"Sadeness (Part I)" is a song by German musical project Enigma, released in October 1990 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

as the lead single from their first album, '' MCMXC a.D.'' (1990). It was written by

Michael Cretu Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu began ...

, Fabrice Cuitad and

Frank Peterson Frank Peterson (born 20 December 1963) is a German music producer known for his work with Enigma and artists such as Sarah Brightman, Ofra Haza, Gregorian, Princessa, and Andrea Bocelli on his first international album, ''Romanza''. Peterso ...

, and produced by the latter. The song features French lyrics whispered by Cretu's then-wife, Sandra and became an international hit, reaching number one in 14 countries. In the United States, it peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number one on both the Dance Club Play and 12-inch Singles Sales charts. Its music video was directed by Michel Guimbard, featuring a

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

dreaming of wandering into ''

The Gates of Hell ''The Gates of Hell'' () is a monumental bronze sculptural group work by French artist Auguste Rodin that depicts a scene from the '' Inferno'', the first section of Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy''. It stands at 6 metres high, 4&nb ...

''. A sequel to the song, "Sadeness (Part II)" featuring

Anggun Anggun Cipta Sasmi (; (born 29 April 1974), known mononymously as Anggun, is an Indonesian-French singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born in Jakarta, she began performing at the age of seven and recorded a children's album two yea ...

, was released on Enigma's eighth studio album, '' The Fall of a Rebel Angel'' (2016).

History

"Sadeness" was written by

(under the pseudonym Curly M.C.),

(under the pseudonym F. Gregorian), and Fabrice Cuitad (under the pseudonym David Fairstein). The song was named "Sadeness (Part I)" on its single release in Germany, and "Sadness Part I" on its single release in the United Kingdom and Japan. It is a sensual track based around "questioning" the sexual desires of

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

; hence the German release name of "Sadeness", as opposed to the English word of "

Sadness Sadness is an emotional pain associated with, or characterized by, feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment and sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw the ...

" used in the UK release. The track reached number-one faster than any new release in German history - before its video clip had even been finished. The record company Virgin had done virtually no promotion on the song. Sales took off purely on the strength of radio and club play. In the 2017 book ''Stars of 90's Dance Pop: 29 Hitmakers Discuss Their Careers'' by James Arena, producer

recalled: "Well, we finished the song, and we were in total awe of ourselves. Michael's manager, who also managed Sandra, came out to

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

with us for a weekend, and we played him the track. He was sitting there listening and said, "That's very heavy going. You'll never get that on radio." We started thinking, "Oh shit." An hour later, our contact at

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

tells us his secretary and other people at the office are fucking amazed by the song. He said he didn't get it, but everyone else seemed to love it. So pretty quickly the song came out."

Music

The track makes use of the following: * Gregorian vocals mostly

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

from the 1977 album '' Paschale Mysterium'' by the German choir Capella Antiqua München with conductor Konrad Ruhland. Particularly prominent is music from " Procedamus in pace!", an

antiphon An antiphon ( Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are usually taken from the Psalms or Scripture, but may also be freely compo ...

which is the second track on the album. The vocals were at first used without permission; a lawsuit followed in 1994 and was settled by compensation. *Part of the drum beat is sampled from

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

's song " Funky President (People It's Bad)". *The track's main drum beat is sampled from

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

's 1989 song " Keep on Movin'" *French lyrics whispered by Cretu's then-wife, Sandra, who at the time of Enigma's formation had already hit singles as a solo artist.

Critical reception

Ned Raggett from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

commented, "Snippets of

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s invoking the Almighty effortlessly glide in and out of a polite but still strong

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

, shimmering, atmospheric synth and flute lines and a Frenchwoman whispering in a way that sounds distinctly more carnal than spiritual (as her gasps for breath elsewhere make clear)." Keith Clark from ''

Bay Area Reporter The ''Bay Area Reporter'' is a free weekly LGBT newspaper serving the LGBT communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the largest-circulation LGBT newspapers in the United States, and the country's oldest continuously published ne ...

'' called the song "suggestive".

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described it as "brilliant and quirky", remarking that "it is currently the fastest-selling single in German recording history." He added that it "has already raised the ire of religious groups for its use of traditional

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

s within the context of orgasmic groaning and a

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

groove." Leah Greenblatt from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' described it as a "incense trance". Irish ''

Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...

'' called it "one of the most seductive

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

records of the past couple of years". Swedish ''

Expressen (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden. Describing itself as independent liberal, was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or " to your rescue". The newspaper awards the cultu ...

