Please die Ana
For as long as you're here we're not
You make the sound of laughter
and sharpened nails seem softer

And I need you now somehow
And I need you now somehow

Open fire on the needs designed
On my knees for you
Open fire on my knees desires
What I need from you

Imagine a pageant
In my head the flesh seems thicker
Sandpaper tears corrode the filth

And I need you now somehow
And I need you now somehow

Open fire on the needs designed
On my knees for you
Open fire on my knees desires
What I need from you

And you're my obsession
I love you to the bones
And Ana wrecks your life
Like an Anorexia life

Open fire on the needs designed
On my knees for you
Open fire on my knees desires
What I need from you
Open fire on the needs designed
Open fire on my knees desires
On my knees for you

Music and lyrics by Daniel Johns
©1999 Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia/Big
Fat Llama Music
All rights on behalf of Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Australia
Big Fat Llama Music admin. by Sony/ATV Songs LLC
(BMI), 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN
All rights reserved
Used by permission
Keyboards by Jim Moginie

Ana's Song (Open Fire) Listen!
(RealAudio clip, 30 sec.)

Ana's Song recording session Watch!
(RealVideo clip, 1:56)

Daniel Johns talks about
Ana's Song (Open Fire) Listen!

Daniel on singing high and low Listen!


Ben Gillies, recording Ana's Song


Chris Joannou, recording Ana's Song


Daniel Johns, recording Ana's Song
"I was kind of warned by people that this could be a mistake
lyrically," said silverchair's Daniel Johns of the compelling and
impassioned Ana's Song (Open Fire).

Ana is "a composite of people," according to Johns. "It's a group
of people with eating disorders."

"I think it will help people more than people realise," he added.

As silverchair wound down their recording sessions for the ambitious
Neon Ballroom in the Australian winter of 1998, the band's rhythm
section were ready to relax for a bit after being put through their
paces by the challgenging new music.

"When we'd finished recording, it was like, yes! We're finished
recording! We're out of the studio!" bassist Chris Joannou recalls.

"Daniel just came in and said I've got another song if you wanna try
it," remembers drummer Ben Gillies.

"I was like ohhhhh," Joannou said, "and then I heard it [Ana's Song],
and I was like, yeah, this'll be all right!"

"We only rehearsed it a few times, and we went in the studio and
recorded it," Gillies said.

The song begins with quiet vocals over acoustic guitar, and quickly
builds into a powerful chorus supported by the full band. In the second
verse, Midnight Oil's Jim Moginie (photo, right) lends a mystical touch
with a hypnotic keyboard run. Through the rest of the arrangement,
Johns stages a push-pull of emotions and musical contrasts before the
song's powerful "middle eight" ("And you're my obsession, I love you
to the bones"). Vocal harmonies over the closing chorus provide a
bittersweet touch to Ana's Song, a work that is as raw and unnerving
as it is comforting and beautiful.