up in 1983, lead singer Peter Murphy launched a solo career, and the other three members formed Love And Rockets. "So Alive" is by far their most popular song, reaching #3 in America, where it also topped the Modern Rock Chart. Their only other Hot 100 entry was "No Big Deal," which reached #82.
• Many seductive songs mention the girl's eye color, but Daniel Ash never got close enough to see what color they were. That explains the opening line:
  
  I don't know what color your eyes are, baby
  But your hair is long and brown
• The Bauhaus classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead" was famously recorded in one take, with the song forming very quickly. "So Alive" was similar in that it happened in a flash.
  
  The Monday after he saw the girl at the party, Daniel Ash joined his bandmates David J (bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums) in the studio. He had just the opening line and two chords, so he went to the basement to finish the track, which took him about an hour. The band was planning to record one of David J's songs, but they put that on hold for "So Alive," which they recorded that day. All three members share songwriting credit on the track.
  
  "It was a very magical day," Ash said in his Songfacts interview. "I wish that would happen more often. But I went up and played it, and just like "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Kevin started playing the beat and David followed along with the bassline he came up with. We recorded the whole thing that day, got the backing singers in the following day, and it was all done in 24 hours."
• Love And Rockets didn't typically use backup singers, but they wanted a "Walk On The Wild Side" vibe for "So Alive," so they brought in the trio of Lorna Wright, Sylvia Mason-James, Ruby James to "do do" the backing vocals.
• The video was directed by Howard Greenhalgh, who went on to do Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" and Iron Maiden's "Wildest Dreams."
• Some listeners interpreted this song to be about drugs, with the singer feeling "so alive" when he's high. It's actually the woman making him feel alive, although it makes him crazy that he can't have her:
  
  Wish I could stop
  Switch off the clock
  Make it all happen for you