"Sister Marie Says" is the thirty-second UK single from English synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England...

, released on 15 November 2010. Remixes by Monarchy, Stopmakingme, Kinky Roland and Mirrors have been commissioned.

Background

"Sister Marie Says" was originally written in 1981. Elements of it were also commissioned. In 1996, the song was due to feature on the group's tenth album Universal

Universal (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album)

-Personnel:* Andy McCluskey – vocals, keyboards, production, mix on tracks 8–9* Matthew Vaughan – keyboards on tracks 1, 4, 8, and 10, guitar on tracks 2, 3, and 5, piano on track 3, bass on track 9, production on tracks 1–7, and tracks 10–12...

, but was scrapped due to the song being out-of-character with the album's reflective tone.

The subject of the song is self-styled nun, prophet and astronomer 'Sister Marie Gabriel' (a.k.a. Sofia Richmond, Sofia Paprocski, Zofia Sagatis, Sofia Marie Angel, etc.; b. Poland, 1941) who became notorious for producing apocalyptic warnings of imminent world doom. This later culminated in 1994 with her publishing (from her London flat) alarming full-page advertisements in several British national daily newspapers, incorrectly predicting "God's final warning", a supposed massive fireball directed across space at planet Earth from Jupiter, resulting from the (already predicted) impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

After the band's reunion, the song was demoed

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

 in 2007 and released as a free download. The final version was produced and mixed by Guy Katsav at his London studio and its featured on their eleventh studio album History of Modern

History of Modern

History of Modern is the eleventh studio album by British synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark . It is their first album since 1996, and the first album featuring the classic 4-piece line-up since 1986's The Pacific Age. The album was released in the UK on 20 September 2010, reaching to...

.

Release

The duo announced the single on 18 October 2010. The artwork was also revealed, as well as the candidates for remixes which also include Switchblade, The Str8jackets & Zoned Out. On 26 October 2010, the limited edition 7 in vinyl single was released for pre-order on the band's website.

Limited edition 7 in vinyl

Chart performance

Chart	Peak position
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	169

External links

• http://www.dianeduane.com/outofambit/2005/06/05/nuns-meteors-and-the-art-of-the-millennial-press-release/ About 'Sister' Marie Gabriel's 'prophecies' - The subject of the song.