East Hastings

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“East Hastings”
“East Hastings” cover
Song by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Album F♯A♯∞
Released June 9, 1998
Recorded May 1997 at the Hotel2Tango
Genre Post-rock
Length 17:58
Label Constellation Records
F♯A♯∞ track listing
"The Dead Flag Blues"
(1)
East Hastings
(2)
"Providence"
(3)


For the street in Vancouver, British Columbia, see Hastings Street (Vancouver)

"East Hastings" is an instrumental track by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It appears on F♯A♯∞ released on June 9, 1998.

It is eighteen minutes long, and is composed of four distinct movements, each with an individual name. The four movements are (in order) "'...Nothing's Alrite in Our Life...' / Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)", "The Sad Mafioso...", "Drugs in Tokyo", and "Black Helicopter".

The song originally shared movements with "Providence", another song from F♯A♯∞. However, during the repressing period the band expanded the album from two to three songs, which added and rearranged movements and changed the title of the tracks. "East Hastings" was named for a street in the impoverished and crime-addled Downtown Eastside in Vancouver. The sample of a man preaching at the beginning of the song is thought to be of a man who was regularly seen on Hastings Street. He would loudly preach from the Bible on a street corner in front of the now empty Woodwards Building. This is speculation however, and has not been confirmed by the band.

The track, in an edited form, appears in the film 28 Days Later (The Sad Mafioso movement). It does not, however, appear on the soundtrack album, as director Danny Boyle received permission from the band only for the song's appearance in the film.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kitty Empire (2002). Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Adjusting to Fame After 28 Days Later (html). Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.

[edit] See also