Sanctify Yourself

To sanctify something is to make it holy. In this uplifting song, Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr is calling for personal empowerment, asking us to value the life we were given. Kerr often touches on religious themes in his lyrics, but he tends to clam up when asked about his beliefs. If you're looking for evidence of God in this song, you can find it in lines like, "A vision, sweet miracles and strange circumstances" and "I hope and I pray that maybe someday you'll come back down here and show me the way."

In a Songfacts interview with Jim Kerr, he credited Once Upon A Time producer Jimmy Iovine for developing this track, which started with a riff the band came up with. He also said the gospel feel on the song was inspired by the music of Sly & the Family Stone, which he called "quite an influence on that song."

Michael Been, lead singer of The Call, sang backing vocals on this track. The Call opened some tours for Simple Minds and proved very impressive. "You can hear him bellowing in the background, doing his gospel thing," Jim Kerr told Songfacts. Simple Minds later covered The Call song "Let The Day Begin."