"Human" is a song by English synth-pop band the Human League, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Crash (1986). The track, which deals with the subject of infidelity, was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The song topped the charts of the United States, becoming the band's second single to top the Billboard Hot 100 after their 1981 single "Don't You Want Me". It also went to number one in Canada while reaching number five in Germany and number eight in the band's native United Kingdom. Background and composition In 1985, recording for the Human League's fifth album was not going well. The band did not like the results, which caused internal conflict. Virgin Records executives, worried by the lack of progress from their at-the-time most profitable signing, suggested the band accept an offer to work with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who had material to work with and had expressed an interest in the band from their U.S. releases. Jam and Lewis had recently emerged as in-demand talent owing to their success with Janet Jackson and her Control album. Of the ten songs on Crash, Jam and Lewis wrote three, "Human" being one. A mid-tempo ballad, it is lyrically an exchange between a man and a woman who have reunited after a separation. In the first two verses, Philip Oakey apologises to his partner for being unfaithful during her absence. In the breakdown, Joanne Catherall's spoken-word confession reveals that she too was unfaithful. The song's title is derived from the chorus, in which both parties in the relationship explain that they are "only human" and "born to make mistakes". The song is a composition in common time with a tempo of 102 beats per minute. "'Human' is probably the best vocal that I ever did, but it took a month to record," Oakey recalled. "A really big influence on doing those monologues was Gary Numan, particularly 'Are "Friends" Electric?', which has two different spoken bits, and he pulls it off."

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
— Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See (1990)
“All right. It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands! But we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill — today!”
— Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) in Star Trek: The Original Series, sn 1, ep. 23: "A Taste of Armageddon" (February 23, 1967), story by Robert Hamner, teleplay by Gene L. Coon and Robert Hamner
“I do not want the voice of the people shut out.”
— Huey Long, remarks in the U.S. Senate, May 16, 1932, Congressional Record, vol. 75, p. 10,297
“Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.”
— Bertrand Russell, "The Science to Save Us from Science", in The New York Times (19 March 1950)
“Social science means inventing a certain brand of human we can understand.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), "The Sage, the Weak, and the Magnificent", p. 95
“In the last analysis, my fellow countrymen, as we in America would be the first to claim, a people are responsible for the acts of their government.”
— Woodrow Wilson, address, Columbus, Ohio, September 4, 1919. The Messages and Papers of Woodrow Wilson, ed. Albert Shaw, vol. 2, p. 728 (1924).

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Overview

"Human" is a song by English synth-pop band the Human League, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Crash (1986). The track, which deals with the subject of infidelity, was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The song topped the charts of the United States, becoming the band's second single to top the Billboard Hot 100 after their 1981 single "Don't You Want Me". It also went to number one in Canada while reaching number five in Germany and number eight in the band's native United Kingdom. Background and composition In 1985, recording for the Human League's fifth album was not going well. The band did not like the results, which caused internal conflict. Virgin Records executives, worried by the lack of progress from their at-the-time most profitable signing, suggested the band accept an offer to work with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who had material to work with and had expressed an interest in the band from their U.S. releases. Jam and Lewis had recently emerged as in-demand talent owing to their success with Janet Jackson and her Control album. Of the ten songs on Crash, Jam and Lewis wrote three, "Human" being one. A mid-tempo ballad, it is lyrically an exchange between a man and a woman who have reunited after a separation. In the first two verses, Philip Oakey apologises to his partner for being unfaithful during her absence. In the breakdown, Joanne Catherall's spoken-word confession reveals that she too was unfaithful. The song's title is derived from the chorus, in which both parties in the relationship explain that they are "only human" and "born to make mistakes". The song is a composition in common time with a tempo of 102 beats per minute. "'Human' is probably the best vocal that I ever did, but it took a month to record," Oakey recalled. "A really big influence on doing those monologues was Gary Numan, particularly 'Are "Friends" Electric?', which has two different spoken bits, and he pulls it off."

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

"Human" is a song by English synth-pop band the Human League, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, Crash (1986). The track, which deals with the subject of infidelity, was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The song topped the charts of the United States, becoming the band's second single to top the Billboard Hot 100 after their 1981 single "Don't You Want Me". It also went to number one in Canada while reaching number five in Germany and number eight in the band's native United Kingdom.

Notable quotes

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
— Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See (1990)
“All right. It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands! But we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill — today!”
— Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) in Star Trek: The Original Series, sn 1, ep. 23: "A Taste of Armageddon" (February 23, 1967), story by Robert Hamner, teleplay by Gene L. Coon and Robert Hamner
“I do not want the voice of the people shut out.”
— Huey Long, remarks in the U.S. Senate, May 16, 1932, Congressional Record, vol. 75, p. 10,297
“Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.”
— Bertrand Russell, "The Science to Save Us from Science", in The New York Times (19 March 1950)
“Social science means inventing a certain brand of human we can understand.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), "The Sage, the Weak, and the Magnificent", p. 95
“In the last analysis, my fellow countrymen, as we in America would be the first to claim, a people are responsible for the acts of their government.”
— Woodrow Wilson, address, Columbus, Ohio, September 4, 1919. The Messages and Papers of Woodrow Wilson, ed. Albert Shaw, vol. 2, p. 728 (1924).

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

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