The first, and more certain, is that it is a warning from The Verve to any beginners or young people about going through a lifetime of being a musician. It's very autobiographical, and the title "Columbo" could mean that just like Christopher Columbus, they've been around the world and explored through all of the good and all of the bad of the lifestyle that they ended up in. They're saying you'll begin with rejection and crying (from a record label or a bad audience), and then question your own ability and have just "your instinct" (musical creativity) to guide you. Then it will be easy to get yourself so messed up, and if you make it you end up on the inside of a vain culture of fame, celebrities, drugs, guns, so on. Your "miracle accent" (gifted singing voice) will die, because you have strained your vocal chords too much, from giving 150-200 concerts per year. And after this journey/career, you'll be very desperate for love, because you did not get any of it in a true form through all of those years. It's amazing how so many big name musicians seem to be our idols and would seem to have a very enjoyable life, but they're not fulfilled from it at all - because they've been on the inside of showbiz and have been sucked into all of its wrongs that us simple fans could never even imagine.
The second - and the mention of the Thames makes me question it, but still - is that this song is a European observation of present day America. As in, Columbo sailed across the Atlantic and that has since turned into our disastrous culture of messed up kids, shallow celebrities, wet dreams for fame, guns and shootings, etc.
I have two interpretations of this song.
The first, and more certain, is that it is a warning from The Verve to any beginners or young people about going through a lifetime of being a musician. It's very autobiographical, and the title "Columbo" could mean that just like Christopher Columbus, they've been around the world and explored through all of the good and all of the bad of the lifestyle that they ended up in. They're saying you'll begin with rejection and crying (from a record label or a bad audience), and then question your own ability and have just "your instinct" (musical creativity) to guide you. Then it will be easy to get yourself so messed up, and if you make it you end up on the inside of a vain culture of fame, celebrities, drugs, guns, so on. Your "miracle accent" (gifted singing voice) will die, because you have strained your vocal chords too much, from giving 150-200 concerts per year. And after this journey/career, you'll be very desperate for love, because you did not get any of it in a true form through all of those years. It's amazing how so many big name musicians seem to be our idols and would seem to have a very enjoyable life, but they're not fulfilled from it at all - because they've been on the inside of showbiz and have been sucked into all of its wrongs that us simple fans could never even imagine.
The second - and the mention of the Thames makes me question it, but still - is that this song is a European observation of present day America. As in, Columbo sailed across the Atlantic and that has since turned into our disastrous culture of messed up kids, shallow celebrities, wet dreams for fame, guns and shootings, etc.