This Is The Life (2007) – Amy Macdonald

I was in this kitsch little restaurant near where I live in Bogotá a few years ago, having breakfast, when today’s featured song came on the speakers – and it blew me away. I scribbled down some of the chorus so I could look it up later and voilà! My family ancestry partly originates from Scotland, so I’ve always had a soft spot for anything Scottish especially singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald. Not long after locking This Is the Life into my music library project, I came across Amy’s stirring rendition of Flower of Scotland at a bitterly cold and windy Hampden Park in Glasgow.

I was captivated watching her performance. Each exhalation from Amy turns into a cloud of mist — that’s how frickin’ cold it was. Her grin and humility as she walks off stage (so very Scottish, mind you) are the sort of things you rarely see from major commercial artists. Anyone who can pull that off, like this wee lass did, has got the chops in my books. But it was This Is the Life that caught me by the short and curly’s from the get-go – and I’ve never grown tired of hearing it.

This Is the Life is the quintessential modern Celtic-inspired folk-rock party song. You can hear in it the pulse of acoustic guitars and the rhythmic strum reminiscent of Scottish pub folk sessions. Amy revealed in 2023 that she wrote the song when she was just 16 years old. One night she went out using her sister’s ID and had an amazing time. The next day, she was caught and grounded, confined to her room. During that long, dull day, inspired by the unforgettable night before, she wrote the song. The music video, fittingly, is a collage of photos from that night out with friends.

What also struck me about the song was how, melodically and rhythmically, it echoes the Dutch band Shocking Blue’s 1970 hit Never Marry a Railroad Man. Listen to the instrumental break of Shocking Blue’s song from the 1:00 onward, then play through Macdonald’s track – there’s a striking similarity in the guitar phrasing and cadence. Perhaps it’s coincidence, hmm dunno. Either way, both songs are fine examples of catchy, melodic storytelling from two very different rock eras and parts of Europe.

This Is the Life is from Amy’s 2007 debut album of the same name. It became a hit in mainland Europe, topping the charts of five countries but the song did not match the success in the UK of her other release – Mr Rock & Roll which is another fantastic song that will feature here in the not too distant future. This Is the Life was Macdonald’s only song to chart in North America, peaking at number 19 on the US Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart.   

[Verse 1]
Oh, the wind whistles down the cold, dark street tonight
And the people, they were dancin’ to the music vibe
And the boys chase the girls with the curls in their hair
While the shy, tormented youth sit way over there
And the songs, they get louder, each one better than before

[Chorus]
And you’re singin’ the songs, thinkin’ this is the life
And you wake up in the mornin’, and your head feels twice the size
Where you gonna go, where you gonna go?
Where you gonna sleep tonight?
And you’re singin’ the songs, thinkin’ this is the life
And you wake up in the mornin’, and your head feels twice the size
Where you gonna go, where you gonna go?
Where you gonna sleep tonight?
Where you gonna sleep tonight?

[Verse 2]
So you’re headin’ down the road in your taxi for four
And you’re waitin’ outside Jimmy’s front door
But nobody’s in, and nobody’s home till four
So you’re sittin’ there with nothin’ to do
Talkin’ about Robert Riger and his motley crew
And where you gonna go, and where you gonna sleep tonight

References:
1. This Is the Life (Amy Macdonald song) – Wikipedia

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand