I'm Falling/Cold Life

"I'm Falling" is a synth-pop song{{Cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/ministry-with-sympathy/|title=35 Year Ago: Ministry Release Disavowed Debut, 'With Sympathy'|last=Zaleski|first=Annie|date=May 10, 2018|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|publisher=Townsquare Media|access-date=June 7, 2018}} which bears influences from British post-punk acts such as The Sisters of Mercy and Killing Joke;{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/early-trax-mw0000257263|title=Early Trax – Ministry|last=Jeffries|first=David|website=AllMusic|publisher=All Media Network|access-date=March 4, 2018|quote=...while 'I'm Falling' is shocking because of its unapologetic swiping of Sisters of Mercy's detached delivery.}}{{sfn|Reed|2013|p=236}} in his 2013 autobiography, Ministry: The Lost Gospels..., Al Jourgensen admits that "I'm Falling” was influenced heavily by music of Joy Division and The Cure.{{harvnb|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=49}}: "I got a reel-to-reel tape recorder and a rhythm box at home, so I wrote the song ‘I'm Falling,' which was kind of like the Cure or Joy Division, with these swells of noise and fake British vocals."{{Cite magazine|last=Masuo|first=Sandy|date=January–February 1996|title=Ministry: It's Not Easy Being Mean|magazine=Option: Music Culture|issue=66|pages=66–73|issn=0882-178X}}{{rp|70}} Meanwhile, "Cold Life" bears influence of 1970's funk and soul acts,{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=49}} and was written about Jourgensen's experience living in a Chicago African-American neighborhood.{{Cite magazine |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |date=July 10, 1982 |title=Ministry of Offence |url=http://www.prongs.org/minfiles/mags/melody_maker/melody-maker-july-10-1982.jpg |magazine=Melody Maker |issn=0025-9012 |access-date=February 5, 2018 |postscript=. See also {{harvnb|Reed|2013|p=236}}. |via=Prongs.org archive}}

Initially, Jourgensen had recorded a demo tape of "I'm Falling" in his apartment, using a newly bought ARP Omni synthesizer, a drum machine, and a reel-to-reel tape recorder. At one occasion, Jourgensen had presented a demo to Jim Nash, the co-founder and co-owner of the independent record label Wax Trax! Records. Impressed by demo once listening to it, Nash had offered Jourgensen to record a single, as well as to form a touring band.{{Cite magazine |last=Baker |first=Cary |date=September 1982 |title=Ministry: Ordained by Dance |url=http://prongs.org/ministry/illinois_entertainer-82 |magazine=Illinois Entertainer |volume=2 |issue=103 |access-date=February 3, 2018|via=Prongs.org archive|postscript=. See also {{harvnb|Reed|2013|p=236}}.}}{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=49}}{{cite web|author=Rod Smith|title=Wax Trax: An Introduction|url=http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/03/wax-trax-feature|website=Red Bull Music Academy Daily|publisher=Red Bull Music Academy|date=March 27, 2014|accessdate=March 4, 2018}}

After assembling the first line-up of the band subsequently known as Ministry, Jourgensen went to Hedden West studios with co-producer Jay O'Roarke and an English-born engineer Iain Burgess, while Nash had paid for the band to record. For the recording, beside the core line-up of Jourgensen, keyboardists John Davis and Robert Roberts and drummer Stephen George, also approached were backing vocalist Steve Brighton, bassist Lamont Welton, and a horn player Preston Klik (also of Big Hat and The Book of Holy Lies); Jourgensen assumed an English accent for his vocals on "Cold Life", like he did on "I'm Falling".{{Cite news|url=https://archive.org/stream/gwu_hatchet_19820920#page/n11|title=Ministry: detached tension for funkaholics [Ministry, Ministry, Wax Trax]|last=Hansen|first=Julie|date=September 20, 1982|work=The GW Hatchet|access-date=August 17, 2018|issue=7|department=Arts|volume=79|page=12|via=the Internet Archive}}{{harvnb|Greene|1993|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=50}}. Nash and his Wax Trax! partner Danny Flesher liked both recorded songs, but requested Jourgensen to record one more track, an instrumental titled "Primental", for the single; Jourgensen states that "Primental" resembles some of music written for performances held by his then-girlfriend, Shannon Rose Riley.{{sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=50|postscript=: "Jim and Danny loved the songs and wanted to release them as the third single on Wax Trax! But they wanted a third song, so I put together ‘Primental,' which was this real cheeseball, dancey instrumental with a drum machine, handclaps, and moog keyboards that sounded like some of the atmospheric stuff I used to write for Shannon's performance art."}}

"I'm Falling / Cold Life" single was initially released in late 1981.{{Sfn|Greene|1993|p=26}} The first pressing featured a gray and peach packaging portraying Chicago Union Station, designed by Jim Nash and Brian Shanley; the later pressing featured the cover in a die-cut red and yellow motif, also designed by Nash and Shanley. Some time after, in March 1982, a British label Situation Two released the single in Europe with "Cold Life" as the A-side, as well as its extended dub version on the B-side.{{harvnb|Greene|1993|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=51}}.{{Cite book|title=Post Punk Diary, 1980–1982|last=Gimarc|first=George|publisher=St.Martin's Griffin|year=1997|isbn=031216968X|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/postpunkdiary19800gima/page/250 250]|via=Internet Archive|url=https://archive.org/details/postpunkdiary19800gima/page/250}}{{cite book|last=Fontenoy|first=Richard|chapter=Ministry|year=1999|edition=2nd|editor-last=Buckley|editor-first=Jonathan|editor2-last=Duane|editor2-first=Orla|editor3-last=Ellingham|editor3-first=Mark|editor4-last=Spicer|editor4-first=Al|title=Rock: The Rough Guide|location=London, New York|publisher=Rough Guides|pages=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock00roug/page/645 645–646]|isbn=1-85828-457-0|via=Internet Archive|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock00roug/page/645}} This release was packaged with a cover depicting four naked men, seemingly taking a sunbath.{{Sfn|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=51}}

