Composer Reacts to Elbow - The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver (REACTION & ANALYSIS)
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- čas přidán 20. 08. 2024
- Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Elbow - The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver
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I knew choosing this song was a bit of a gamble, but I felt it needed to be shared with the community.
There's definitely a story behind the lyrics, the inspiration for the song came (if I'm not mistaken) from someone that the singer's brother knew, who was a tower crane operator and was a bit of a show-off. He had the better paid job on site, but the rest of the crew didn't like him at all, and at some point the guy broke down in front of the singer's brother, telling him how he was actually miserable and lonely. In that sense, the singer kind of try to imagine how the guy that seemed to "have it all" (at least in that context) was actually empty inside.
I do believe the song works perfectly as a metaphore for suicide though (especially considering he mentions being too far to fall, and asking others to "send up a prayer in my name"). The album it's part of (The Seldom Seen Kid) deals with issues like mortality, loss and addiction so I wouldn't consider it out of place. I feel the entrance of the chorus symbolizes two things: on one hand, it's the people that judge the main character (he sings "they say I'm on top of my game", backed by the chorus). On the other hand, it could symbolize other lonely people. That's were the clash has a purpose, all of them share the same loneliness, even if none of them realize it.
I really recommend checking both the studio version of this album and the live one, they recorded the whole thing with the orchestra, but this i probably the track that sounds more different than the studio version (that's even more lifeless in the soft sections). The repetitive and mechanical nature of the track was meant to represent how a crane sounds.
I'm glad you like it and thanks for making the effort to check the lyrics. Great commentary as always, Bryan!
Thanks for recommending it, Elbow's finest work needs more attention from the music fan community
Agreed with everyone, they're an incredibly underrated band. Amazing music.
Surely the title was a nod to Belle & Sebastian, no?
Guy Garvey has one of the most remarkable voices in rock... His chill-inducing vocals front some excellent songs in their catalog... I'd recommend anything from "The Seldom-Seen Kid"... but this entire performance with the BBC orchestra is worth checking out.
The music isn't supposed to pop and fizz. It represents industry, heavy dirty industry. It's a backdrop to the story.
in an absolute nutshell.
Great pick. The live version of "Grounds for Divorce" from this session is also pure GOLD
Oh that performance was just amazing, such an emotional song especially the way it was sung by Guy Garvey, he's just a teddy bear you want to give a big to...on a serious note, this song gets me every time...
Personally I feel the Abbey Road live performance is the better since it has the choir to really pack that punch. It's one of my fav songs.
I also recommend Starlings.
Starlings is my favourite Elbow track, although it’s really hard to choose.
Lippy Kids and Magnificent are both spectacular songs you should check out. Well, everything they do is spectacular, but those are my two favorites.
Love Elbow seen them live myself and they create music which seeps into your soul, my profile pic is from one of their gigs
Absolutely love Elbow especially as they're from my home town. Great reaction which, as is the way with these things, hasn't got the number of views it deserves. As others have said, the whole of this concert is superb. It was recorded by the BBC at the famous Abbey Road Studio for broadcast on TV. You should watch "One Day Like This" from the same concert, which has become an anthem at Glastonbury and other festivals, as well as being chosen by Director Danny Boyle, (who is also from Bury), to close the 2012 London Olympic Games, if you haven't got a wide grin on your face at the end, really you should check for a pulse, God even the Orchestra and Choir are smiling, which is something you don't see very often.
This was GORGEOUS!
My hypothesis is that Santiago just wanted to share this with us all (not really expecting there to be really much in the music or arrangement to dive into analytically(?) So THANK YOU Santiago!😍
I myself didn't catch much of the lyrical content at first listen but was still moved by the singing and the melody of it (strongly backed up by the musical harmonies and arrangements).
And the singer's got a voice somewhere in between Sting and Peter Gabriel 😍
(Have heard and enjoyed this band before - they're pretty big)
Glad you liked it! Yeah, I wanted to share it, besides the analysis. It's hard to do that in the discord sometimes. I love this guy's voice, he really has a strong Peter Gabriel feel.
