Gotta Serve Somebody (1979) – Bob Dylan

Posted on August 23, 2024 by observationblogger — 5 Comments
Bob Dylan singing Gotta Serve Somebody February 27, 1980 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles

Only yesterday Christian and I were discussing where the weight of emphasis of ‘voice’, ‘melody’ and ‘lyric’ lies in a song. Sometimes it’s melody that draws us in, then the voice is considered and often times lyrics remain the last aspect. Christian went on to add: ‘…the order also depends on the type of song, especially since I’ve become fluent in English. If it’s a political song, lyrics become front and center‘. I would consider today’s Grammy award winning track Gotta Serve Somebody one such song where the lyrics are preeminent being both a political and religious song although one could argue the religious dimension is the most evident.
The lyrics emphasize the idea that regardless of one’s status in life, the refrain, “But you’re gonna have to serve somebody,” highlights the inevitability of choosing a side in the spiritual battle between good and evil.

Gotta Serve Somebody can also be viewed as political in a broader sense. The song critiques the social structures and hierarchies of society, pointing out that even those in positions of power—be they rulers, wealthy business people, or influential cultural figures—are not truly autonomous. In this way, the song touches on political themes by questioning the nature of power and authority, suggesting that no one is exempt from accountability or moral duty. See ‘The Rule of Law‘.

Gotta Serve Somebody was released as the opening track on his 1979 studio album Slow Train Coming and is the third song to be presented from that record after his previous entry Precious Angel. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980. Despite being from Dylan’s maligned ‘Christian’ phase including last week’s Saving Grace, Gotta Serve Somebody is in my estimation an upper-tier Dylan release. But not everyone thought that way: John Lennon famously criticized the song and wrote a parody titled “Serve Yourself” in response.
The effort is still Dylan’s latest top 40 hit on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 24 and remaining on the chart for 12 weeks. Dylan has performed the song over 500 times in concert between 1979 and 2024. The live versions he has performed in more recent years feature almost entirely new lyrics.

[Verse 1]
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

[Chorus]
But you’re going to have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re going to have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re going to have to serve somebody

[Verse 2]
You might be a rock ’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high-degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name

[Chorus]

[Verse 4]
You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks

[Chorus]

[Verse 5]
You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be working in a barbershop
You may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody’s mistress, may be somebody’s heir

[Chorus]

[Verse 6]
Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

[Chorus]

[Verse 7]
You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

[Chorus]

References:
1. Gotta Serve Somebody – Wikipedia

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Secret Garden (1995) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on August 22, 2024 by observationblogger — 9 Comments

I think Secret Garden is one of Bruce’s finest love ballads. As time has passed, I associate it more with Cameron Crowe’s sport drama Jerry Maguire (currently sitting at No 38 on my Favourite Movies List). This popular mainstream movie gave the song immediate traction and launched it to a wider audience than otherwise; extending Bruce’s appeal and legacy. For that reason, I have sent the viral fan video below (of the movie spliced with the song) which far exceeds the views of Bruce’s official video. I hope Bruce purists are not left too much in a pickle.
Apart from the fabulous usage of the song in the movie, what really floors me upon each listen is the song’s ‘bridge’. As I wrote in another song by Bruce called Countin’ on a Miracle and I could say the same of Secret Garden:

Countin’ on a Miracle contains about the best ‘bridge’ in any song I have heard. Normally I loathe these fillers as they seem to labour the song, but in Countin’ the bridge is the part of the song I like the most. 

There are so many similarities in the themes, significance and role of the ‘woman’ as presented in Secret Garden and Bob Dylan’s masterpiece Shelter From the Storm. In both songs the woman is a symbol of safety and comfort. In Secret Garden: The woman’s garden represents a space of emotional safety, where the protagonist can find solace. In Shelter from the Storm: The woman is a literal shelter, providing the narrator with protection from the chaos outside. It’s no coincidence then that director Cameron Crowe chose the latter song to close out the movie when we had earlier been serenaded today’s featured track – Secret Garden. The two songs are a couplet as it were, as presented in the Jerry Maguire movie.

