This is my second favourite B&S song (after Asleep on a Sunbeam).
It took me a while to understand this song, because I grew up in London and have travelled on the Northern Line for as long as I can remember, so when I hear him sing "Mornington Cresent", all I hear is that recording of the woman that pronounces "Highgate" funny. But then I thought of what the name might sound like to someone that's not from London and realised that the sound of it is actually really strange, and maybe even romantic. And that's the key to understanding this song; this part of North London around Camden is full of afluence ("dogs wearing hats and jackets") and romance ("old punk posters") at first sight, but once you get to know it better you realise it's really a bit of a mundane shithole ("next to the broker, the nurse and the drunk"..."life became fruitless" etc.). Of course, it's an analogy for life in general, and thus the perfect ending to The Life Pursuit- like so many songs on that album, it's about going out and.. well... "Pursuing".. meaning and adventure in life, finding so much possibility and promise but ultimately finding that our optimism is misplaced. The last line sums it all up really, "we're a little too free"- modern life gives us so much choice and "possibility", that we just end up spending our entire lives in this pursuit...and failing... kindof depressing really...
This is my second favourite B&S song (after Asleep on a Sunbeam).
It took me a while to understand this song, because I grew up in London and have travelled on the Northern Line for as long as I can remember, so when I hear him sing "Mornington Cresent", all I hear is that recording of the woman that pronounces "Highgate" funny. But then I thought of what the name might sound like to someone that's not from London and realised that the sound of it is actually really strange, and maybe even romantic. And that's the key to understanding this song; this part of North London around Camden is full of afluence ("dogs wearing hats and jackets") and romance ("old punk posters") at first sight, but once you get to know it better you realise it's really a bit of a mundane shithole ("next to the broker, the nurse and the drunk"..."life became fruitless" etc.). Of course, it's an analogy for life in general, and thus the perfect ending to The Life Pursuit- like so many songs on that album, it's about going out and.. well... "Pursuing".. meaning and adventure in life, finding so much possibility and promise but ultimately finding that our optimism is misplaced. The last line sums it all up really, "we're a little too free"- modern life gives us so much choice and "possibility", that we just end up spending our entire lives in this pursuit...and failing... kindof depressing really...