LISTED: Goosebumps Vol.2 - Elbow's Powder Blue
*Goosebumps is a new recurring feature where we highlight on songs that what we perceive to be a complete artistic statement in terms of its melody, lyrics, and to a certain extent, its video clip as well.
It's still drizzling lightly outside, though the December monsoon should already be at the tail-end of its wrath by now. The alarm clock on my bedside table says it is now close to midnight and the chill is starting to kick in. I huddled up my blanket and wrapped it around me, and returned to sit back in front of my computer. This is not the first time I'm losing my sleep over something... as various thoughts flashes through my mind. The only thing that I can think of right now is that... if ever such a thing is true, then I might be in for such a powerful, raw display of emotion that I've never been familiar with. This, ladies and gentlemen, is all started with the stroke of the piano keys...
According to Guy Garvey, the vocalist for the Mancunian five piece Elbow, the inspiration for the song "Powder Blue" was drawn from a 'tragically heartfelt' scene: "I almost feel guilty for writing this song. It's based on a withdrawing couple I saw in a bar. She was banging a coin on the bar really loudly and he came up behind her and put his arms round her, staying her hand and she burst into tears. There was a tragic magic to the situation that would have affected anyone who witnessed it." (Source)
Without taking in that quote by Guy, my initial thought was that this song is about a couple who are both staring at the face of death, considering the line: "China white, my bride tonight / Smiling on the tiles". That imagery alone was almost totally inescapable of how I imagined the guy seeing his lover lying on the floor, stone cold dead. However, the rest of the lines in the song didn't really tally with the initial image that I have in my head. Only after I did a research (Read: Wikipedia) on 'China white', after I got frustrated coming up empty-handed with 'powder blue', that I knew that 'China white' is a slang term for α-Methylfentanyl, or heroin.
What really grasped my attention the most to this song is how dramatic it sounded and felt, with the opening piano keys tumbling away in a discordant fashion before it neatly retreated back into a calm passage, and Guy's voice hanging in lower mid note, introducing the song - it is as if a tragedy had just befallen on the narrator. Then what proceeded is a four minutes uncontrolled weeping of a man who had 'lost everything', with the narrator pining for the memory of a soul departed in a longing weep: "Your eyes are just like black spiders / Your hair and dress in ribbons / Baby cakes". It was only by the second part of the first verse where the reference towards drug is apparent: "In despair or incoherence / Nothing in between". The way I understood this, when someone is high on drugs, they are in a constant state of incoherence, and when the withdrawal sets in and they are no longer experiencing the high, they are, well, to make it short, in despair.
So to carefully sum up the whole story, it is about a pair of lover who are hooked on doing drugs (and especially heroin, since it got a mention), and the narrator is just narrating that particular moment in which both of them 'administered' heroin into their system, and went through the motions together, as lovers, heart and soul and mind in unison ("Bring that minute back / We never get so close as when the sunward flight begins"). Ah, how romantic.
*Goosebumps is a new recurring feature where we highlight on songs that what we perceive to be a complete artistic statement in terms of its melody, lyrics, and to a certain extent, its video clip as well.
It's still drizzling lightly outside, though the December monsoon should already be at the tail-end of its wrath by now. The alarm clock on my bedside table says it is now close to midnight and the chill is starting to kick in. I huddled up my blanket and wrapped it around me, and returned to sit back in front of my computer. This is not the first time I'm losing my sleep over something... as various thoughts flashes through my mind. The only thing that I can think of right now is that... if ever such a thing is true, then I might be in for such a powerful, raw display of emotion that I've never been familiar with. This, ladies and gentlemen, is all started with the stroke of the piano keys...
According to Guy Garvey, the vocalist for the Mancunian five piece Elbow, the inspiration for the song "Powder Blue" was drawn from a 'tragically heartfelt' scene: "I almost feel guilty for writing this song. It's based on a withdrawing couple I saw in a bar. She was banging a coin on the bar really loudly and he came up behind her and put his arms round her, staying her hand and she burst into tears. There was a tragic magic to the situation that would have affected anyone who witnessed it." (Source)
Without taking in that quote by Guy, my initial thought was that this song is about a couple who are both staring at the face of death, considering the line: "China white, my bride tonight / Smiling on the tiles". That imagery alone was almost totally inescapable of how I imagined the guy seeing his lover lying on the floor, stone cold dead. However, the rest of the lines in the song didn't really tally with the initial image that I have in my head. Only after I did a research (Read: Wikipedia) on 'China white', after I got frustrated coming up empty-handed with 'powder blue', that I knew that 'China white' is a slang term for α-Methylfentanyl, or heroin.
What really grasped my attention the most to this song is how dramatic it sounded and felt, with the opening piano keys tumbling away in a discordant fashion before it neatly retreated back into a calm passage, and Guy's voice hanging in lower mid note, introducing the song - it is as if a tragedy had just befallen on the narrator. Then what proceeded is a four minutes uncontrolled weeping of a man who had 'lost everything', with the narrator pining for the memory of a soul departed in a longing weep: "Your eyes are just like black spiders / Your hair and dress in ribbons / Baby cakes". It was only by the second part of the first verse where the reference towards drug is apparent: "In despair or incoherence / Nothing in between". The way I understood this, when someone is high on drugs, they are in a constant state of incoherence, and when the withdrawal sets in and they are no longer experiencing the high, they are, well, to make it short, in despair.
So to carefully sum up the whole story, it is about a pair of lover who are hooked on doing drugs (and especially heroin, since it got a mention), and the narrator is just narrating that particular moment in which both of them 'administered' heroin into their system, and went through the motions together, as lovers, heart and soul and mind in unison ("Bring that minute back / We never get so close as when the sunward flight begins"). Ah, how romantic.
Labels: elbow, goosebumps
posted by Hafeez at 2:04 AM
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