[Verse 1]
She’ll let you in her house
If you come knockin’ late at night
She’ll let you in her mouth
If the words you say are right
If you pay the price
She’ll let you deep inside
But there’s a secret garden she hides

[Verse 2]
She’ll let you in her car
To go driving ’round
She’ll let you into the parts of herself
That’ll bring you down
She’ll let you in her heart
If you got a hammer and a vise
But into her secret garden, don’t think twice

[Bridge]
You’ve gone a million miles
How far’d you get
To that place where you can’t remember
And you can’t forget?

[Verse 3]
She’ll lead you down the path
There’ll be tenderness in the air
She’ll let you come just far enough
So you know she’s really there
Then she’ll look at you and smile
And her eyes’ll say
She’s got a secret garden
Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay
A million miles away

The following are extracts from the Wikipedia reference below:

Secret Garden was originally released as a single from his Greatest Hits album and peaked at a meagre No 63 in the US, but No 9 in Australia, 7 in Canada and 17 in the UK.

The song has been performed only a handful of times live. It was performed three times in 1995 in New York, and one time on the Reunion Tour in 2000. The song returned to the setlist once in 2013 when Springsteen performed it in the United Kingdom. After a three-year hiatus, Springsteen performed it twice in 2016 in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., and once in 2017 in Brisbane, Australia.

Steve Baltin from Cash Box praised the song, noting that it is a ballad that follows in the footsteps of the softer material from his Human Touch and Lucky Town albums.” He added that featuring the reunited E Street Band, “it is one of the prettier melodics Springsteen has ever come up with”.

Reference:
1. Secret Garden (Bruce Springsteen song) – Wikipedia

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Sea of Lovers (2014) – Christina Perri

Posted on August 21, 2024 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

It wouldn’t be a month in my blogger space without a heart-wrenching and soaring Christina Perri ballad. Sea of Lovers delves into themes of longing, loss, and vulnerability by painting a picture of someone adrift in a vast emotional ocean, searching for connection and understanding. It highlights the idea that love is not about quantity or superficial connections (where romantic options seem endless) but the irreplaceable connection with a specific individual or the divine.

Sea of Lovers is the fifth song to be presented here from Christina Perri’s second studio album Head or Heart (see image inset). She wrote a total of 49 songs that she had to choose from for the album by May 2013. Perri says that these 13 songs that she has chosen for the album “were what I think are pure songs, where I wasn’t trying.” Her first single from the album, was Human which featured here almost 2 years ago to the day. The single has sold over a million digital copies in the US. Sea of Lovers was also presented in Chapter 6 of the telenovela Jane the Virgin.

Perri confessed during an interview with Radio.com that she felt burnt out after promoting her last album, Lovestrong (2011). She revealed, “I didn’t want to do anything that wasn’t genuine, and I was afraid of phoning it in or forcing anything“. She recorded nine of the album’s songs with producer Jake Gosling near London over an eight-week period before returning to Los Angeles to record the remaining four tracks. Head or Heart debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, selling 40,000 copies in its first week.

[Verse 1]
A certain type of wind has swept me up
A chill has found each bone
I am overcome
There is an icy breath that escapes my lips
And I am lost again

[Verse 2]
A certain type of darkness has stolen me
Under a quiet mask of uncertainty
I wait for light like water from the sky
And I am lost again

[Chorus]
In the sea of lovers without ships
And lovers without sight
You’re the only way out of this sea
Lovers losing time
And lovers losing hope
Will you let me follow you
Wherever you go
Bring me home

[Verse 3]
A certain type of silence has filled my voice
I scream beneath the water and make no noise
All my prayers go quiet, they’re never heard
And I am lost again

[Chorus]
In the sea of lovers without ships
And lovers without sight
You’re the only way out of this sea
Lovers losing time
And lovers losing hope
Will you let me follow you
Wherever you go
Bring me home

[Repeat V1]
A certain type of wind has swept me up
A chill has found each bone
I am overcome
There is an icy breath that escapes my lips
And I am lost again

[Chorus]

References:
1. Head or Heart – Wikipedia

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Kinderszenen (Scenes From a Childhood Op 15) 1838 – Robert Schumann

Posted on August 20, 2024 by observationblogger — 2 Comments
Schumann in 1839

There are two pieces from Robert Schumann’s Scenes From a Childhood Op 15 I want to present here today namely:

No 1. Of Foreign Lands and Peoples
No 7. Dreaming

Kinderszenen Scenes from Childhood is a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838. Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work but chose 13 for the final version. He told his wife Clara that the “thirty small, droll things“, most of them less than a page in length, were inspired by her comment that he sometimes seemed “like a child“. He described them in 1840 as “more cheerful, gentler, more melodic” than his earlier works. Movement No 1 and 7 are two of Schumann’s best known pieces.

