I Am The Resurrection

Down, down you bring me down
I hear you knocking on my door
And I can't sleep at night
Your face it has no place
No room for you inside my house
I need to be alone

Don't waste your words
I don't need anything from you
I don't care where you've been
Or what you plan to do

Turn, turn, I wish you'd learn
There's a time and place for everything
I've got to get it through
Cut loose, 'cause you're no use
I couldn't stand another second
In your company

Don't waste your words
I don't need anything from you
I don't care where you've been
Or what you plan to do

Stone me, why can't you see
You're a no-one, nowhere washed up baby who'd look better dead
You're tongue is far too long
I don't like the way it sucks and slurs
Upon my every word

Don't waste your words
I don't need anything from you
I don't care where you've been
Or what you plan to do

I am the resurrection and I am the light
I couldn't ever bring myself
To hate you as I'd like

I am the resurrection and I am the light
I couldn't ever bring myself
To hate you as I'd like

Lyrics by:
Squire / Brown

Music by:
Squire

Written:
1988

Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums, backing vocals)

Producer:
John Leckie

Engineer:
Paul Schroeder

Format:
Released April 1992:
I Am The Resurrection (Pan And Scan Radio Version) / I Am The Resurrection (Highly Resurrected Dub) (Silvertone, ORE 40, 7")
I Am The Resurrection (Extended 16:9 Ratio Club Mix) / I Am The Resurrection (Original LP Version) / Fool's Gold (Bottom Won Mix) (Silvertone, ORE T 40, 12", some with colour print of cover artwork)
I Am The Resurrection (Pan And Scan Radio Version) / I Am The Resurrection (5:3 Stoned Out Club Mix) / I Am The Resurrection (Original LP Version) / Fool's Gold (Bottom Won Mix) (Silvertone, ORE CD 40, CD)
I Am The Resurrection (Pan And Scan Radio Version) / I Am The Resurrection (Highly Resurrected Dub) (Silvertone, ORE C 40, cassette)

Released June 1992:
I Am The Resurrection (Pan And Scan Radio Version) / I Am The Resurrection (5:3 Stoned Out Club Mix) / I Am The Resurrection (Original LP Version) / Fool's Gold (Bottom Won Mix) (Alfa-Silvertone, ALCB-545, CD from Japanese Singles Collection boxset)

UK chart details:
I Am The Resurrection entered the charts on 11th April 1992, spending 2 weeks in the charts and reaching a highest position of 33.

Also available on:
The Stone Roses (8.12)
The Complete Stone Roses (3.41)
The Stone Roses (10th Anniversary Edition) (8.13)
The Very Best Of The Stone Roses (8.13)

First live performance:
In early 1988

Details:
I Am The Resurrection was the Roses' finest hour and their most overt usage of the Bible (While this is 'the Resurrection song', one should point out that the Resurrection of Jesus, the epicentre of Christian belief, is a theme investigated repeatedly by the Roses. See Going Down, She Bangs The Drums and Waterfall among other tracks). The powerful lyric "I am the resurrection and I am the light" is a slight variation on the line from John's Gospel ("I am the resurrection and the life"), 'Jesus Comforts the Sisters', where Jesus speaks to Martha:

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this ?"
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
(John 11: 17 - 27)

This statement ("I am the resurrection..") by Jesus is close to one He would make later in John's Gospel ("I am the vine..."), which the Roses would also avail of, on Something Burning. Not only the chorus but the verses also of this, track 11 of the debut, are influenced by Chapter 11 of John's Gospel. At the beginning of Chapter 11, 'The Death of Lazarus', when Jesus expressed His wish to go back to Judea to the sick Lazarus, His disciples questioned whether He should go back, considering that the Jews had tried to stone Him there recently:

"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there ?"
Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight ? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."
(John 11: 8 - 10)

From the disciples' recollection of the Jews stoning Jesus, and Jesus asking the disciples why they can't understand His desire to go back, comes the composition of the lyric "Stone me, why can't you see". Lines 2, 3 and 5 of the opening verse derive from (Luke 13: 22 - 30), 'The Narrow Door':

He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers !'
(Luke 13: 24 - 27)

How narrow is the door ? The answer is to be found in such passages as (John 11: 25 - 26) (see above) and (John 14: 6):

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

An expressed desire by Jesus to be alone (line 6 of the opening verse) is to be found on numerous occasions in the Bible. For example:

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
(Luke 5: 16)

The song seems to switch between Jesus rebuking sinful people and Satan. For example, lines 7 and 8 of the song could originate from (Matthew 4: 1 - 11), 'The Temptation of Jesus'.

