Entertainment For Lively Minds
Does it matter if you can’t hear the words?
I was listening to the “exclusive” Radiohead song at the end of the Today programme on radio 4 this morning. Putting aside the cheesy 80’s style synths one thing that struck me was that I couldn’t make out what dear old Thom (Tommy to his mates) Yorke was singing about. I have a vague idea what it was about because of the introduction from James Naughtie but apart from that I think I heard the phrase “the last one” the rest is mystery. I think the producers anticipated this and we were told the lyrics were available on some website.
If I didn’t know the song was about Harry Patch I’m not sure I wouldn’t have understood what it was about, Thom Yorke's singing isn’t much of clue because he never does happy songs so they always sound doomy and portentous.
I know listening to songs in tongues I don’t know that you can enjoy a song/voice even if you don’t know every last syllable but Thom always gives the impression that every last word is rung from the bottom of his soul and that every letter is sacred.
Lastly having to read the sleeve notes is a cop out, it’s like those art shows you go to where you have to read two sides of A4 to understand why some YBA has stuck an orange on a kebab inside a bread bin.
I’m not sure my minds made up this so what do other people think?
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I give in
I live in the sticks. What's a YBA?
Young British Artist
although they are not so "young" anymore and their "leader" Damian Hurst also lives in the "sticks" BTW.
The intro...
was quite chirpy for Radiohead... then it got gloomy..
"i am the only one that got through
the others died where ever they fell
it was an ambush
they came up from all sides
give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
i've seen devils coming up from the ground
i've seen hell upon this earth
the next will be chemical but they will never learn"
THE MAN HIMSELF
The words are Harry Patch's own, I believe, taken from a Radio 4 interview.
That's practically
a singalong chorus by Radiohead standards.
I think he was quoting the interview clip...
... of Harry which was played at the start in his song. That's what these half asleep ears heard anyway.
I thought it was fine. I quite like The Radiohead, they could have done a U2 but decided not to. That makes them good guys as far as I'm concerned.
Thom says...
"I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on the Today program on Radio 4.
The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me.
It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death.
It was done live in an abbey. The strings were arranged by Jonny.
I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor. It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us.
I hope we do not forget".
As Harry himself said
"Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims".
£1 to download
from www.radiohead.com. All profits to the British Legion.
Will it be...
79p on Itunes?
Hmm
but if it needs an interview to get the jist over why not just give interview saying what decent chap Harry Patch was?
Also well if it's for charity it's above critical reproach then.
Maybe...
but Radio 4 weren't going to pass up on the chance to get an exclusive.
Not being able to make out the lyrics
has served various acts very well over the years. I think Michael Stipe and Mick Jagger have both admitted to doing this when they didn't feel too confident about the lyrics.
And as jaded as it sounds, there's a lot of songs with not very much to say or which say things in such an asinine way that you sometimes wish there was more mumbling...
I suppose so
I was interetsed the other day to hear an acoustic version of "going underground". Paul Weller's shouted delivery covered up the last verse before now(and I got the version snap! with no sleeve notes) and at the end the poor s*d whose got a kicking tells us the thugs have got his house keys and will be bursting in on his wife in some sort of sub "Death wish" ending.
This new to me ending has altered the song for me mainly because I now wonder how they knew where he lives? Did Weller's victim tell the thugs? If so , it's not very heroic or did they find his gas bill? Also even in 1979 did thugs really mug someone and then pop round their gaff? In this case I think not hearing is probably a good thing.
That'll be "Tube Station"...
...not "Going Underground". Re hearing the lyrics, or being able to read them, it always makes me think of an interview with Elvis Costello in Q ages ago. He said he liked the idea of listeners misinterpreting the lyrics because it could put a completely different perspective on the song. Whether this is a good thing depends on how desperately the writer wants the audience to understand their point, I suppose. I like EC's point of view.
And also
that his wife prefers sparkling wine.
Midnight seems like quite a late time to be sitting down for dinner too, particularly when you add in the journey time - it would be more like 1am.
Having said that it does contain the line 'The last thing that I saw as I lay there on the floor was a sign saying 'Jesus Saves' painted by an atheist nutter'
Mornington Crescent
I can't remember the end of Going Underground, but that's the pay off from Down in the Tube Station you've been listening to
Maybe he didn't hear it properly...
.
It's Down on the tube station
but wow, I'd never heard that bit either.
But I always wondered why he buys a takeaway curry and then gets on the tube to take it home. Surely you buy it at the other end, don't you?
sorry you are all right
You can see where my confusion came from and yes I hadn't heard the nutter line either. Maybe reading the lyrics is a good thing!
Re: misheard lines
I's always heard "a cheap holiday -
Do it today!" as "a cheap holiday -
a Jewish tuesday!"
before now not sure what I thought this meant probably similar to a busman's holiday.
I think we can let PW off on the wine front I doubt he'd had much wine when he wrote this
here's the last verse in full.
Ps. I still think it's a gripping narrative though.
The last thing that I saw
As I lay there on the floor
Was jesus saves painted by an atheist nutter
And a british rail poster read have an awayday - a cheap holiday -
Do it today!
I glanced back on my life
And thought about my wife
cause they took the keys - and shell think its me
And Im down in the tube station at midnight
The wine will be flat and the currys gone cold
Im down in the tube station at midnight
Dont want to go down in a tube station at midnight
Not for me...
... the last 2 Talk Talk albums ("Spirit of Eden" and "Laughing Stock") are great favourites of mine, and I have NO idea what Mark Hollis is singing about. I think there are lyrics in the CD booklet, albeit in tiny spidery writing, but I've grown so attached to these albums that I think it would spoil them for me if I ever found out what they're actually about.
***SPOILER***
Mark Hollis, some tinfoil, and a fag lighter.