Robert Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic era and his works typify the spirit of this era. Schumann was born to an affluent middle-class family with no musical connections, and was initially unsure whether to pursue a career as a lawyer or to make a living as a pianist-composer. During the 1840s, between bouts of mental and physical ill health, he composed a variety of piano and other pieces. Schumann and his family moved to Düsseldorf in 1850 in the hope that his appointment as the city’s director of music would provide financial security, but his shyness and mental instability made it difficult for him to work with his orchestra and he had to resign after three years. The following year Schumann’s always-precarious mental health deteriorated gravely. He threw himself into the River Rhine but was rescued and taken to a private sanatorium near Bonn, where he lived for more than two years, dying there at the age of 46.  

References:
1. Kinderszenen – Wikipedia
2. Robert Schumann – Wikipedia

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Scar (2004) – Missy Higgins

Posted on August 19, 2024 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

Scar immediately grabbed the attention of listeners and critics alike becoming a huge hit in Australia entering the Australian ARIA Singles Chart at number one and going platinum. The song was released as the debut single from Missy Higgins’ first studio album, The Sound of White. It was refreshing to hear this wildly successful Melbourne pop artist sing in a heavy Australian accent which many of her peer music artists were reluctant to do for fear of alienating international audiences and jeopardising wider commercial success.

Appearances can be deceiving since Scar seems just a sprightly ‘indie’ sounding pop song on the surface but there is a lot going on beneath where its waves overlap. It is a thought provoking song about influences and particularly about two people attempting to influence and shape the narrator (we’ll assume its ‘Missy’) to their own selfish end. Missy finds she has been manipulated almost beyond her past self, and that she was ‘not herself’ all this time. She fixes this, but is still changed by the Scars that are now part of her as she learns from past experiences.

Higgins wrote Scar during a tumultuous period in her life after returning to Australia after a year in Europe, where she was grappling with feelings of dislocation, identity, and heartbreak. The song has been rumoured to give a hint to Higgins’s bisexuality, although she has not openly commented on the song’s meaning.

[Verse 1]
He left a card, a bar of soap
And a scrubbing brush next to a note
That said, “Use these down to your bones”
And before I knew I had shiny skin
And it felt easy being clean like him
I thought “This one knows better than I do”

[Pre-Chorus]
A triangle
Tryna squeeze through a circle
He tried to cut me so I’d fit

[Chorus]
And doesn’t that sound familiar?
Doesn’t that hit too close to home?
Doesn’t that make you shiver;
The way things coulda gone?
And doesn’t it feel peculiar
When everyone wants a little more?
And so that I do remember
To never go that far
Could you leave me with a scar?

[Verse 2]
So the next one came with a bag of treats
She smelled like sugar and spoke like the sea
And she told me, “Don’t trust them, trust me”
Then she pulled at my stitches one by one
Looked at my insides, clicking her tongue
And said, “This will all have to come undone”

[Pre-Chorus]
A triangle
Tryna squeeze through a circle
She tried to blunt me so I’d fit

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
I think I realised just in time
Although my old self was hard to find
You can bathe me in your finest wine
But I’ll never give you mine
‘Cause I’m a little bit tired of fearing that I’ll be
The bad fruit nobody buys
Tell me, did you think we’d all dream the same?

[Chorus]

[Post-Chorus]

Melissa Morrison Higgins was born in Melbourne on 19 August 1983. Higgins learned to play classical piano from age six, following in the footsteps of Christopher and her older David, but realised she wanted to be a singer at about 12, when she appeared in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Introverted by nature, Higgins found that piano practice helped her cope with living at boarding school. In 2001, Missy’s sister Nicola entered “All for Believing” on her behalf in Unearthed, radio station Triple J’s competition for unsigned artists. The song won the competition and was added to the station’s play list. Two record companies showed an interest in her.

