Proudly I touch the strings of my expensive Gibson guitar. Thousands of eyes are looking at me. At us, actually. I know the fans love the song, I can feel it. The positive energy that’s almost tangible for Bill and me, each time I let the first chord sound through the hall.
Bill’s fragile voice resounds through the huge arena and a heap of young girls are screaming from the top of their lungs. I try to hide a smile, close my eyes for a while, but get interrupted by Bill who kicks me against my shin. A bit confused I look up, grin at my twin and play on in ecstasy.

A few months ago he gave me a closely written page. Bill was pretty absent that day, as well physical as mental, and I wondered what he did there in his room all alone. I had looked at him asking but he just nodded as a sign that I had to read it.
My eyes read his twirling notes and the blot out pieces of text. “Nice.” I knew it wasn’t finished yet, but the lines my brother had been thinking about seemed to be the perfect fundament for a new song.

My fingers slide over the neck of my guitar and I smile at some girls in the front row. And no one who knows the real story behind In die Nacht…

One day Bill had taken me away from the TV. I struggled because I had finally found an interesting show, but I followed my brother to our studio at last. He gave me an acoustic guitar and sat down on the leather couch. “Play something.” I squeezed my eyes and asked him what was on his mind. Ultimately I improved something that was like a mysterious ballad. While I touched the strings I saw Bill whispering some soundless lines over the music. His face was shining when the words finally seemed to fit with the chords. From joy he pushed a kiss upon my cheek, which made me look at him very weird, apparently. Ashamed he shook his head and I could see in his eyes that he hadn’t meant to. I grinned and stood up. “Can you record that, please?”

I feel the blonde hairs on my arms get up when Bill raises his voice and reaches the highest note with a hoarse squeak. Proudly I look at him over my shoulder.

I did what Bill asked me to and when I’d found someone who knew something about all the mixing consoles I recorded the first ideas for our new song. Because it would be our song, more personal and more real than what we had written together ever before.
When I asked Bill what was his intention with this song, I got an evasive answer. I didn’t understand why he didn’t follow the usual process but went his own way without considering with me.

Bill leans with his microphone standard closer to me beaming. Like always I feel his eyes burning in my back during the whole song. The only 3 minutes in which he has an eye for nothing but me.

He’d woken me in the middle of the night. “Come with me.” Drowsy I’d stood up and followed my brother to the studio. I was astonished to find one of our producers behind the switches and suddenly I felt pretty naked, wearing just a boxer. I greeted him and looked at my brother waiting. “You must have a damn good reason to wake me at this time” I grumbled to Bill. He bit with his under teeth on his upper lip. “I tried to record something… But it just didn’t work without you.”

I took place in front of the window and leaned with my elbows on the edge so I could see Bill in his recording room. I saw him breathing in, nodding, and wetting his lips. His slim fingers placed the headphones over his long, smooth hair and he breathed in again. With a small nod he signed he was ready.
I heard my guitar playing through the room and shook up when Bill’s voice began to sing insecure. His eyes caught me from the studio and I was forced to look at him. The words became one with the music like the pieces of a puzzle, until they made one new completeness. Beside my brother there was a small, dark blue candle burning. He always managed to create the right atmosphere.

Ofcourse he recorded it at night. He knew I was the most fragile right then. And he was too, the rascal.

The more words came over Bill’s lips, the more I understood why he had hidden this from me. It was my song, he wrote it for me. About me.
In a combination of fatigue and compassion I felt tears burning in my eyes. But I couldn’t escape from Bill’s look… For the first time in my life my own brother really affected me.
When a tear ran down my face I heard Bill’s voice breaking. Also in his dark brown eyes were big tears and he stopped singing immediately. He put his hands in front of his face and I saw his shoulders shocking. “Maybe you’d comfort him,” I heard a voice behind me. I nodded and disappeared around the corner to Bill’s studio. My brother was convulsively holding back his tears. “For you… It is… For you” he stuttered. I smiled through my tears. I wrapped my arms around him because I realized how incredibly much I loved my little brother. How proud I was of him and how amazing it was that I meant so much to him. He had never really told me, and I never had too, so Bill’s unexpected surprise was a light but nice shock to me.
Because Bill couldn’t do it on his own I held his shaking hand when he recorded the last part of the song. I choked back my tears, but I’d rather been crying as a little boy because of the words sung by my twin. The words that came right from the heart.

The song was some kind of relief. Finally Bill had defined everything we felt for each other, what made us so much closer. The fact he formulated me so fragile was hard for me, but because he showed his hand my doubts faded away. I was so proud of him. Proud of the pure song, of his guts to sing it and the power which has to be needed to tell me.
That was also a breaking point for me: wasn’t it way to personal to just have it in our repertoire? Wasn’t it something between us? It was already so hard for me that there was another one invited with the recordings…

After everlasting discussions we decided to release it as a hidden track. A good decision, I guess.

That night I slept with Bill in my arms. Something I never did before but it felt so warm and familiar. Something for just one time, you know, just to get a bit closer… I knew Bill felt safe and even I slept quieter than I had slept in the last few years.  

We never really talked about it anymore. The song just was there, it was an emotional thing for the both of us but we got used to it.

Du bist alles, was ich bin, und alles, was durch meine Adern fließt…

Proudly I look at the smiling face of my brother. The same pride I feel every time when our song sounds through one of the huge arenas. Pride, because I’m not ashamed to show everyone hat I’ve got the sweetest twin I could have wished for in this life…