Can't See Me

Down by the river side
I waited there for you
Take you back in time
You're in suspension, hey I caught you
You cannot hide, it's all inside, easy
She knows you can't see me

Yes Mr Miser, Mr, Mr Mystery she's saying to me
Saying he can't see ya, he can't free ya
He can't be ya
He just wanna be ya
He needs a dealer as a healer

I I I've seen that expression on your face
I I I could have sent you to that place
Expression can't see me

Yes, I'm reminded of those days
Take you back in time, it's all inside
Here comes the reason to my rhyme
The man used to fly, he used to fly easy
But now you can't see me

I know mine, mine know me
I can sail upon your sea
I can sail upon your sea so easy
She knows you can't see me

I I I've seen that expression on your face
I I I could have sent you to that place
I know you can't see me
I know you can't see me

I I I've seen that expression on your face
I I I could have sent you to that place
Expression can't see me

Lyrics by:
Brown / Mounfield

Format:
Released 1998:
Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Mix) / Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) / Can't See Me (Harvey Mix) (Polydor, Promo cassette)
Can't See Me (Polydor, Promo video)

Released June 1998:
Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) / Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) / Can't See Me (Harvey's Invisible Mix) (Polydor, CAN'T SEE 1, Promo CD)
Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) / Can't See Me (Harvey's Invisible Mix) / Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) / Can't See Me (Album Version) (Polydor, CAN'T SEE 2, Promo 12")
Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) / Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) / Can't See Me (Harvey's Invisible Mix) / Can't See Me (Harvey's Instrumental Mix) / Under The Paving Stones: The Beach (Gabriel's 13th Dream Remix) (Polydor, 567 093-1, 12")

Released 8th June 1998:
Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) / Can't See Me (Harvey's Invisible Mix) / Come Again (Part 2) / My Star (CD-ROM Video) (Polydor, 044 045-2, CD1)
Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) / Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) / Under The Paving Stones: The Beach (Gabriel's 13th Dream Mix) / Corpses (CD-ROM Video) (Polydor, 044 047-2, CD2)
Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Remix) / Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) (Polydor, 567 092-7, 7")

UK chart position:
#21

Also available on:
Unfinished Monkey Business (4.09)
Remixes / B-Side Tracks: 1. Can't See Me (Harvey's Invisible Mix) / 2. Can't See Me (Bacon & Quarmby Vocal Dub) / 3. Lions (With Denise) / 4. Under The Paving Stones: The Beach (Gabriel's 13th Dream Remix) / 5. Jesus On The Move (Polydor, POCP 7357, Japanese CD, released 12th January 1998)

Details:
The standout track on Unfinished Monkey Business. The guitar solo which kicks in after three minutes is played by Brown on the same pink Stratocaster that Squire had used for I Am The Resurrection. Brown's guitar piece is very creditable but one can only wonder how even better Can’t See Me could have been with some licks from Squire thrown over the top a la Fools Gold. Brown also plays bass guitar, with Mani playing the melody lead bass. The bass line is very close to Gang Starr's 'Just To Get A Rep' (from the 1991 album, 'Step in the Arena'), which DJ Premier sampled from E.V.A. by Jean Jacques Perrey. While Reni is credited as playing drums, it is instead actually a breakbeat sampled by Mani:

"It came from Mani sitting down with his portastudio and coming up with a bassline, but we only found out last week that Reni doesn't actually play on it - it's a breakbeat Mani sampled. I thought it was a sample Reni took from the studio that Mani played to, but it was actually a breakbeat.
"I've got a big pillowcase of tapes at home of Roses live shows and rehearsals and stuff, and I was just going through them one day and I found this bassline and remembered it. So I phoned him up, said, 'Can I put some lyrics over this for my record ?' and he said, 'Course you can'."
(Ian Brown, Making Music interview, June 1998)

A trustworthy visitor to this site informs me that this track refers to an incident when Brown saw Squire in a village in Hale, not long after the split of the band. According to this story, Brown waved to Squire, but Squire hid behind a newspaper and would not acknowledge him:

You're in suspension, hey I caught you
You cannot hide, it's all inside, easy

The lyric "I know mine, mine know me" originates from the Bible, from 'The Shepherd and His Flock' (John 10: 1 - 21):

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

At these words the Jews were again divided. Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him ?"

But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
(John 10: 14 - 21)

On the Top Of The Pops performance of this track, Brown mis-times one of his lines, coming in too early at one point. I think his concentration may have been affected by a Union Jack being waved in the audience - it is to his right as he looks out at the crowd. Brown has always vehemently protested against the presence of the Union Jack at gigs (see for example, the Reading '96 video). His view of the flag had changed completely since his youth - a fifteen year old Ian Brown had a Union Jack tattooed on his arm. Asked in 1989 to explain his reason for this, he replied "Fifteen, pissed and foolish."

The Can't See Me video opens with Ian Brown jumping into a pool and subsequently swimming to safety; when asked about his relationship with John Squire, Ian often uses the analogy that Squire - upon abruptly leaving the band - effectively "left (me) to sink or swim" (The Guardian, Friday 23rd September 2005) ... "He left me to drown but I ended up doing the butterfly." (Manchester Evening News, 1st August 2007). This track, as I have established earlier, is an attack on John Squire and thus the opening of this video can perhaps be interpreted as being symbolic of Ian's resurgence in music, after the Roses had sunk.

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