A favourite song

Date: 06 November 2013 19:25:54

Here is a link to a favourite “Elbow” song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrcju9TRMA

"Lippy Kids" - Guy Garvey trhe lead singer and writer of a lot of the songs says: "It's quite a nostalgic thing. I've got a thing about growing up, Not needing to! But a certain period of your life when – well kids are called 'hoodies' these days aren't they when they reach their teens. I remember it being an amazing important time, so I've written a lot about that."

Someone else writes:

No-one captures childhood nostalgia quite like Elbow. Garvey has an ability simultaneously to summon the carefree child's thoughts and the reflective adult's - It's a classic Garvey lyric, using idiomatic English (has anyone ever used the phrase "simian stroll" in song before?) to find beauty in unremarkable everyday detail.

He's watching these lippy kids on the street corner, larking about, walking on walls and stealing booze - but to him they're not chavs or hoodies, they're "freshly painted angels". It's an affectionate portrayal of Northern scallywags that never descends into Hovis ad schmaltz, or 'Round Are Way' geezerishness: an impressive lyrical feat.

That sense of restraint is mirrored by the music itself. The song resists the urge to swell to a roaring climax . It's a mark of Elbow's maturity as a band that they just let the song work its elegant magic, and then fade out."

"Don't they know these days are golden?" - we forget that growing up is a wonderfully scary, yet magical time.

We are going to see them in April at Liverpool’s Echo Arena – that will be a different experience to our last Elbow concert in a small music club in Paris. Mr D is a great fan; I am a moderate fan – but I am very much looking forward to our trip to Liverpool.

If you don’t know the group, they performed at the Olympic opening ceremony and wrote the BBC music for the Olympic coverage.