I Am The Resurrection was used by the BBC as the climax for the 'Manchester Passion' a public performance of the Passion, in which the last hours of Jesus's life are retold using a backdrop of contemporary Manchester music. The majority of the song was sung by Peter after the arrest of Jesus, with the line "I Am The Resurrection" being sung by Jesus as a climax to the play. The event took place on the streets of Manchester, airing live on BBC Three on Good Friday, on 14th April 2006. Ian Brown was rumoured prior to the play to be performing in some capacity, or appearing, but did not. The cast were as follows: Presenter/Pontius Pilate - Keith Allen; Peter - Nicholas Bailey; Judas Iscariot - Tim Booth; Jesus - Darren Morfitt; Mary - Denise Johnson; Barabbas - Chris Bisson; Criminal in van - Bez; Himself - Anthony Wilson. Among the other songs performed were 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' (The Smiths), performed by Judas Iscariot as he betrays Jesus, Cast No Shadow & Wonderwall (Oasis), Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division); Sit Down (James); Blue Monday (New Order) and Hallelujah (Happy Mondays).

I Am The Resurrection originated from Paul McCartney's bassline from 'Taxman' played backwards, that Mani would play at the start of each day in the studio ('Revolver', from which this Beatles track is found, was the first album that Ian Brown ever bought on CD, in 1988):

"I Am The Resurrection, for example, started out as a reverse bass piss-take of Paul McCartney on Taxman. Mani used to play that riff every day, I'd come in and John would doodle some Fender over the top and we'd do it for a laugh at soundchecks. Finally we said, "Let's do it properly - this joke song actually sounds really good !"
(Reni speaking to The Guitar Magazine, July 1995)

Revolver (August 1966) by The Beatles. The genesis of I Am The Resurrection is to be found on this album. Revolver showcased a number of new stylistic developments which would become more pronounced on later albums. Many of the tracks on Revolver are marked by an electric guitar-rock sound, in contrast with their previous, folk-rock inspired 'Rubber Soul.' The Beatles' unfolding innovation in the recording studio reaches its apex with the album's final track, 'Tomorrow Never Knows.' This track was the most radical departure from previous Beatles' recordings for its skeletal bass/drums propulsion enhanced only with tape loops, backwards guitar and Lennon vocal.

The lyric "You're a no-one, nowhere washed up baby who'd look better dead" is evocative of sentiments expressed in The Beatles' 'Run For Your Life' (lines which Lennon admitted to stealing from Elvis's 'Baby Let's Play House'):

Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
than to be with another man

The Beatles, Run For Your Life (1965)

The coda of I Am The Resurrection borrows heavily from 'In The Street' by Big Star, which can be found on this release, containing the first two of their three albums:

In The Street:

I Am The Resurrection:

ITS:

IATR:

ITS:

IATR:

In this Guitar Magazine interview from August 1997, John says of the ending of I Am The Resurrection:

"We had some bits left over on tape which we just dropped in at exactly the right point - that little rhythm guitar bit at the end. Also the acoustic jangly stuff on the end section, too; I'd recorded it on this little Philips ghetto blaster and I got the engineer to drop it in. It's a bit out of time, because we were just pressing Play to try and get it in sync. I think we did only try it twice, so it's a bit out of time. I like it, though."

John and Ian contradict one another in interviews regarding the composition of this song:

'I Am The Resurrection' was Ian's line and I wrote all the bitter, twisted, revenge verses to that song."
(John Squire - Hot Press 23 July 1997).

"We shared writing the lyrics. Adored is all me, She Bangs The Drums is half and half, I did the verses, he did the chorus, Waterfall - John did most lyrics on Waterfall, Don't Stop is about fifty-fifty, Badman about fifty-fifty, Elizabeth My Dear I wrote, Made Of Stone I wrote 90 percent, Shoot You Down we both wrote, This Is The One I wrote, Resurrection I wrote."
(Ian Brown speaking to Kirsten Borchardt, March 1998)

Reni's drumming (which was replaced on the TCSR version by an ineffectual drum machine) is of a Motown style, reminiscent to Ian of 'You’re Ready Now' by Slaughter & The Dogs. His drumming for the coda may be influenced by A Certain Ratio's 'Winter Hill' (a Martin Hannett production), from their album 'To Each....'.

'I Am The Resurrection' had a Motown kind of beat. It reminded me of 'You’re Ready Now' by Slaughter & The Dogs – (sings) "you’re ready now, you’re ready now" ! Remember that ?
(Ian Brown speaking to Record Collector, 1998)

The following lines, from a Japanese lyric book, were supposedly (it has never been confirmed by a reliable source) dropped from the final version:

I am the resurrection and
I am the life
I couldn't ever bring myself
To hate you as I'd like
I'll end up on this cross
Being here could be your loss
I am the resurrection and
I am the life
I couldn't ever bring myself
To hate you as I'd like

A detail of the Bye Bye Badman artwork (featured on the Roses' debut LP) was used for the subsequent release by Silvertone of I Am The Resurrection in 1992.

The bassline from I Am The Resurrection was sampled by MC Tunes vs 808 State on 'Tunes Splits The Atom'. The influence of I Am The Resurrection's coda is strongly evident on 'Keep The Dream Alive', the standout track from Oasis' 'Don't Believe The Truth' (2005).

Don't Believe the Truth (May 2005) is the sixth studio album by Oasis. The album is the first by Oasis to feature written contributions from all band mambers.

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