Kind of inspired by VC's 'Staggeringly awkward relationship help needed' thread, over on World, I have to ask what bands and whatsongs sum up - for you - the chaos in your heart that a new relationship elicits?
For me, the little-known (outside of the UK and Italy) group Breathless rule this particular range. They just seem to have grasp on the torment that nebulous love can bring like no other band.
(Some of you may know vocalist Dominic Appleton from his work on the latter two of This Mortal Coil's three albums. I've heard rumours that he's gay, but I neither know (or care) if this is true. Perhaps it may contribute to the sense of relationship frustration in Breathless' work.)
Anyway, here's an example - the track 'Heartburst' which, possibly more than any other of theirs embodies - sonically and lyrically - that frustration and confusion of being in the early throes of a relationship. I think of the situation it encapsulates as almost being caught in the middle of a blizzard - your senses are overwhelmed and you can barely tell where you are, but you just keep on going, regardless, whether it leads to some kind of deliverance or to death.
Anyway, here it is...
Breathless - 'Heartburst'
"I didn't sleep at all last night
I didn't sleep but I'm not tired
I've got a good cure for my panic attacks
I've got a good cure for a quiet life.
I'm looking for the same things in other people's eyes
But I don't find what I want
Well it's a wrong, wrong, wrong way of doing things
But sometimes it's the best way.
I know what they've told you
I know what they've said
I know that they've warned you
But if you listen to them it doesn't matter much
Because I'm already over the worst
And if there's anything I haven't said
Put money on it, oh yes
And I'll get round to it one day.
Seeing a far flung hope slip by
It keeps me awake at night;
I can't help thinking
Of where you are now
And I'm sure that you're sure
It felt like an ill wind
Well that's not so strange.
All's for the best
Oh don't make me laugh.
They're just words, words, words
That's all they are.
Only saying what they should."
For me, the little-known (outside of the UK and Italy) group Breathless rule this particular range. They just seem to have grasp on the torment that nebulous love can bring like no other band.
(Some of you may know vocalist Dominic Appleton from his work on the latter two of This Mortal Coil's three albums. I've heard rumours that he's gay, but I neither know (or care) if this is true. Perhaps it may contribute to the sense of relationship frustration in Breathless' work.)
Anyway, here's an example - the track 'Heartburst' which, possibly more than any other of theirs embodies - sonically and lyrically - that frustration and confusion of being in the early throes of a relationship. I think of the situation it encapsulates as almost being caught in the middle of a blizzard - your senses are overwhelmed and you can barely tell where you are, but you just keep on going, regardless, whether it leads to some kind of deliverance or to death.
Anyway, here it is...
Breathless - 'Heartburst'
"I didn't sleep at all last night
I didn't sleep but I'm not tired
I've got a good cure for my panic attacks
I've got a good cure for a quiet life.
I'm looking for the same things in other people's eyes
But I don't find what I want
Well it's a wrong, wrong, wrong way of doing things
But sometimes it's the best way.
I know what they've told you
I know what they've said
I know that they've warned you
But if you listen to them it doesn't matter much
Because I'm already over the worst
And if there's anything I haven't said
Put money on it, oh yes
And I'll get round to it one day.
Seeing a far flung hope slip by
It keeps me awake at night;
I can't help thinking
Of where you are now
And I'm sure that you're sure
It felt like an ill wind
Well that's not so strange.
All's for the best
Oh don't make me laugh.
They're just words, words, words
That's all they are.
Only saying what they should."
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