In Spring 2014, I was walking to work when I was run over
by a motorbike. Later, in Hospital, I was visited by the Police who informed me that the only thing that stopped me from breaking my neck was the rucksack which had cushioned my head as I hit the road.
It was all pretty gruesome, I ended up needing some serious surgery on my leg.
I spent the next few weeks in hospital and most of the summer trying to
walk again. As with any brush with death it made me reflect on things in my life. Soon after, I quit my
job and started working towards a career in wildlife conservation, I also started writing songs again;
sowing the seeds of what would become The Things I Heard At The Party.
This song started out as a poem, I had pages and pages of verses that I just added to each day. I
might release a director’s cut at some point with all the cut lines put back in. Richard and I worked on
the song for weeks, we were conscious of trying to capture that feeling of later The Streets songs.
Albums, where Mike found that perfect balance between poignancy and hope. He always had a clear
message, that’s what I was going for here in the chorus, a simple clean line that speaks so much
more. I believe this to be the best song we’ve ever written.
lyrics
Don’t be fooled by this behaviour
For we are not as you’d suppose
The heart is not a thing for breaking
And the mind is not a thing to lose
There’s every chance you should have taken
And every word you hoped to say
But we are not the bright young things
That we were only yesterday
I got knocked down not two weeks back
The motorbike and the closest of calls
And as I lay there, in the road
Well, I guess I had some time for thought
You see we court the ever-present dangers
Of dying young or growing old
And I’ll never answer all the questions
Which torment me when I’m alone
Now I’d hate to say I’ve been enlightened
When it’s nothing you’ve not heard before
But all the talk of past and hopes for future
Were left there on the ambulance floor
You know, I think I see this now that all we have it time
I finally think I’ve figured out what’s been missing from mine
So don’t be fooled by this behaviour
For we are not as you’d suppose
We strip back all the layers of bullshit
And get life back to its bare bones
Now all my friends are having babies
And I’m the one left all alone
So I’ll exhaust this hemisphere
Then see what’s happening down below
I drag my feet along Sword beach
The sun hangs heavy in the West
See this is where we put down markers
Yeah, they’ll say it’s where we were our best
So I embrace the unfamiliar
And I’ll take the lesser-travelled road
I say give in to your misbehaviour
And only answer to your rule
I’m not trying to change your outlook
I don’t have time but we all need friends
But if that’s the biggest you can dream
Then this is where our story ends
credits
from THE MOTORBIKE & THE CLOSEST OF CALLS,
released May 4, 2018
FAR005
THE MOTORBIKE & THE CLOSEST OF CALLS - WRITTEN BY THE MAPLE STATE
RECORDED AND PRODUCED BY ANDREW FARRER & THE MAPLE STATE
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