The song ‘Play Dead’ was written by Björk, David Arnold and Jah Wobble for a 1993 crime based drama called ‘The Young Americans’ which was directed by Danny Cannon. ‘Play Dead’ is used over the opening credits of the film and builds the film’s atmosphere perfectly with Björk and producer David Arnold creating a song that is bleak and ‘rough around the edges’ to accompany the rough and dangerous characters within the films narrative. In an interview with Vox in 1993 Björk sums this up perfectly by saying ‘When I met David Arnold he’d already written the score – like a three minute greatest hits of what’s in the film’ [1].
In an interview with songwriting magazine producer David Arnold talks about the creation of the track, as well as their intentions with how it should function within the film: ‘The track for Play Dead was the thing that I thought of first, and I didn’t think of it necessarily as a song, until we talked about having an end title piece.’ [2]. The process of creating a song is different for everyone however it would be grossly reductionist to summarise it into ‘start’ and ‘end’ and while I can not say for certain what Arnold’s process and workflow looks like I believe that the fact that this song began with intentions to be a simple string motif for Harvey Keitel’s character is essential to the dramatic aesthetic of the final product. It would be impossible to create a song infused so deeply with character and emotion if Arnold and Björk had planned out the songs concepts from the get go. While it is the conceptual and aesthetic aspects ‘Play Dead’ that amaze me every time I hear the song, there is also an undeniable level of technical precision to ensure the song remains impactful to the listener.
There was not much accessible information as to how David Arnold used technology to create the song however he does briefly mention the synth he used to create the bass sound when talking about his choices of instrumentation: ‘It’s those mournful strings, oozing over the throbbing bass – I think it was an old Matrix 1000’ [3]. From artists like Kevin Parker to Goldie [4], the matrix 1000 synth from Oberheim often gets praise for its versatility from the (up to) 1000 presets as well as its unique sound qualities, making it perfect for creating sounds that are both familiar to the audience – while still being new and exciting. Arnold achieves this effect very well by creating a subtle bass that is lacking virtually any high end at all while still retaining a certain punch and attack that drives Björk’s performance throughout.
The song features very subtle structural composition, with the main dynamic changes being achieved mainly by Björk’s vocal performance and the introduction of elements like bass guitar and strings in a format that reminds me of terraced dynamics from the Baroque period. Besides the interchanging motifs the song is punctuated by a relentless drum break that Arnold sampled from Footsteps In The Dark by The Isley Brothers. In my opinion this is what holds a lot of the songs character, and provided the perfect Björk’s gritty vocal performance. One reason I commend the effect this break had on the song is due to the correlating impact it had on two other songs – one of which being ‘A Good Day’ by Ice Cube. Leaning more into the hiphop genre the break once again gives a certain drive underneath a more rhythmical flow from Ice Cube, even when compared to Björk’s more laid back ‘floaty’ vocals. Seen again in the hiphop genre by legendary producer J Dilla in his track ‘Won’t Do’, the break even gets sped up and put against a gritty vocal that sits right within the forceful groove. Finally, it’d be impossible to mention this sample without talking about ‘Them Changes’ from Thundercat – a song which sounds much more laid back when compared to the opposing direction other producers took with the break. In this song, Thundercat chooses the sit back on the groove more – especially in his bass playing that feels like it drags behind the beat ever so slightly. I noticed this especially in the breaks hi hats, which previously drove most of the groove but now feel sloppy and uneven when placed next to the bass and subtle piano in the background. The beauty of sampling is that one short drum loop can be used in so many different ways to attach so many different meanings to the wider song – Thundercat chose to drag behind the beat as a counterbalance to the intense drive of the drums while Björk, David Arnold and Jah Wobble (who wrote the bassline for play dead) chose to lean into the ‘intended’ groove to reinforce the already relentless feel of the break.
I found it quite difficult to think about the aesthetics of this track due to its distinctive feel with somewhat untraceable qualities however Björk spoke at length about how she approached the construction of lyrics and her attention to vocal performance in an interview in songwriting magazine – ‘It was quite liberating to sit down after writing a whole album to write from someone else’s point of view. The particular character was pretty fucked up, you know. In the film, he had a girlfriend who just wanted him to be happy and in love and he just couldn’t get his head around it. It was just me trying to imagine what he would say to her. Things he never actually said to her in the film but things he would have said to her.’ This led to a more conscious understanding of the songs intended aesthetics, it’s ridden with unspoken thoughts and has a sort of confessional nature that is incredibly easy to listen to – but at times difficult to comprehend given that it is personal to both the character it is about as well as Björk’s personal aesthetic that was imposed onto his character within the film.
To conclude, the collaboration between David Arnold, Jah Wobble and Björk led to a song that hides aesthetic, contextual and technical complexities underneath a digestible compositional approach to create a very defined cinematic soundtrack that gritty, driven and almost confrontational feelings that are easily taken onboard by an audience. The song serves its purpose within the film while still standing strong by itself – which sometimes isnt achieved when an artist is too fixated on the music’s impact within a film.
Björk.fr. (2023). Vox. [online] Available at: https://www.bjork.fr/Vox-1993. [1]
Anon, (2015). Interview: David Arnold – Songwriting Magazine. [online] Available at: https://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/interviews/david-arnold [Accessed 9 Jan. 2024]. [2]
Anon, (n.d.). Play Dead (Björk) | Jon Kutner. [online] Available at: https://www.jonkutner.com/play-dead-bjork/. [3]
Equipboard. (n.d.). Oberheim Matrix 1000. [online] Available at: https://equipboard.com/items/oberheim-matrix-1000 [Accessed 12 Jan. 2024]. [4]