"Ieya" is a song by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 ...

. It was first released as a single in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

Safari Records Safari Records was a British independent record label based in London, England, and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards (former co-manager of Deep Purple), Andreas Budde (the son of German mu ...

to promote the album ''

The Blue Meaning ''The Blue Meaning'' is the second studio album by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released in 1980 by Safari Records. It reached the Top 40 on the UK Albums Chart. Background The album was recorded at the Parkgate ...

''. It was re-recorded and re-issued in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, and met with minor chart success in the UK.

Background

"Ieya" started off as a

jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

in the soundcheck before the band's concert in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, where it was subsequently performed as the fourth encore that night. Toyah recalled that the band "walked on stage and started 'Ieya', and within the first sixteen bars the audience was behaving in a way I'd never seen before. And because 'Ieya' had no real form, we'd only ever jammed it, what should have been a four-minute song went on for twenty minutes, and the audience didn't stop dancing once, and I just kept making up words as I went along. (...) It was a sequence of chords that grew, so every verse had more chords added to it, and it had a fantastically simple chorus, a chant". The song was written by

Joel Bogen Joel Bogen (born 3 September 1958) is an English rock and punk guitarist. He worked with Toyah Willcox from the late 1970s to 1983 as the guitar player in her eponymous band and was the co-writer on nearly all of the material they recorded. B ...

and Peter Bush, and produced by Steve James and Willcox. According to the singer, it "is about mankind believing in ourselves so much that we believe we are immortal and can become our own gods, therefore challenging

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

as the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

, in the form of the Devil; man being the beast". She later added that it is about "mankind meeting (...) the higher intelligence that put us here", referring to

panspermia Panspermia () is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids, as well as by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms,Forward planetary c ...

and the

ancient astronauts Ancient astronauts (or ancient aliens) refers to a Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific set of beliefs that hold that Extraterrestrial intelligence, intelligent Extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial beings (alien astronauts) visited Earth and m ...

theory, while the title itself came about by using syllables as a way of expression and the voice as an improvisational instrument. The song's lyrics refer to the ''

Necronomicon The ''Necronomicon'', also referred to as the ''Book of the Dead'', or under a purported original Arabic title of ', is a fictional grimoire (textbook of magic) appearing in stories by the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. ...

'', a book that Willcox had been given a year before, and which contains images mirroring her past

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

experiences. When the band started recording the song, Willcox recalled, it "turned out to be seven minutes long, which is longer than any average song. But the atmosphere in the studio became terrifying. Just like when ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

'' was made, things started going wrong. Technical equipment wouldn't work, arguments would start out of nowhere, distrust would enter the studio, and I had a severe problem with writing seven minutes' worth of lyrics in what was a repetitive song. It took days for me to record the vocals. It was a multi-layered song, and the chorus had many voices – all mine. But doing the verses was murder. I hadn't quite learned by this time that the simpler I kept the subject matter and the simpler I kept the phrasing and the words, the more effective the song would be. I always wanted to make things over-complex to try and prove myself". The single was released in several formats, including three different 7" vinyl releases, and for the first time in Toyah's career, a 12" single. It was pressed in black and white vinyl variations. Its B-side, "The Helium Song", was an extended version of the track "Spaced Walking", which, along with a full-length version of "Ieya", were included on the band's second LP, ''

''. Both tracks also featured on the 2005 compilation ''The Safari Singles Collection Part 1: 1979–1981''. "Ieya" was re-recorded in 1982 with a largely new set of musicians, in a distinctly " poppier" style, and produced by

Nick Tauber Nick Tauber is a British record producer best known for his work with Thin Lizzy, Toyah and Marillion in the 1970s and 1980s. Nick Tauber continues to manage, produce, and consult with acts/artists/and producers. In the late 1990s, Tauber was inv ...

. It was released as a single in the summer of 1982, again backed with "The Helium Song", but in a different picture sleeve, which featured a close-up of the image from the album cover of ''The Blue Meaning''. The single was again available in white and black vinyl variations, but this time because

allegedly ran out of black vinyl. A shorter edit of the re-recording appeared on promo singles sent to radio stations and used in

jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that plays a user-selected song from a self-contained media library. Traditional jukeboxes contain records, compact discs, or digital files, and allow user ...

es, but not on any commercial single releases. It later featured on the 1984 compilation '' Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! All the Hits'' and a

K-tel K-tel International Ltd is a Canadian company which formerly specialized in selling consumer products through infomercials and live demonstration. Its products include compilation music albums, including ''The Super Hits'' series, ''The Dynamic ...

compilation ''Chart Heat'', which one got free with ''Chart Beat'', or vice versa. The single edit of the re-recording was included on the 1999 CD reissue of '' The Changeling'', while the full length version made its CD debut on the 2005 compilation ''The Safari Singles Collection Part 2: 1981–1983''. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song was considered, filming at a point of

zero gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

and using a

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

to simulate interstellar travel. This was technologically unfeasible at the time, and simulation using

green screen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...

techniques would have been too costly. A video for the song was filmed as part of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''6.55 Special'' in 1982, consisting largely of the band's in-studio performance. Upon its 1982 re-release, "Ieya" was a moderate success in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 48. The song became an ever-present mainstay of Toyah's live sets, and to this day it is rare for Toyah to play a full set and not perform this song, which is always placed at the end of the show. "Ieya" has been re-recorded by Toyah a number of times in her later career: in 1993 on the album ''

Take the Leap! ''Take the Leap!'' is the fifth solo studio album by the British singer Toyah Willcox, first released as ''Leap!'' in 1993 by Pony Canyon. It consists of new tracks as well as re-recordings of older songs from Toyah (band), Toyah the band's repert ...

'', on '' Looking Back'' in 1995, and on '' The Acoustic Album'', again in 1995.

Track listing

;7" single (1980) :A. "Ieya" ''(

, Peter Bush)'' – 5:13 :B. "The Helium Song" ''(Willcox, Bush)'' – 3:36 ;12" single (1980) :A. "Ieya" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Bush)'' – 8:14 :B. "The Helium Song" ''(Willcox, Bush)'' – 3:36 ;7" single (1982) :A. "Ieya" ''(Willcox, Bogen, Bush)'' – 3:40 :B. "The Helium Song" ''(Willcox, Bush)'' – 3:36

Personnel

;1980 version *

– vocals *

– guitar * Mark Henry – bass * Steve Bray – drums * Peter Bush – keyboards ;1982 version * Toyah Willcox – vocals * Joel Bogen – guitar *

Phil Spalding Philip Trevor Spalding (19 November 1957 – 5 February 2023) was an English bass player. He was best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He played and appeared with performing artists such as Mike Oldfiel ...

– bass * Simon Phillips – drums * Simon Darlow – keyboards

Charts

References

External links

The official Toyah website
{{authority control Toyah (band) songs 1980 songs 1980 singles 1982 singles Songs written by Toyah Willcox Songs written by Joel Bogen Safari Records singles