Never has a place felt more electric. In a matter of hours more of Scotland will head down to the polls than ever have before to cast their vote, make their voice heard, lend a vow and make history.
Never have my dips and delves into my pop back catalogue been so illustrative of the political climate as every song spins a new story on the bloody independence referendum. Not content with making my coffee high a whirlwind of panic about what to do – pop music changes its mind as quickly as I can draw on too much eyeliner and sing along. The romance, the trauma, the tremor of change, the darkness of heartbreak, the joy of new love, the moments between, the sweaty exchange of naughtiness afterwards, our winning popstars and musical mavericks have been writing songs about the referendum for decades. Here are my pick of the Top Seven.
Let’s kick off with a 2002 classic. (No. ONE)
Chill out, what you yellin' for?
Lay back, it's all been done before
SORRY. I wasn’t yelling Avril. I was listening to the excited and invigorating conversations echoing out of Perth, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Ullapool and Edinburgh and seeing how the rest of the world responds. You know someone in AMERICA did a thing on a tele show? Uh huuuuh. Mad ey.
Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else
Gets me frustrated
Life's like this
You, you fall and you crawl and you break
And you take what you get and you turn it into honesty
Seems you’re a little confused Avs. At least things are nae ironic for you.
Something has changed within me (No. TWO)
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap!
This poetry is lent to us while we are listening to the musical soundtrack from the lauded ‘oh what did happen before Oz to make that witch green?’ Wicked. I think Elphaba has some sound advise for possible ‘YES’ voters.
I'm through accepting limits
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change but 'til I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love it comes at much too high a cost!
EXCLAMATION MARK. Huh. What a drama.
There’s also a load about looking to the Western sky… so you can either look to the Western SKYE or the NORTHERN sky. Up to you really.
STAY WHERE? (No. THREE)
Alright dudes in the white coats of glory. Endlessly 90s. Endlessly relevant for Davey Camerooooon and his dudes. Also – without being glib – for those that genuinely love Scotland but want to see what this wild rebellion can do to change things without going solo – there are some lovely sentiments.
Baby if you've got to go away
Don't think I can take the pain
Won't you stay another day
Oh, don't leave me alone like this
Don't you know we've come too far now
Just to go and try to throw it all away??????????????????
Probs best to ignore the stuff about ‘I touch your face while you are sleeping’ as it’s a bit creepy and I don’t like the idea of future UK PM Boris Johnson sneaking into my house and doing just that. Though I’m sure Ed Miliband has muttered ‘Though it's all for you that, I do seem to be wrong.’
These duo-banging love-sharing coke-downing dudes have a little to say on the matter. If only to advice voters to ‘open your eyes and LOOK at the day.’ Trust me, all I bloody do is look at the day and indulge myself in a level of panic I've never politically experienced before, bearing in mind I was really freaking scared of David Cameron becoming PM.
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone. (No. FOUR)
Why not think about times to come,
And not about the things that you've done,
If your life was bad to you,
Just think what tomorrow will do.
Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.
Slightly sinister there. I never meant any harm to you but wooooops I may just have discharged that gun.
Ok ok ok ok this is just freaky. A film about sisters who discover they love each other more than the MEN IN THEIR LIVES? Tell me about it. Frozen's Let It Go storms in at No. FIVE.
It’s tricky to really realize this as there’s been a bit of a UK-wide heatwave this week, so there’s nae chance of snow even in the Cairngorms
The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside.
Let it go, let it go!
Can't hold it back any more.
Let it go, let it go!
Turn away and slam the door.
I don't care what they're going to say.
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway.
It's funny how some distance, makes everything seem small.
And the fears that once controlled me, can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through.
No right, no wrong, no rules for me.
I'm free!
And we continue with a little meta (and much repetition.)
Let the storm rage on! The cold never bothered me anyway...
It gets really cold in the winter. Erm. Salmond, whatcha gonna do about that? JUST ASKING.
The sun'll come out, tomorrow (NO. SIX)
So you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow
Come what may. Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow
You're ONLY a day away.
Lord above. No sleep ‘til Brooklyn huh? (NO. SEVEN) Night y'all.
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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