English Rose Lyrics
Mentat - It's a widely accepted variation in grammar, mostly used in Olde English Literature "no bonds can ever tempt me from she".
If the line was "No bonds can ever tempt me from her" it just wouldn't be as poetic..
The English Rose is not a girl. It's England itself. Not the Queen or fake nationalism. More about humour, pubs, green stuff, ways of doing things, music, buzz, us being us. I tried living in America, Holland and Spain. Came home gratefully from all three, much as I liked them. I've been out in the world. It's SO good to be home.
I love to play this to those who think they know Paul Weller's type of music from what they've heard on the radio. When they hear this they're amazed it's by him.
The lyrics were also used in a play on TV about a year or two ago. Can't remember what it was called, but the female character read them out to a small audience in a field. When I told my (then) girlfriend that Paul Weller wrote those words, she thought I was joking.
When I was like 11 - 14 years old, I played nothing in my bedroom but Loud Jam records. So much so that my sister brought me an expensive pair of headphones for christmas.
a few years later I made my sister a compilation cassette of some of my favourite songs that I thought she would appreciate. She loved English Rose, she was absolutely stunned it was by The Jam.
I later caught her borrowing my Style Council records.
Marvelous song from The Jam, not about a person, or a place, so much as that feeling you get when you're not in England. A good load of people who live there say they hate England, but at heart they know where their home is, and they'll never be able to live anywhere else.
Other than that... well, it's SongMeanings, so: err i think its about a guy whos broken up with his girlfriend and hes like upset... and so on
I met paul weller in a pub in 1992 and he told me that it was a literal song. And despite his hard man image he was and is a big fan of the decoritive bloom known in the northern hemisphere as the rose. And I for one believe him
I love the way this is so different from most Jam songs, in terms of tempo and quality this is up there with carnation and fly as some of wellers most beutiful songs. If this is the new direction that weller had taken in 1981-1982 I would have had few complaints.
On one level, like some sort of love letter to his girlfriend at the time as he was missing her while he was in America. On the other hand, he was missing England too....
Forty year old...Londoners...we love this. " no bonds will ever keep me from she.."
This song sums up being English. No matter where any of us go, we will come back to our English Rose, be it a girlfriend, boyfriend, family or whatever. One of my all time faves this.