Guy Garvey, comes across as a nice chap on the radio show he does for BBC 6Music every Sunday 1400 UK time repeated at midnight.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000wk4x
@@progperljungman8218 Guy also made a solo album, you should definitely check it out!
This is better than the studio version...the whole performance was broadcast on BBC Radio 2, I taped it....x
I love this song, and the band. Guy Garvey’s lyrics hit me right in the feels. The album version to me is preferable, it has more impact without the orchestration. It also works very well in the context of the album. This version of the song puts Guy into the spotlight more so than the album does, and it is a bit too much. (That is, the song doesn’t need spelling out, it’s clear enough!)
Guy’s vocals and his accent and background add to the authenticity but that is a subtlety that might only work if you grew up in the UK. I hate so say it but there’s a stereotypical ‘northern working class’ honesty, passion, simplicity. Damned straight it is pure poetry and works perfectly with the music. I wouldn’t separate them.
Being a working class Northern lad myself, you have just summed up my feelings on this awesome band. ✌
As a “Northern lass”, born and brought up in Cumbria but living in Kent for nearly 30 years, I love the fact that Guy Garvey sings in his own accent. His northern vowels make me go weak at the knees. The fact that he’s also a poet goes without saying.
One of the best performances ever, i love the almost trance like quality that gives the feeling of the loneliness and monotony of the crane driver high in his cab doing his work day after day.
Love Elbow but please check out "Dirty Boy" by Cardiacs ... it's massive !!
Loved this song for ten years. Last year I stayed a night in a hotel with one of my many ‘brothers’ who had just split with his wife. We talked the night through.. the whole 40 years of our shared families histories.. I left him to go back snoring at 9am… at the reception I asked the lady if someone could please make sure “ my boyfriend gets up to take his kids to football or his wife would get angry and suspicious… walked away from her shocked expression… cackling to myself.
Between when I left and the 11am kick out call….. he died. We got the call while at a family barbecue. Devastated. Just. Words can’t convey how I feel.
This song does.
So sorry Stacey. 😢
While this is a great track, Elbow have so many better ones. "Mirrorball", "One Day Like This", "The Birds", "The Night Will Always", "Lippy Kids", "Station Approach", "Forget Myself", "Mexican Standoff", "The Fix".
Great atmosphere
Elbow are one of my fave bands ever, totally fair comments, Peter Gabriel done an interesting cover of mirrorball by Elbow, very orchestra oriented, would love to hear your views on that one, although its the same song as Elbows original, Peter really stamped a completely original sound to it, made it his own! Probably one of the best cover versions Ive heard, certainly the most original...
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Went through Elbow's discog back when I was exploring Britpop. I remember thinking that of all those bands they were the ones that were the most awkward fit for the label, seeming like equal parts proggy, indie pop/rock and generally more complex than bands like Oasis or Blur. I'm pretty sure I heard this song and the album it was from, but I have blurry memories. It's a good track, but it has a similar problem I have with Elbow in that I wish it was a bit more... memorable? I always feel like I'm waiting for them to "pop" just a bit more than they do. I do think the presence of the orchestra helps with the dynamics here and it does seem better than what I can remember from the album version. This does have some very beautiful orchestral writing, but it's mostly all texture. Again I just wish there was a bit more there...
Personally I wouldn’t put them in the same category of music at all, they only share “being British’ as an attribute. Elbow are from a different time (this album was written over a decade later) have a subtle genius in their music which isn’t in the Brit pop world.
Elbow are growers. Listen to them a few times. You will love them more with each listen. Garvey's lyrics, at times, are absolutely sublime. Their melodies are magnificent. Their only problem iis it takes more than one hearing. When I first heard "The Birds", I was disappointed. By then I was familiar, and owned their earlier albums, and I thought this was a let down. After 2 or 3 listenings it became my favourite track. Another track I felt the same way about, from the same album, "The Night Will Always Win", the more I heard it and understood it, the more it broke my heart. I found, after a few listening's, I would break into tears over the lyrical content and the beautiful melody.