Lyrics of the Week #5: Elbow - Station Approach

As the 5^th in an ever-expanding set, I felt this week’s edition of Lyrics of the Week (or LOTW #5, if you prefer) needed to be a bit more upbeat. Not necessarily happy or overtly positive, but something that’s not about love. To that end I have settled upon Manchester band Elbow as the band of choice and in particular, their song Station Approach.

It’s taken from the 2005 album Leaders of the Free World and is an unquestionable Elbow classic. Starting with a simple acoustic guitar line and accompanying piano, it’s grows and grows as the emotion in singer Guy Garvey’s voice builds until booming drums and expansive guitars see the song through to a anthemic conclusion. As with much of Elbow’s work, the song itself is magnificently simple and is testament to the power of a good melody and clever arrangement.

However, the most important part (in this instance at least) is the lyrics and is of course, the reason why we’re here. As is becoming habit, I’m looking at the first verse:

“I haven’t been myself of late. I haven’t slept for several days. But coming home I feel like I designed these buildings I walk by”

As this may or may not reveal, this song is about coming home. Nothing metaphorical, just the simple pleasure and excitement of returning home. As a feeling, many of us know it and as a song, Station Approach is the perfect soundtrack to that event.

The first two lines not only describe the feeling of displacement and homesickness at being away, but also cleverly double up to highlight the butterflies and the excitement as the time of going home approaches and lines three and four echo that sentiment. They expand on the feeling of familiarity in a brilliant and (that word again) simple final line that distils a collection of emotions into one clear and concise sentence. The picture it paints never fails raise a tiny, contented smile.

I’ll admit that these are not the most poetic of lyrics or the most romantic, but that’s why I love it. It’s hard to write about happiness, but these lyrics capture a small moment of delight we all feel from time to time and the excitement we get from being with family, at home.

I would thoroughly recommend not just the album from which Station Approach is taken, but also any of the records in the Elbow canon. Don’t let the Mercury Prize sway you, each album is as good as the other and you can do much worse than start with Leaders of the Free World. Clever, melodic and hugely enjoyable, I urge you to hear the unique sound of one of Britain’s best bands. You won’t regret it.

Visit Elbow or their MySpace.

Get Leaders of the Free World

If you visit the Mother-Blog over at Wordpress you’ll find the excellent Station Approach for your listening pleasure. Simple and brilliantly driven, it’s an Elbow classic that should be cherished.

Lyrics of the Week #4: Bon Iver - Re: Stacks

Those of you with a finger in the general music pie will have noticed the slice that consists of folk music (or influences thereof) has had huge surge in popularity over the last 2-3 years. Some have cleverly named it “nu-folk” (after a certain metal scene some may recall from the start of the last decade) and, with the recent, inexplicable rise of acts such as Ellie Goulding, it seems that it is still having pretty sizeable influence. Britain is more sensitive that many had realised.

The most notable bands to come from this new trend include the excellent Mumford & Sons (featured here), Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale and today’s focus Bon Iver (pronounced “Bon-ee-veir”, it’s amalgamated from the French “bon hiver” meaning “good winter”).

After spending 3 months locked away in a log cabin in Wisconsin and armed with only a few instruments, Justin Vernon - the man behind Bon Iver – emerged with the beautiful and fragile album from where we take today’s lyrics of the week. For Emma, Forever Ago (written for a real ‘Emma’ although probably not that long ago) is an album for the new age, sensitive music buyer and is a heart-wrenching and brilliant drop to the depths of sadness. Tracks such as Flume, Skinny Love and The Wolves (Act I and II) are not only melodic, hypnotizing songs, but also have a real fragility about them thanks in no small part to Vernon’s wonderful, falsetto voice.

Vernon sings in this haunting falsetto voice (with a small nod to Neil Young) throughout the album but it’s on today’s track Re: Stacks that it really comes into it’s own (you can hear it below). It’s a beautiful, six-minute folk epic that is, for me, the undoubted best in the Iver canon and just so happens to contain the best and most poetic of all Vernon’s lyrics.

There are many parts of this song that could just as easily filled this page but the final few lines of the last verse stand out above the rest:

“This is not the sound of a new man or a crispy realisation.

It’s the sound of the unlocking and the lift away.

