Dress Up in You

this song is sung from the perspective of a girl to another girl, an old friend.

the old friend "hit it big" (you're a star now) (you've got money, you've got fame)

as a model (i see your picture from the train)

like all celebrities, she's trying to translate that sucess into something else. (now you're an actress... you couldn't act your way out of a paper bag)

the singer wasn't as sucessful, seems to be crashing personally (you give me stomach pains) (blow up in the face of my rivals i swear and i rant, i mkae quite an arrival.)

her boyfriends probably cheating on her (I’ve got a boyfriend, I’ve got a feeling that he’s seeing someone else He always had thing for you as well)

Seriously, Stuart did NOT write this song about Isobel. He's a grown man, for God's sake, and he's over her. They broke up - what, five years ago? I can't even remember, but long enough so that they've both moved on. He has a new girlfriend now. He's happy with his life, and he's not writing bitter songs about Isobel.

Not to mention, if you really listen to it, there's definitely some vitriol directed towards the girl in question, but there's mostly love. The singer has clearly never got over her love for this girl. That is NOT the case for Stuart and Isobel.

I don't think it's platonic, either. Apart from the general feeling that I get, the singer says of her boyfriend, "He always had a thing for you AS WELL" which indicates that she, too, had a thing for this girl. Plus all the other comments ("you give me stomach pain" - this is usually only for people who feel a romantic love for someone, etc.). Also, I always got the impression it was from one perspective only. Never thought it had two and I still don't.

Love this song to bits. Everything about it.

retoocs absolutely got it right. This is about a girl fascinating on her old friend, who success makes her jealous, and just makes her love her friend that much more. She's wishing she could live her friend's life, and yet wishing that the friend could have insight into hers as well.

Get over the "singer in the band" bit. It isn't about Isobell.

I think this song is most definitely inspired on Isobel... And it's one of the best in The Life Pursuit.

To me this song is about two old friends/frienemies. The narrator of the song is talking to the other friend. It begins where the narrator is boasting of her status. She’s saying she’s better (“I’m the singer” “You’re the loser”). She says “I won’t dismiss you out of hand cause you’ve got a beautiful faith. This makes me think of, like, how some self-aggrandizing someone would compliment someone they believe is less successful in a pitying way. Like how she says “but Oh you know you just keep believing in yourself! You’ve got such a good spirit!” It’s seems to me like a mocking sort of sarcastic compliment. Then, the friend starts to become successful as an actress and it seems the narrator is dismissive of her friend’s success (“You couldn’t act your way out of a paper bag”). She is refusing to believe she could’ve become more successful so she insults her to make herself feel better. She blames it on luck (“You got lucky, you ain’t talking to me now”) as if to say that the only reason she’s become successful is pure chance because she doesn’t want to accept that her friend has put her in the place that the friend used to be in. Instead of being happy for her she seems to think it’s a competition and is insulted that she has lost it. With the lyric “Pluck your eyebrows fro the crowd, get on the airplane” she’s saying like “Go on, do those things for your fans and act like you’re famous and interesting but you’re not.” It’s mockery of sorts. Then, my favorite lyric, “You give me stomach pain, I wish that you were here.”, is a complete contradiction, and that is because the narrator is having a conflict in her head. As much as she wants to be the spiteful loser she misses her friend and wishes she could get past the conflict she caused by competing and having a petty jealousy rather than being happy for your friend. After the chorus the attitude fully changes. The narrator is now happy for her friend and jealous. She’s ingratiating herself now because she’s accepted this idea that she’s now below so she’s kissing-up to the now successful one. This shows how petty she’s being and how as soon as the roles have switched she changes fully. The lyric “I always loved you, you always had a lot of style.” fully contradicts the start of the song. The she says “You’ve got the essence dear, If I could have a second skin I’d probably dress up in you.” She’s so jealous she wishes she could be her and she’s letting her old friend know how much she envies her as a possible way to win her back. The final stanza before the final chorus is a comparison of the two friends’ lives. She talks about how she is so pathetic compared to the other friend’s interesting life. The line “I’ve got a boyfriend, I’ve got a feeling that he’s seeing someone else, he always had a thing for you as well.” is a perfect show of jealousy.

AHHH! I can never get that little trumpet part out of my head!

That's right. It can't be about Isobel. Isobel isn't exactly basking in fame right now. I'd say Belle & Sebastian have been much more 'successful' than Isobel has.

come on people

every single frikkin belle & sebastian song is not about frikkin isobel

This song is not about Isobel. The song is about two girls that were friends and goes back and forth about their thoughts on their current life situations and the friendship they let end. The famous friend is talking about how she was the leader (the singer in the band) and the other friend was just a loser and the lackey. The famous friend is also discussing that she always felt that her friend would go places because the friend actually had talent and potential, but has not and maybe will not achieve success. The famous friend discusses the double standard of female female behavior, she is expected to be polite and soft, but that's obvious, right? The second friend (the loser) is talking about how jealous she is that her friend got famous even though she has absolutely no talent, but she is very aesthetically appealing to men and thats why she has been successful. They regret not being friends anymore because they made wach other better. The famous one wishes that she could be as elegant as the "could have been" and talks about how she was angry that the lackey friend didn't want to follow her around anymore and tried to strike out on her own. The lackey friend's life is now that of the everyday mundane of disappointment. A reconcilation occure because of the famous friend wanting a true friend again, but it doesn't seem like the lackey friend wants to.

I agree with everyone who has said it's not about Isobel. At a concert earlier this year, Stuart introduced this song as "a girly one", indicating it was from the perspective of a girl (since it was preceded by act of the apostle, another one from the perspective of a girl).