78. Burn My Shadow – UNKLE featuring Ian Astbury

This is yet another song in which the meaning is not clear, but who really cares? Some songs are stronger when the meaning is not known, such as the case here. There has been speculation that this song is about a former member of UNKLE, DJ Shadow (who, by the way, released on of the best albums of all time in 1996), while others believe that the songs is about moving on from the past. But the one thing that is clear, is that this song is extremely powerful

The vocals are supplied by frontman of The Cult, Ian Astbury, whose deep and almost haunting voice gives this song a rather eerie, atmospheric tone. Another strange twist to the song comes from the video. I saw the video first while changing channels one night, and I must say that it is one of the best videos I have ever seen. It features a male character who wakes to find a bomb attached to him and he then, well, I won’t spoil it. But the video perfectly manages to sync with the song in terms of the atmosphere it incorporates.

The song begins with an acoustic guitar (which is heavily affected so you can hardly tell it’s a guitar) before the heavy beat comes in. The beat continues until Astbury’s vocals cut into the track, and from then on, the beauty of this song is unexplainable.

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