References:
1. Scar (song) – Wikipedia

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Saviour (2022) – Art Block

Posted on August 18, 2024 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

Saviour is the second song to feature here from London, England-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Art Block. I learnt about Art Block and his White Horses EP at Jeff’s blog: Eclectic Music Lover. His blog is dedicated to mostly new music releases and on occasion has personal connections with the artists he features. I agree with Jeff that Art Block has deeply affecting vocals and his music is a ‘haunting brand of alternative folk, characterized by stirring melodies, captivating arrangements and gorgeous instrumentation built around his poetic, deeply moving lyrics‘. Today’s featured track Saviour is no exception. Over to Jeff:

….The first track “Saviour” speaks of a relationship that saved him at first, but ultimately ended because of the hurt and pain they inflicted on each other: “It was a travesty. Unjust unliberty. Hurting those around you. Building walls between ourselves. We knocked our brains out cold. Drank from the cup untold. Floored by passion and the drink. Makes us do what we don’t think. You were a precious stone. Now I am all alone. I’m fading, yeah I’m fading. We dug our grave too soon.” It’s a melancholy but lovely song, highlighted by Art Block’s stunning piano and Sandra Brus’ mournful violin.

Jeff has reviewed Art Block‘s music at least four times, so I point y’all to his outstanding blog if you would like to learn and hear more by Art Block including his breathtaking single The Basement which Jeff recalls is his most successful single having streamed over 350,000 times on Spotify alone. Rest assured that song will feature here when we get to the ‘T”s in the music library project.

Reference:
1. ART BLOCK – “White Horses EP” – Eclectic Music Lover

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Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (1998) – David Gray

Posted on August 17, 2024 by observationblogger — 13 Comments

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is the sixth song to feature here so far from British singer – songwriter David Gray. It also happens to be my Desert Island song from him, despite it being a ‘world’s-apart’ haunting rendition of Soft Cell‘s 1982 big hit which reached No 3 on the UK charts. Gray’s version was released on his successful 1998 album White Ladder and was the album’s fifth proper and final single and reached No 26 on the UK Singles Chart. His version, like his live performances, features additional lines at the end from the Van Morrison songs Madame George and Into the Mystic. 

I can’t blame Gray milking the heartbreaking beautiful melody for all its worth with a runtime of 9 minutes which is just under four minutes longer than the original; as such, the single featured a shorter radio edit (below the studio version). To me the song just wooshes by. I often find myself setting this song on repeat after first-listen such is my infatuation with it. Gray seems to have stripped the song down to its emotional core, transforming the upbeat synthpop number into a slow-burning, piano-driven ballad. The production is intimate, with Gray’s gravelly voice carrying the weight of the song’s sorrow.

Gray’s cover was recorded during the White Ladder sessions, a self-financed project that Gray undertook after years of limited commercial success. The album was produced in his London apartment, where he utilized minimal equipment, a four-track recorder, and his signature blend of folk, electronica, and alternative rock. White Ladder spent almost three full years on the UK top 100, consistently charting between May 2000 and March 2003. Its total charting time as of 2020 was 176 weeks, making it one of the longest-charting albums in UK chart history.

Gray believes that the success of White Ladder paved the way for “soul-baring” artists such as James Blunt, Ed Sheeran, George Ezra, James Bay, and Tom Walker. In an interview with the Daily Star, he said: “When I started out, a man with a guitar baring his soul wasn’t in vogue at all. Suddenly, it’s everywhere! [The album’s] success came from nowhere, and it changed how the business thought about what music should be. Since then, there have been lots of artists who’ve taken it on and done their own thing.”

[Verse 1]
Standin’ at the door of the pink Flamingo cryin’ in the rain
It was a kind of so-so love and I’m gonna make sure it doesn’t happen again
You and I had to be the standing joke of the year
You were a run-around, a lost and found, and not for me I feel

[Chorus]
Take your hands off me, hey
I don’t belong to you, you see
And take a look in my face for the last time
I never knew you, you never knew me, say hello, goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye

[Verse 2]
We tried to make it work, you in a cocktail skirt and me in a suit,
but it just wasn’t me
You’re used to wearing less and now your life’s a mess,
so insecure, you see
Well, I put up with all the scenes and this is one scene that’s goin’ to be
played my way

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
Under the deep red light I can see the make-up slidin’ down
Well hey, little girl, you will always make up, so take off that unbecoming frown
As for me, well, I’ll find someone who’s not goin’ cheap in the sales
A nice little housewife, who’ll give me a steady life and not keep going off the rails

[Chorus]

[Bridge]

[Instrumental Break]

