Enola/Alone

I was listening to an interview where Nickey said that he wrote this song after looking through his wedding photos and seeing a picture of himself and richey and phillip (the manics old manager)

Everything Mus Go's most defining and, in my opinion, best track: simultaneously optimistic and melancholic. According to the eminent Simon Price, who penned a book about the Manics, Enola/Alone is about 'carrying on in the face of loss'. Guaranteed to make me happy whenever I hear it.

Enola was the name of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on hiroshima.

Obviously, the loss of Richie. The song's from the last great Manics album. Has any info ever been found since that could point to what happened? Or did he really just disappear off the face of the earth? It's only a matter of time before someone makes a movie about the life and times of the MSP

Enola is Alone backwards. Much like Revol is Lover backwards.

From my birth a rellik to killer

rellik is killer backwards for anyone who didnt know.

'but all i wanna do is live, no matter how miserable it is' pretty much my life description. i already have one manics tattoo, 'this is my truth tell me yours' tattooed on the inside of my right arm, but for years i've wanted a beach scene tattooed on my left shoulder cos of the beach & grass lyrics in this song. i still want it. this song is always such a comfort to listen to.

It seems to be about the aftermath of a disaster (Richey's disappearance.) The title is possibly referring to Enola Gay, the plane which dropped the atomic bomb.

'I walk in the grass..' describes the idyllic, almost surreal calmness after a disaster, but before the dust has fully settled or realisation set in, which is probably how Nicky felt after Richey's disappearance. This is possibly compared with the disaster of the atomic bomb dropped by Enola Gay.

'Please take me home' 'remember how good you looked' etc. - nostalgia for a time before the disaster/disappearance. 'Like memory it has disappeared' conveys the idea of loss, that nothing is permanent and those times are gone now.

'All I want to do is live, no matter how miserable it is' - beautiful, uplifting lyric about accepting loss and wanting to move onwards.