Stop Whispering

## Description

Stop Whispering is one of the centrepieces of Pablo Honey and a song that settled into a comfortable second place in terms of commercial successes from the album. This equal-parts-delicate-and-raging song is actually quite uplifting in message and tone, probably the only song of its kind on Pablo Honey - it's a song of rebellion and sticking it to the man. It unfortunately hasn't gained too much stock upon recent reappraisals, which is a shame; it's a sophisticated song and a very listenable one at that.

## Live history

Stop Whispering was played between 1991-1996 to varying degrees of frequency. Somewhat uncommon during 1992, it settled into a more regular (though far from constant) position from 93-95. It was then played at the start of 1996 and dropped from there on. A song that generally translated well to live performances, Stop Whispering also underwent a few structural changes over the years, and always included a far simpler version of the part just before the final breakdown, with Thom repeating 'doesn't matter anyway' over a simple backing of electric guitar.

### 1992

There are just two recordings of Stop Whispering available from 1992 - it was not a setlist regular, and the group were still toying with its arrangement at this point. The first available recording is 1992-05-13, Islington Powerhouse, London, England, which is in suboptimal sound quality but is great to hear a fairly embryonic version of the song, and the second is from the unknown 1992 show which is in soundboard quality and is close to the studio take.

### 1993

Stop Whispering was played far more regularly in 1993. It was still not a staple - it was dropped on some legs of the tour - but it received a fair few outings over the course of the year. There are a ton of very good '93 performances of it, too. It was still played at an elevated tempo, and most performances have Thom screaming 'FUCK YOU!' just before the final breakdown, which is always a fun moment. Ed also seemed to use this one as a testing ground for new pedals and effects, especially after the first chorus. Notable and/or recommended performances include:

* 1993-02-23 Black Session - a very fun performance with an impromptu guitar solo in the 'doesn't matter anyway' section.
* 1993-06-15, FNAC Auditorium, Nancy, France - acoustic performance with Thom and Jonny that ends before the final breakdown.
* 1993-06-20, Passage du Nord, Paris, France - the sound quality is iffy, but this is an all-time great performance with a stunning 'FUCK YOU!'
* 1993-06-30, The Metro, Chicago, IL, USA - from the famous Metro show in great sound quality.
* 1993-11-25, Zeleste, Barcelona, Spain - poor sound quality but a fascinating performance, because it's the only one that has Phil drumming for 8 bars before the final breakdown section (in place of the last few 'doesn't matter anyway's.) A really nice change, and it's a shame they dropped it immediately after.

### 1994

Stop Whispering returned to setlists in 1994 once again, and was played at all but a handful of shows. This song is famously one that the band decided to slow down significantly in the years following the Pablo Honey tour; thankfully, with some late-1994 shows excepted, the band still performed it at a more faithful tempo at this point. There are some real amazing renditions here, just like in 1993. Notable and/or recommended performances include:

* 1994-05-20, Festival Balélec, Lausanne, Switzerland - one of the best-ever; a huge, scenery-chewing, punchy performance in soundboard quality with the band giving it their absolute all. Potentially the writer's favourite, as well.
* 1994-05-27, The Astoria, London, UK - the drop-dead gorgeous audio and video quality makes this performance totally essential. It never looked this good (and scarcely sounded it, either; Ed's guitar work before the second verse is stunning.)
* 1994-06-09, Club Citta, Tokyo, Japan - one of the most surprising and incredible one-off changes to this song: during this performance, Thom sings a part of Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better during the 'doesn't matter anyway' section! It's really remarkable how well it comes off.
* 1994-09-30, Sheffield University, Sheffield, England - the Great Stop Whispering Slow-Down started here.

## List of performances

See Stop Whispering/Recordings for full list.