[Outro]
We were born before the wind
Who are we to understand?
We were born before the wind
Say goodbye
Through the rain, hail, sleet and snow
Say goodbye
Get on the train, train, train
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
In the wind and the rain now, darling
Say goodbye
In the wind and the rain now, darling

References:
1. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye – Wikipedia
2. White Ladder – David Gray

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Murmullo (1997) – Electo Rosell (Ft. Ibrahim Ferrer – Buena Vista Social Club)

Posted on August 16, 2024 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

Hay un suave murmullo – There is a gentle whisper
En el silencio de una noche azul – In the silence of a blue night
Son dos enamorados – There are two lovers
Que, encantados, gozan del amor  – Who enchanted, enjoy love

Y ríe la vida y que dice así – And life laughs and says: Ahh, ahh, ahh…
Y ríe la luna y que dice así – And the moon laughs and says: Uhmm, uhmm , ummm…

The above Spanish lyrics of the song Murmullo meaning “whispers” or “gentle murmurs” are the only words you are going to find in this soothing and blissful romantic song. It paints a vivid picture of a serene night, where two lovers bask in the beauty of their relationship, surrounded by the gentle whispers of love.
Murmullo is part of the traditional music of Cuba called ‘Bolero‘ which possesses a romantic cadence and lyrics dealing with love. Bolero music was born as a form of romantic folk poetry cultivated by a new breed of troubadour from Santiago de Cuba, the trovadores. Pepe Sánchez is considered the father of this movement and the author of the first bolero, Tristezas (sadnesses), written in 1883.

All this heritage music which celebrates Cuba’s “musical golden age” between the 1930s and 1950s was renewed by Director Wim Wenders and guitarist Ry Cooder who teamed up again after their ‘indie’ movie masterpiece Paris, Texas. Murmullo comes from their music documentary Buena Vista Social Club named after a group formed in 1996 dedicated to the the members’ club of the same name in the Buenavista quarter of Havana; a popular music venue in the 1940s. They recruited a dozen veteran musicians, some of whom had been retired for many years to showcase the popular styles of the time.

Murmullo was born from the compositor Electo Rosell (see image inset). He was a Cuban composer, violinist, and conductor (1907-1984) and Murmullo is one of his notable compositions. On the Buena Vista soundtrack it was sung by Ibrahim Ferrer (image at the top of this post), who used to be the lead vocalist in Rosell’s ensemble Orquesta Chepín-Chovén.

References:
1. Buena Vista Social Club (album) – Wikipedia

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Saving Grace (1980) – Bob Dylan

Posted on August 15, 2024 by observationblogger — 8 Comments
‘Saving Grace’ from Toronto- 1980-04-20 – Bob Dylan (see video below)

To begin this article; in case you haven’t seen it already, I would like to present the new trailer for the Dylan biopic due out this Christmas called A Complete Unknown. It stars the magnificent Timothée Chalamet from the Dune movies and Edward Norton. Speaking of the latter, it was fascinating to watch Norton give his perspective on the young Bob Dylan from his interview with Joe Rogan in October, 2019. Now onto today’s song….

I’ve escaped death so many times, I know I’m only living
By the saving grace that’s over me

By this time I’d-a thought I would be sleeping
In a pine box for all eternity

Saving Grace by Bob Dylan is a christian song of praise for the redemption bestowed on him by the redeemer. I can relate a lot to Dylan’s testimony here, since I have also written in various ‘reflection’ articles about my infinite gratitude for this Saving Grace including here: The Last Words – “Every Passing Minute is Another Chance to Turn it all Around.”

In 2015 I initiated a project on the Bob Dylan Expecting Rain forum called Dylan’s Desert Island Revue compiling Bob Dylan’s greatest live recordings, which were felt by members as superseding their original studio release. One live version I nominated is today’s featured track Saving Grace from Bob Dylan’s 1980 Toronto show seen at the end of this post. Don’t let the poor video quality turn you off. You can also find the original studio version below that.

Dylan released Saving Grace on his second album Saved (see image inset) from his Christian Trilogy and his twentieth studio album overall. Saved expanded on themes explored on its predecessor Slow Train Coming, with gospel arrangements and lyrics extolling the importance of a strong personal faith. The album was not well received by critics and fans alike, but it does include other stand-outs like Covenant Woman and Pressing On. Dylan obviously liked Saving Grace a lot since he performed it 103 times from 1 November 79 to 29 August 2012.

