When Enigma' Sadeness (Part 1) topped the singles chart in early 1991, it was confusing and weird. Like ravioli, which are pillows you can eat.
The song was sexy and sinful, which left the religious 17-year-old Fats quaking in my cassock. Even more transgressively, they spelled 'sadness' wrong, which was enough to make my communion wafers crumble.
The devil did try to stop Enigma. A week before Sadeness topped the charts, Iron Maiden scored an unlikely number one with Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter. Lead singer Bruce Dickenson said he wrote the song to "scare the living daylights out of Cliff Richard". Sadeness knocked Slaughter off its perch, but it was then in turn knocked off the top spot by Queen's bombastic Innuendo, although whether Mercury's lot were on the side of God or the Devil remains a mystery.
It's tempting to write off Sadeness as a novelty song, like Mr Blobby, the Crazy Frog or anything by Phil Collins. It had Latin and sadism and foghorns and the Bible. One reviewer called it "easy listening sex music" – which sounds either brilliant or awful, I'm not quite sure which. But it far outstretched novelty songwriting, and the parent album MCMXC a.D. was a brilliant piece of experimental weirdness.
The monks are, of course, the most memorable thing about the track. Listen to them, carping on about angels and heaven and stuff. At least, I think that was the subject matter– it was all in Latin. This is not as unique as you might think – even Little Mix have had a middle-eight in Latin.
Sadeness also sampled James Brown and Soul II Soul for its beats. Sampling was rife when Enigma charted at the tail end of 1990. Technology was super limited back then, so producing any kind of sample of note was an achievement. And they were monks so they probably didn't even have plug sockets.
The "Part One" of Sadeness has always intrigued me, as it suggested that a Part Two would follow. This didn't happen until 2016, when Enigma finally released Sadeness (Part II), based around Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, and featured on their eighth studio album The Fall Of A Rebel Angel. At this rate, there will be a third part in 2049.
My track Sophie's Faves, recorded with Fritz von Runte and featured on the Sleeve Notes album, includes Enigma as one of its various musical flavours. Its inclusion is very deliberate: I'm no longer religious, but those monks still make my halo wibble.
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