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Certain Songs #2238: Siouxsie and The Banshees – “Sin in My Heart (Royal Albert Hall 1983)”

December 7, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Nocturne
1983

. . .

A little over a week after the “Dear Prudence” single was released, Siouxsie and The Banshees made their first live recording — an album and a VHS tape — at the Royal Albert Hall, having made ringer Robert Smith an official member. While he’d performed live with them back in 1979, that was more of an ad hoc situation.

This time, Smith stuck around as a Banshee for nearly a year, after which he was never heard from again.

Naturally, the fanfic-inducing combination of Siouxsie Sioux and Robert Smith gelled really well musically, nowhere more than on the utterly ferocious live version of “Sin in My Heart,” one of the standout tracks from Juju.

Opening with a bass motif from Steven Severin, over which Siouxsie played one-finger barre chords, “Sin in My Heart” built steadily with big drums from Budgie, and a long, arcing solo from Smith, and then really got going as Sioux started singing about, well, the sin in her heart.

Sin in my heart, sin in my heart
Sin in my heart, sin in my heart
Sin in my heart, flying like a dart
Oh, sin in my heart

Of course, she’s not playing the guitar when she’s singing live — that way, she can fully concentrate on holding out “hearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt” — but then again, neither did Bernard Sumner in New Order’s early days, but every time they go into rave-up mode, she’s right there backing up Smith as he just shreds while Budgie and Severin both go into overdrive.

At the end, the guys are all going crazy as Siouxsie lets out some long “ooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhs”, and then goes back to thrashing at her guitar until the song finally ends, having run the entire audience over like a fucking truck.

“Sin In My Heart” Live at The Royal Albert Hall, 1983

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Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Nocturne, Sin in My Heart, Siouxsie and the Banshees

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2418: Spiritualized – “I Think I’m In Love”
  • Certain Songs #2417: Spiritualized – “Lay Back in the Sun”
  • Certain Songs #2416: Spiritualized – “Run”
  • Certain Songs #2415: Spiritualized – “I Want You”
  • Certain Songs #2414: The Spinanes – “Epiphany”

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