[Verse 1]
If you find it in Your heart, can I be forgiven?
Guess I owe You some kind of apology
I’ve escaped death so many times, I know I’m only living
By the saving grace that’s over me

[Verse 2]
By this time I’d-a thought I would be sleeping
In a pine box for all eternity
My faith keeps me alive, but I still be weeping
For the saving grace that’s over me

[Verse 3]
Well, the death of life, then come the resurrection
Wherever I am welcome is where I’ll be
I put all my confidence in Him, my sole protection
Is the saving grace that’s over me

[Verse 4]
Well, the devil’s shining light, it can be most blinding
But to search for love, that ain’t no more than vanity
As I look around this world all that I’m finding
Is the saving grace that’s over me

[Verse 5]
The wicked know no peace and you just can’t fake it
There’s only one road and it leads to Calvary
It gets discouraging at times, but I know I’ll make it
By the saving grace that’s over me

References:
1. Saving Grace: the origins and meanings within Bob Dylan’s song – Untold Dylan
2. Saved (Bob Dylan album) – Wikipedia

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A Certain Romance (2006) – Arctic Monkeys

Posted on August 14, 2024 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

Kicking things off today are British indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, founded in Sheffield, England in 2002 by three 16-year-old friends: Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar), Andy Nicholson (bass) and Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals), together with Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards). After starting out as an instrumental band, Turner became their lead singer and frontman. Arctic Monkeys are regarded as one of the first bands who effectively used social media to boost their popularity. They also hold the distinction to have released the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Off that January 2006 album, here’s the great closer A Certain Romance, credited to all members of the band.
– Chris & Max Pick …songs from 2006 – Christian’s Music Musings

A Certain Romance is a fun and brash alternative song with elements of punk and grunge. I first heard it at blogger friend Christian’s Music Musings web site. The song contains some cool wordplay and language-craftings as it starts out scorning local townies then appears to absolve them at the end of the song. At first he is scornful, though he eventually feels sympathy and sorrow for them, and accepts that “there isn’t no romance around there.” A Certain Romance is akin to music one might expect to hear on a This is England or Billy Elliot soundtrack. Also front man Alex Turner’s voice reminds me of an English version of American Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong. What’s not to like about it? – so eclectic and versatile in its sound and production. A Certain Romance was not released as a standalone single.

According to Wikipedia the song was conceived by Turner in his teens, and follows his observation of the activities and romance—and lack thereof—among youth. A Certain Romance was acclaimed by music critics, who praised its composition, lyrics, and themes. It is considered the standout track of the album and one of the band’s best songs. In an interview with NME, Alex Turner said that when the song was first recorded, “we were all like, “Woah, woah, woah…” What have we done here?’ Pushing the music that far out from what we’d done before initially felt contentious, to say the least.” He later described the song as a showcase of the band having ambitions “beyond what we once thought we were capable of”.

[Intro]
(Shall I keep rolling?)

[Verse 1]
Well, oh, they might wear classic Reeboks
Or knackered Converse, or tracky bottoms tucked in socks
But all of that’s what the point is not
The point’s that there in’t no romance around there
And there’s the truth that they can’t see
They’d probably like to throw a punch at me
And if you could only see ’em then you would agree
Agree that there in’t no romance around there

[Chorus]
You know? Oh, it’s a funny thing, you know
We’ll tell ’em if you like, we’ll tell ’em all tonight
They’ll never listen, because their minds are made up
And course it’s all okay to carry on that way

[Verse 2]
‘Cause over there there’s broken bones
There’s only music so that there’s new ringtones
And it don’t take no Sherlock Holmes
To see it’s a little different around here
Don’t get me wrong though, there’s boys in bands
And kids who like to scrap with pool cues in their hands
And just ’cause he’s had a couple of cans
He thinks it’s all right to act like a dickhead

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
But I said no, oh no
Well, you won’t get me to go
Not anywhere, not anywhere
No, I won’t go, oh, no, no

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
But over there, there’s friends of mine
What can I say? I’ve known ’em for a long long time
And they might overstep the line
But you just cannot get angry in the same way
No, not in the same way
Said, not in the same way
Oh no, oh no, no

[Instrumental Outro]

Reference:
1. A Certain Romance – Wikipedia

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Posted in Music

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