He Said: Could You?

Was it something on your mind? Had your world fallen apart? Had you a glimpse in your eye, had you murder on your heart?

Did you do it for love, did you do it for free, did you do it because no one notices?
I always saw this song by Wire-member Graham Lewis, aka. He Said as a bone-chilling story about someone lying in ambush to commit a senseless crime and getting rid of the evidence.

"Could You?", this twenty year old song came back into my mind when some bored idiot recently threw a wooden block from a highway-bridge somewhere in the dead woods of Germany, killing a young mother in the process.

You had a tool in your hand dragged beyond through your head. You washed the brim from your fingers, bright the stains from your clothes. Washed the sound from your ears, blew the smell from your nose, wiped the smirks from their faces, you were straightening smiles.

You said you did it for love, you did it for free. You did it because nobody notices me.

Lewis released two albums as He Said on Mute Records. At a time when labelmates Depeche Mode went through the roof and Erasure and Nick Cave helped to shuffle in some serious cash, Mute went on to expand their catalogue with a circle of friends and experimental outfits from all over the place.


I an pretty sure that many of these releases never recouped their production costs. Thanks to the adventurous label policy of Daniel Miller, Mute became one of the most prolific and diverse independent labels of all time.

Even before the reformed Wire signed to Mute, all of its individual members released solo- and project works on the label.

With He Said, Lewis explored his semi-concious cut-up lyrics with a funky but brooding electro-pop. Not very far removed from the "Black Celebration"-era Depeche Mode, He Said was actually far more sinister and darker than everything the leather-clad Mode could ever come up with.

Breath some life into this place. Pump fresh blood through these hardening veins.