History
The song's main vocals are provided by Angel X (Andreas Harde), while an aboriginal Taiwanese chant is repeated. (It is a popular misconception that the vocals are done by aboriginal Americans.) The chant was sampled from the "Jubilant Drinking Song" without the singers' permission. Kuo Ying-nan (born Difang Duana) (郭英男) and Kuo Hsiu-chu (郭秀珠), both Amis, were in a cultural exchange program in Paris in 1988 when their performance of the song was recorded by the Maison des Cultures du Monde and later distributed on CD. The producer of Enigma, Michael Cretu, later obtained the CD and proceeded to sample it. In addition, the drum beat of the song was sampled from the Led Zeppelin song "When the Levee Breaks."
The song was used to promote several types of media in the mid-1990s, including film and TV commercials. In fall 1994, the song was featured in an episode of the TV show My So-Called Life. In 1995, the song was used as the closing theme in Disney's live-action film Man of the House, as well as in the opening and closing of an Outer Limits episode. In 1996, the song was further popularized when it was used in a television advertisement to promote the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Julien Temple directed the video, which depicts a man's life in reverse, starting with him dying (the scene was probably influenced by the 1930 Alexander Dovzhenko film Earth) and ending with his birth. (See also List of Enigma videos#The Cross of Changes).
Read more about this topic: Return To Innocence
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)