Saw Something
Notes
In a long promo interview in September 2007, Dave Gahan was asked about every song off 'Hourglass' including this one:
"Well that song was you know, I put, wanted that song to be first on the album because it really was the catalyst that gave me the encouragement to wanna start another project. It actually came from a chord pattern, some strings that Christian had sent me, during the time we were finishing 'Playing The Angel'. And there was one time we were in New York and I was in the live room sitting at the piano and I had my little Dictaphone set up, I was doing something else but I kept playing these strings because they were doing something for me and I started to formulate what became the vocal melody and the lyrics for that song. So actually, I'd actually written, I heard that song in its sort of complete form before we even started recording it, so it was actually one of the first things I sang down when Andrew and Christian had set up all their gear. I said — you know let me sing down this melody and lyric idea that I have, I had a sort of complete song, so I sang it down to the strings that Christian had given me in the first place and he played some drums on it and they were kind of blown away by what I did, so it gave me some confidence about the writing. The rest of it I had no clue about where it was going at that point, but felt really passionate about this song, I still do. I think it's by far the best song on the album."
He also said in the press release for 'Hourglass':
"When we first started writing, I had that song in my head and in my heart; so I was dying to get on a mic and sing it. The lyrics are about sitting, waiting for something to come - protection of some kind, or some kind of answer. What I've come to learn is that you've got to go find it, take some action. I prefer to sit and wait, but it just doesn't work. It sounds kind weird, but I do believe in that sort of divine intervention, if you allow it. If you allow life to happen, not try to push it in the direction you think it's supposed to go in - which is what I spend a lot of time doing - then really amazing things happen, things that you didn't expect. But you've got to take some action. This song, for me, is a starting point for something new in my life."
John Frusciante plays guitar on this song. Dave told Exit magazine (translated from Hungarian):
"I'm a big fan of John, who's an amazing guitarist and my old friend from living in Los Angeles. Earlier this year we worked together in Los Angeles, at one of the charity events at the MusiCares Foundation, and I asked him if he would like to play on one of my songs. I sent him 'Saw Something', and he sent it back with a finished guitar solo. We did not change it, it can be heard exactly on the record as he played it. He understood the mood of the song very well, he did exactly what I imagined."
Dates with available recordings of Saw Something
There are currently 2 recordings of Saw Something available.
- 2007-10-2x Interface, Spinner.com, AOL Studios, New York, NY, USA/Source 1
- 2007-10-2x Interface, Spinner.com, AOL Studios, New York, NY, USA/Source 2
Dates where Saw Something was played
Miscellaneous performances
Saw Something was played 5 times.
- 2007-10-23 Apple Store, SoHo, NYC, NY, USA
- 2007-10-25 Avatar Studios, NYC, NY, USA
- 2007-10-2x Interface, Spinner.com, AOL Studios, New York, NY, USA
- 2007-10-2x Offsite, Ethel, XM Satellite Radio, Sirius XM, NYC, NY, USA
- 2011-05-06 MusiCares Map Fund Benefit, Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA, USA