The single, mainly its B-side "Cold Life", had achieved immediate success on both dancefloor and college radio in the US and the UK.{{harvnb|Greene|1993|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Jourgensen|Wiederhorn|2013|p=50}}; {{harvnb|Reed|2013|p=236}}. By September 1982, "I'm Falling / Cold Life" reached number 5 on the charts of New York-based magazine Rockpool and peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Disco chart with approximately 10,000 copies,{{Cite magazine |last=McCormick |first=Moira |date=September 11, 1982 |title=Indie New Music Labes Proliferating In Chicago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OiQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT95|magazine=Billboard Magazine|volume=94 |issue=36 |pages=9, 54 |access-date=March 6, 2018 |postscript=. See also {{harvnb|Reed|2013|p=236}}.}}{{rp|54}} and was later labelled the Wax Trax!' first hit.

"Cold Life" was featured on the band's 1987 compilation Twelve Inch Singles (1981–1984), with "I'm Falling" appearing on the compilation's 2014 re-release.

In review of 15 May 1982 Adam Sweeting of Melody Maker named "Cold Life" among the best singles of the week. He never heard Ministry before and was pleasantly surprised by "superfunk aggression".{{cite magazine|last=Sweeting|first=Adam|authorlink=Adam Sweeting|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/48023383913/in/album-72157691200428723/|title=Review: Ministry – "Cold Life" (Situation 2)|magazine=Melody Maker|date=15 May 1982|page=16|location=London|publisher=IPC Limited|issn=0025-9012|access-date=2 November 2022|via=Flickr}}

{{track listing

| headline = Original release (1981)

| title1 = I'm Falling

| length1 = 3:59

| title2 = Primental

| length2 = 5:10

| title3 = Cold Life

| length3 = 6:11

}}

{{track listing

| headline = British release (1982)

| title1 = Cold Life

| note1 = 7" substituted a shortened edit

| length1 = 6:11

| title2 = I'm Falling

| length2 = 4:04

| title3 = Cold Life Dub

| note3 = only available on 12"

| length3 = 6:53}}

{{track listing

| headline = American re-release (1985)

| title1 = Cold Life

| length1 = 6:11

| title2 = I'm Falling

| length2 = 3:59

| title3 = Primental

| length3 = 5:10

|title4 = Cold Life Dub

|length4 = 6:18

}}

Credits adapted from liner notes of the single, as well as these of Twelve Inch Singles (1981–1984).

• {{cite AV media notes|title="I'm Falling / Cold Life / Primental”|medium=vinyl disc|others=Ministry|publisher=Wax Trax! Records|location=Chicago, IL|id=110072X|year=1981|postscript=}}
• {{cite AV media notes|title="I'm Falling / Cold Life / Primental”|medium=vinyl disc; reissue|others=Ministry|publisher=Wax Trax! Records|location=Chicago, IL|id=110072X|year=1982}}{{cite AV media notes|title=Twelve Inch Singles (1981–1984)|others=Ministry|publisher=Wax Trax! Records|location=Chicago, IL|id=WAXCD 035|year=1987}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|

• Ministry {{small|(namely Al Jourgensen, John Davis, Stephen George, Paul Taylor, Marty Sorenson, and Robert Roberts)}}{{efn|The liner notes, given in the single's early pressing, lists Marty Sorenson and Paul Taylor as the band members, instead of Roberts—listed in the later pressing.}} – musical performance
• Al Jourgensen – vocals, guitar, co-production
• Stephen George – drums on "Cold Life"
• Lamont Welton – bass on "Cold Life"
• Steve Brighton – backing vocals on "Cold Life"
• Preston Klik – horns on "Cold Life"
• Jay O'Roarke – co-production on "I'm Falling"
• Iain Burgess – engineering, co-production on "Cold Life"
• Nancy Taylor – assistant engineering
• Jim Nash and Brian Shanley – cover design

}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|}}

• {{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Jo-Ann |date=April 2, 1993 |title=Ministry |magazine=Goldmine |volume=19 |issue=7 (331)|pages=26, 28, 32, 38, 40|issn=1055-2685|via=Prongs.org archive}}
• {{cite book|last1=Jourgensen|first1=Al|last2=Wiederhorn|first2=Jon|title=Ministry: The Lost Gospels According To Al Jourgensen|date=July 9, 2013|location=Boston, MA|publisher=Da Capo Press|name-list-style=amp|isbn=9780306822186|via=Internet Archive|url=https://archive.org/details/ministrylostgosp00jour}}
• {{cite book|last1=Reed|first1=S. Alexander|title=Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music|year=2013|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/assimilatecritic0000reed|isbn=9780199832606|via=Google Books|url-access=registration}}

{{refend}}

• {{Discogs master|21246|{{noitalics|"I'm Falling / Cold Life"}}}}
• {{Discogs master|19715|{{noitalics|"Cold Life"}}}}

{{Ministry (band)}}

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Category:1981 debut singles

Category:Ministry (band) songs

Category:1981 songs

Category:Wax Trax! Records singles

Category:Songs written by Al Jourgensen

Category:Song recordings produced by Al Jourgensen