'' noted that church song are used "as a very reliable vocal generator". Dave Sholin from the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' wrote, "Listeners may not have a clue what it's about, but the mood created by this totally unique production will keep 'em glued and wanting more. Not only have the Germans demolished the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, they had the good sense to make this a number one "sod - as in (Marquis De Sade) ness." A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' described it as "chanting monks and a sensual muttering rolling over a hypnotically rolling slow beat". Ian Cranna from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' noted the "atmospheric lines" of the song in his review, adding that it's "combining medieval monks' chants and wispy, wistful synthesiser driftings over hippety-hoppety beats." Bob Mack from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' called it "the Dark Ages

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

cut". He added that "the track starts with a standard call and response—but it's one of monks doing Gregorian chants. After the beats kick in, synth washes buoy the flute flourishes, while French spoken words and heavy female panting get the point across." Kimberly Chrisma from ''

The Stanford Daily ''The Stanford Daily'' is the student-run, independent daily newspaper serving Stanford University. ''The Daily'' is distributed throughout campus and the surrounding community of Palo Alto, California, United States. It has published since the ...

'' felt the result of combining Gregorian chant with "pulsating synthesizers" was "an ambient fantasia that made the heart throb and the mind tingle."

Chart performance

The single reached number-one on the UK Singles Chart on 13 January 1991, as well as in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. It reached the top spot on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

, where it remained at the top for nine weeks. In the United States, the single peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in April 1991. The record sold over 500,000 copies in the US and was certified Gold there. The single has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. It earned a

gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in Australia, Austria, France, the Netherlands and the United States, and a silver record in the United Kingdom. It also earned a

platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

in Germany and Sweden.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Sadeness (Part I)" was directed by Michel Guimbard, and received heavy rotation on

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV as 24-hour music video and entertainment pay television network officially launched on 1 August 1987 as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initia ...

. It shows a

who dreams of wandering among cathedral ruins. He comes up to

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

's ''

''; and as the scribe looks on, he sees a woman (played by French model Kati Tastet) beyond it, who whispers the main lyrics from the song to him. The scribe then opens the gates and, realising what he has done, attempts to flee, but is dragged through the gates. The video ends with the scribe waking up.

Impact and legacy

In July 2013, ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' included "Sadeness (Part I)" in their list of "15 Songs That Gave

Dance Music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

a Good Name", commenting, "We doubt that something like this, with lyrics in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and French that dealt with religion and the sexual desires of

, would fly in today's pop charts, but there's something that was so undeniable about this

new age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

track that it was featured everywhere, from ''

Single White Female ''Single White Female'' is a 1992 American psychological erotic thriller film produced and directed by Barbet Schroeder from a screenplay by Don Roos. It is based on the 1990 novel '' SWF Seeks Same'' by John Lutz. The film stars Bridget Fo ...

'' to ''

Tropic Thunder ''Tropic Thunder'' is a 2008 Satire (film and television), satirical Action comedy, action comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, who wrote the screenplay with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., ...

''." In February 2022, ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' ranked it number four in their list of the top 40 dance tracks from the 90's, praising it as "unique".

Track listings

* 2-track 7-inch single for France # "Sadeness Part I" (Radio Edit) – 4:17 # "Sadeness Part I" (Meditation Mix) – 2:57 * 4-track 12-inch single for Europe #"Sadeness Part I" (Extended Trance Mix) – 4:57 #"Sadeness Part I" (Meditation Mix) – 2:59 #"Sadeness Part I" (Violent US Remix) – 4:57 #"Sadeness Part I" (Radio Edit) – 4:14 * 4-track CD single for the UK # "Sadeness Part I" (Radio Edit) – 4:16 # "Sadeness Part I" (Extended Trance Mix) – 5:04 # "Sadeness Part I" (Meditation Mix) – 3:01 # "Sadeness Part I" (Violent US Remix) – 5:03 * 5-track CD single for the US # "Sadeness Part I" (Violent US Remix) – 5:03 # "Sadeness Part I" (Meditation Mix) – 3:01 # "Sadeness Part I" (Extended Trance Mix) – 5:04 # "Sadeness Part I" (Radio Edit) – 4:17 # "

Introit The Introit () is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and '' Gloria Patri'', which are spoken or sung at the ...

: Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas" – 3:04 * 2-track promotional CD single for Japan # "Sadeness Part I" (Ebi-Kuma Mix) – 4:40 # "Sadeness Part I" (Meditation Mix)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References