Your love will be safe with me”

Not only does it sum up the preceding song, but it also has the same effect for the rest of the album. It suggests that the narrator (Vernon, in all likelihood) has not changed or become “a new man” but is now accepting his loss. The second line is an excellent metaphor for how the song (and his creating of the album) is the result of him accepting this acceptance. He has unlocked his grief and it’s become a weight off his mind.

The final line is perhaps my favourite of not only this song but the handful of LOTWs I’ve done up until this point. The best lyrics are mostly the simplest ones and this is a perfect example. As well a being a brilliant line on it’s own, in this context it suggests that the love the narrator and the former partner shared will still always be there, but there’s no sadness anymore, just a great memory. In a funny sort of way, it’s a happy ending to the album.

If you haven’t already got For Emma, Forever Ago, then I strongly urge you to get it. It’s a fragile, beautiful and frankly timeless masterpiece that really should be up there when the “greatest albums of the 21^st century” lists do the rounds. There has been a lot of hype (much of which you can read above) but, as occasionally happens, it really is justified.

Visit Bon Iver or their MySpace

Get the album.

Re: Stacks is the standout track from an already outstanding album, which you’d be insane to miss. I’m fresh out of superlatives so I’ll let the track do the talking. Listen or download at the Mother-Blog on Wordpress.

Lyrics of the Week #3: Alberta Cross - Ghost of City Life

This week’s marvellous instalment comes from New York based rock band Alberta Cross and, more specifically their excellent 2009 debut album Broken Side of Time.  It combines elements of country, pop and straight-ahead rock to form a refreshing and upbeat album that is one of those records you find that you keep playing.

The only song on the album that isn’t upbeat however, is where we get the lyrics of the week for today. Lyrically speaking, album closer Ghost of City Life does pretty much what it says on the tin, that being a sorrowful lament for an unnamed and faceless city. It’s a beautiful track in it’s own right and that is only enhanced by it’s rueful and almost angry lyrics. They’re great the whole way through but for reasons of capacity, I’m only going to share on the first verse:

“How about believing? How about some faith?

I’m tired of remorse. How about some truth now, honey?”

An immediate attack on an unnamed target not only presents some subdued anger, but also has hints of regret and sorrow that gives it a real fragility. The questions asked show that the narrator has reached  breaking point and suggest in the following line that they’ve perhaps become tired of being blamed or being forced to accept defeat.

Whilst these lyrics suggest the breakdown of love, the song’s title references disillusionment with city and it’s unforgiving nature. We could surmise then that the ‘honey’ referenced in the lyrics could be a personification of the city and that the anger that the narrator feels, or the truth that they wants is directed at an unnamed city that has broken them.

Overall this is beautiful song and one that is of great value on an album of rock. Don’t forget you can get it in it’s entirety over at the Mother-Blog on Wordpress and, if you like what you hear, I really urge you to give Broken Side of Time, the album from which it’s taken, a listen.

Alberta Cross are a band that are getting the success their music deserves and I for one, am a huge fan.

Visit Alberta Cross and get the album.

Lyrics of the Week #1: Simon & Garfunkel - Sound of Silence

So as is traditional, let’s kick off with week one. Today’s entry comes from folk greats Simon & Garfunkel, with these words specifically written by Paul Simon. Lifted from their breakthrough 1966 album of the same name, Sound of Silence is one of those fantastically simple and awe-inspiring songs. The haunting electric guitar (interestingly not composed by Simon) sets a bleak outlook, which is ultimately reversed by Simon’s wonderfully building melody, and the dated drums  serve only to add to the power of lyrics, giving them centre stage.

“Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again.”

Mrs Robinson aside, these are probably the duo’s most lasting lyrics and so they should be. The chilling familiarity and casual nature of the words are devastatingly simple and yet very effective as they paint an instant picture that is clear to us all.

For my money this is Simon’s best work (musically and lyrically) and is a great introduction if you’re not already a fan. They come thoroughly recommended and you could do much worse than starting with this very album.

So that’s it. I chose a great one to start and they’ll be plenty more where that came from in the next few weeks. You can hear Sound of Silence in it’s entirety over the Mother-Blog on Wordpress and don’t forget to get the album if you haven’t already (which, as I go to press, is at an insanely low price).