Meaning of “We Come 1” by Faithless

Reading the title of this Faithless song (“We Come 1”), you instantly get the impression that it is a unity track, which is actually the case. Faithless’ Maxi Jazz is presenting himself as someone who is totally dependent on the addressee. But this does not imply that he does so in a literal sense, as in looking to this person to provide his material needs. Rather this individual serves as a source of inspiration, strength and most importantly “purpose” in his life. Indeed when they do team-up, the singer’s goal becomes clear, which is for the two of them to “fight” together. But what they are fighting for or against is not specified.

In other words, this track appears to be intentionally ambiguous. The nature of the relationship between the singer and the addressee is not made apparent. Nor is their common goal. But what is obvious is that, at least from the singer’s perspective, the two of them together form a complete unit.

Maybe the singer is addressing a group of people as opposed to just one. Perhaps he is singing to a metaphysical entity. Who knows? Instead what we are made privy to is that the addressee represents what the singer actually believes in. And when eventually they do come, they are coming hard and as a singular entity.

All in all, Faithless’ “We Come 1” encourages the people of the world to put away their differences and come together as one. In line with the song’s primary theme of unity, Jazz usually ends the live versions of this song by entreating everyone in the audience to look after one another. “We’re all we got”, he would often say.

What Faithless’ Sister Bliss has said about “We Come 1”

During an interview Sister Bliss had with Bulgaria’s MMTV music, she referred to the song as one that “has such a humanity about it”. According to her, the song “points to the connectiveness of absolutely everything” in the world. She went on to talk about how everyone is “part of the world”, “nature” and “the environment”. Owing to this, according to her, it is imperative that we “all work together” to support and protect the planet or else we just might end up losing it.

Release Date of “We Come 1”

“We Come 1” was released by Cheeky Records and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) on 28 May 2001 in advance of Outrospective, the album it was featured on.  Later in the year (27 August), Faithless re-released the album, this time calling it Reperspective: The Remixes, which featured two remixes of “We Come 1” (one by Steve Rowland and the other by Dave Clarke).

There was also another remix of the song, by DJ duo Hiver & Hammer, which proved to be popular.

Chart Success

“We Come 1” fared well in Faithless’ native United Kingdom (peaking at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart) and throughout Europe, reaching the top 10 in the following places:

• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• Ireland
• The Netherlands
• Portugal
• Romania
• Scotland

It also peaked at number 3 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.

Who wrote “We Come 1”?

All three members of Faithless – Maxi Jazz, Rollo Armstrong and Sister Bliss – wrote “We Come 1”. The song was subsequently produced by Armstrong and Bliss.