Elbow - 'One Day Like This'
If there were any justice in the world, Lemar would be your man, and you would be his girl. Also, Elbow would be as massive as massive can be. They've got the songs, the singer, the arrangements, the ideas, the right attitude and a proper gang mentality. They have made four albums, each as good as the last, with barely a duff track to be heard, and should exist as a stark warning to a band like the Courteeners that having the swagger and the right hair is all very well and good, but it's being any good which will eventually win the day.*
Sadly, Elbow have yet to actually WIN the day, which probably says more about our collective obsession with things which are young and pretty and new and edgy, than it does about the band's musical output. If they looked like One Night Only or Elliott Minor, maybe things would be different. That said, maybe their looks would overshadow the tunes - hi McFly! - so perhaps things aren't so bad after all.
Which brings me to this song. Now, as I said, Elbow have never delivered anything less than astonishing music, they've never failed to hit those jellification spots which crack open people's protective shells and force them to reveal their tender spots to one another. They are blessed with a singer who can communicate a swooning joy better than anyone, and their tunes stick to the cerebral cortex (or whichever part of the brain is responsible for tune-retention, at any rate) like honey on velvet.
And this is a perfect case in point. A delicate celebration of having an astonishingly nice day, which ends in an enormous choral blowout of the sort which would perfectly suit a West End stage, only - and this is very important - without all the cheese. Guy Garvey croons tender words to his newly-beloved while flowers bloom, trees shed their blossom, and birds and rabbits do all of his housework. It really is that lovely a song.
And the ending is just amazing. Perfectly rational people, people who do not give in to public displays of emotion easily, people who prefer to be in-control, have been seen (and heard) walking around the supermarket on their way to work and school, mutter-singing "throw those curtains wide, one day like this a year'd see me right" with glazed, ecstatic eyes.
Seriously, where does everyone get off rushing out to buy the Kooks album when there's Elbow CDs in the shops? Are you THAT bewitched by curly hair and a hat? And you Adele fans could use a little class in your playlists too. Stuff it, EVERYONE should be giving Elbow some houseroom.
So what I propose is that today - the Whitsun bank holiday - should be re-christened 'Give 'Em The Elbow Day'. It will be a day of national celebration, in which people give and receive the gift of Guy Garvey and his magical songs. You can probably add some tatty superstitions in about seeing your true love in your reflection from an Elbow CD if you think it'll help. But fundamentally 'Give 'Em The Elbow Day' should be about taking the time out of our busy lives to listen to wonderful music.
If you can think of a better use for a Bank Holiday, I am all ears...
Download: Out now
CD Released: June 2nd
(Fraser McAlpine)
*On that note, if you'll forgive a vitriolic moment, the most annoying lyric on the entire Courteeners album is the one where Liam Fray spits "can you play guitar, my boy? Can you f***", as if being able to play the guitar is like some magical talisman of instant cool. Coming from a band as uninspired and dreary as the Courteeners, a line like that only serves to make being able to play the guitar seem as much fun as doing your A-levels.
It's only a GUITAR, Liam, it's not a particle accelerator.
Comment number 1.
At 26th May 2008, XxlivsxX wrote:I actually find this song a little dull....
And I think that being good looking is quite important when it comes to music. And that's because if somebody is singing a beautiful song, it's nice to imagine they're singing it to you, and you're not gonna want to do that if they're not very attractive.
That's why I think David Archuleta lost American Idol, because he was so young, and A-Sexual, that his performances only had one level. And there's only so many times you can listen to somebody sing a song nicely.
Perhaps it's different for men, but that's my humble opinion.
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