Song Titles of GYBE - Bootlegs v.s. Stream Platforms

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band from Montreal, Quebec. Their music, mainly instrumental in nature, has been noted for its contrasts between ambient soundscapes and chaotic crescendos; use of field recordings and spoken word monologues; and focus on dystopian, anarchist and anti-war themes.

One interesting aspect of GYBE's music is that the songs often have different titles when they are published on the studio albums than they were performed live. This can be confusing for fans who want to follow along with the music, or who are trying to find specific live performances of their favorite songs1.

I have created a table to compare GYBE's song titles on bootlegs and streaming platforms side-by-side. I hope it is a good starting point to find your favorite GYBE songs on bootlegs!

For feedback, you may leave your comments at my posts on Reddit or 豆瓣.

Titles on Bootlegs Titles on Stream Platforms Notes
1998 F#A#∞ (CD Version)
1 The Dead Flag Blues (intro) The Dead Flag Blues live versions were heavier than album version
2 The Cowboy
3 The Dead Flag Blues (Outro) live versions have been much slower since 2000
4 The Sad Mafioso East Hastings
5 Dead Metheny Providence a new outro has been introduced to live versions since 2002
6 Kicking Horse on Brokenhill a.k.a. Bolero
7 String Loop Manufactured During Downpour... a.k.a. Where are you going?
looped out with drones as an outro on almost every concert
8 J.L.H. Outro a.k.a. John Lee Hooker
BPM varied a lot on specific shows, and something interesting: the song followed hope drone as an intro for their reunion shows around 2011
1998 aMAZEzine! Lost in the housse Split 7"
Sunshine + Gasoline an early demo for Moya on side A of the split
1999 Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada E.P.
9 Moya Moya a.k.a. Gorecki
10 BBF3 Blaise Bailey Finnegan III
1999 Radio Sessions
Monheim Hung Over as the Queen in Maida Vale
Chart#3
Steve Reich based on Steve Reich's Violin Phase, performed on radios sessions around 1998~1999, yet never officially released
2000 Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
11 Gathering Storm Storm
12 Chart #3 Static mostly played before Steve Reich or World Police
13 World Police a.k.a. World Police and Friendly Fire
used to have a more melodic chorus, the overall sense of the song shifted from sadness (pre-2000) to fury & chaos (post-2000)
14 Monheim Sleep
15 3rd Part a.k.a. Broken Windows, Locks of Love Pt. III.
16 John Hughes Antennas to Heaven a.k.a. She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field
early variants lacked the second chorus in album and were a little slower
2002 Yanqui U.X.O
17 12-28-99 (part 1 & 2) 09-15-00 (part 1 & 2) like dead flag blues, either part of 09-15-00 was supposed to be played alone without the other part
18 Tazer Floyd Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls
19 Motherfucker = Redeemer Motherfucker = Redeemer a.k.a. Tiny Silver Hammers
Sometimes played with George Bush Cut Up
2012 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Hope Drone concert intro since their reunion. no fixed structure, basically improvised drone
20 Albanian Mladic
21 Gamelan We Drift Like Worried Fire
2015 Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
22 Behemoth Peasantry or 'Light! Inside of Light!' cut into 4 tracks in the album, but always played as a whole song
Lambs' Breath
Asunder, Sweet
Piss Crowns Are Trebled
2017 Luciferian Towers
23 Bosses Hang Bosses Hang a.k.a. buildings according to the scene on the projection
On this setlist, the band themselves called it old new
24 Anthem For No State Anthem For No State a.k.a. railroads according to the scene on the projection
for early variants in 2015, there used to be a 5~6 minute pre-chorus section between verse and interlude
25 2 Nouveau Tower Fam / Famine
Undoing a Luciferian Towers
2021 G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
26 Glacier A Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind)
Job's Lament
First of the Last Glacier
27 Fire at Static Valley Fire at Static Valley
28 Cliff "GOVERNMENT CAME"
Cliffs Gaze / cliffs' gaze at empty waters' rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE
OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)
next album
untitled (flowers)
13~15 minutes
since early 2024, they have performed 3 new songs in their live concerts
'flowers', 'flames', and 'feathers' are not official titles but placeholder names based on the projections
untitled (flames)
22~24 minutes
untitled (feathers)
12~14 minutes, or 20 minutes with outro drone

  1. Check this post by u/TheOtherDragonborn for reviews on live variants