It's a beautifully melancholy song, to be sure. Singing of the hopelessly destructive nature of western civilisation, Beth Gibbons DOES make use of the same musical tones that we've come to associate with deep sadness, as Phrogex said.
As to the last part
I feel so cold,
On hookers and gin.
etc.
It DOES sound like a sample, but to the best of my knowledge, most of the instrumentation in Portishead's works are also samples. They're recorded on tape, then down-sampled; producing a gritty sound. Perhaps it was recorded specifically for this song?
It's a beautifully melancholy song, to be sure. Singing of the hopelessly destructive nature of western civilisation, Beth Gibbons DOES make use of the same musical tones that we've come to associate with deep sadness, as Phrogex said.
As to the last part I feel so cold, On hookers and gin. etc.
It DOES sound like a sample, but to the best of my knowledge, most of the instrumentation in Portishead's works are also samples. They're recorded on tape, then down-sampled; producing a gritty sound. Perhaps it was recorded specifically for this song?