So I noticed the other day that Travis have a lot of imagery in their songs involving water - rivers, seas, rain, etc. Here's a list I came up with.
These first few are self explanatory:
The Sea
Driftwood
Sailing Away
River
Why Does it Always Rain On Me?
City in the Rain
Battleships - Drifting in our wee river
Life and Soul of the Party - There's a man who lives by the sea
Used To Belong - Wake up in a river lying next to me
Only Molly Knows - 'cos I am lost at sea, oh molly molly
As You Are - And ever since I woke up I felt the net was lifting me out of the sea, And ever since a long time I felt the rain
Everyday Faces - People all came, danced in the rain, they'd gone insane
3 Times and You Lose - And so the rain began to fall on this little town
Distraction - And just when I thought it was safe in the water, I'm sinking
Days of Our Lives - These rainy days were sent to make us pay
I Love You Anyways - Forever rain or snow
Last Train - Rain on the brain
Some Sad Song - Don't take me for a ride in the rain
I'd bet you could weave some kind of story there - about a man who lives by the sea. He's all alone on the outskirts of a city where it is always raining.
What other common threads have you noticed with Travis' music?
It's an amazing thing, I suppose for Travis the rain is a pretty profound and frequent experience in Scotland. In most lyrics it's referred to in a negative light. It's funny though, coming from a country experiencing a drought, the rain for me is often a refreshing experience, and sometimes a momentary frustration. In Scotland, it's an ongoing thing and in TraVis' lyrics, it appears to be restrictive of one's capacity to do something. A hurdle of sorts.
Words can mean different things to different people....
I personally love my city when it rains, it's a great feeling. City In The Rain is one of the most enjoyable songs for me for this very reason.
Moon ...I am in a hurry this am so I can't quote tracks. :)
I noticed that too! lots of "heavenly" things like stars , the moon (Turn, Walking down the hill), the sun (Sing, Walking in the sun, Humpty Dumpty), satellites (Safe), the sky (The last laugh of the laughter) I just named a few songs but sure there's more!
I also noticed it. What about "light"? Here are some examples I remember:
Blue flashing light
Afterglow
Follow the light
WDIAROM: "I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights..."
Indefinitely: "Shine a light on me, So that everyone can see..."
Whenever she comes around: "He turns his light out, He turns his eiderdown"
I also noticed it. What about "light"? Here are some examples I remember:
Blue flashing light
Afterglow
Follow the light
WDIAROM: "I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights..."
Indefinitely: "Shine a light on me, So that everyone can see..."
Whenever she comes around: "He turns his light out, He turns his eiderdown"
Love this! : )
Song To Self: Do you see the light? Tell me you see the light (Actually I love this line, it feels so depressing, but with a glimse of hope)
I also noticed it. What about "light"? Here are some examples I remember:
Blue flashing light
Afterglow
Follow the light
WDIAROM: "I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights..."
Indefinitely: "Shine a light on me, So that everyone can see..."
Whenever she comes around: "He turns his light out, He turns his eiderdown"
Love this! : )
Song To Self: Do you see the light? Tell me you see the light (Actually I love this line, it feels so depressing, but with a glimse of hope)
And what about "Last Words?" : Trying to shine a light into the dark
I'm sure if we'd look closer we'd find many more of them! Interesting topic btw! ;)
Peace The Fuck Out: We Turn The Radio Off To Hear A Song
Before You Were Young: We Used To Turn The Radio On, What happened?
J. Smith: The Radio's In The Bath
Somewhere Else wrote:
Moon ...I am in a hurry this am so I can't quote tracks. :)
I noticed that too! lots of "heavenly" things like stars , the moon (Turn, Walking down the hill), the sun (Sing, Walking in the sun, Humpty Dumpty), satellites (Safe), the sky (The last laugh of the laughter) I just named a few songs but sure there's more!
There's Out In Space, referring to the night sky(stars, and all that) Out In Space also has a kind of reference to water/the sea in "We're just words in the sand at high tide..." (I like that lyric; I always think of it when I'm on the beach and watch the tide washing things away from the shore!)
Big Chair also refers to clouds and rain in "Breaking clouds don't make a sound...when they cry."
TheBoyWithAName wrote:
And then there's this radio-obsession ;)
Peace The Fuck Out: We Turn The Radio Off To Hear A Song
Before You Were Young: We Used To Turn The Radio On, What happened?
J. Smith: The Radio's In The Bath
Is there more?
Yes there is...Writing To Reach You! "The RADIO is playing on the usual..." :D
On a tangent, is "away" the most common word in Travis songs? Or the phrase "throw it all away..." which occurs in 3 songs, I think.
Here're some I remember offhand -
Good Day To Die: "Find all the love they took away, away, awaaay..."
Quicksand: "Take me away, take me away..."
Love Will Come Through: "...the flight of a dove, take it away, don't look down..."
3 Times And You Lose: "I'm throwing it all away"
"I had a feeling that you were very far away, but then a little voice inside me said you'll never get away from here..."
Selfish Jean: "Hey you, threw it all away..."
Battleships: "You go and throw it all away..."
Sailing Away: ...sailing AWAY!
Then again, "away" is not such a rare or outstanding idea. I think I may be slightly...crazy...to pick out this little word out of all the songs but I just noticed its frequent occurence :)
On a tangent, is "away" the most common word in Travis songs? Or the phrase "throw it all away..." which occurs in 3 songs, I think.
Here're some I remember offhand -
Good Day To Die: "Find all the love they took away, away, awaaay..."
Quicksand: "Take me away, take me away..."
Love Will Come Through: "...the flight of a dove, take it away, don't look down..."
3 Times And You Lose: "I'm throwing it all away"
"I had a feeling that you were very far away, but then a little voice inside me said you'll never get away from here..."
Selfish Jean: "Hey you, threw it all away..."
Battleships: "You go and throw it all away..."
Sailing Away: ...sailing AWAY!
Then again, "away" is not such a rare or outstanding idea. I think I may be slightly...crazy...to pick out this little word out of all the songs but I just noticed its frequent occurence :)
There's more ;)
All I want to Do Is Rock: But today I'll stay. Not walk away
More Than Us: I wish that I could fly, fly, fly away
Writing To Reach You: Whatever's in my eye won't go away
The Last Laugh Of The Laughter: When the laughter fades away. When the spotlight drifts away
The Cage: Cause when your bird has flown away
Safe: And tell the people that you've gone away
Somewhere Else: Home and away
Yeah Fran has some favourite words and expressions indeed ;)
What about shelf?
Why Does It Always Rain?: Still life on a shelf when...
Last Train: You left me on the shelf
Selfish Jean: And left it out on the shelf
Well I guess Fran just find some of these words easy to rhyme on, but if you think about the fact that these songs are all stories from a life, the stories must float together at some points..
These are two of my favourite examples:
She's so strange
Last Train: She, oh, she's so strange
Combing My Hair: But it doesn't worry us because we, we have no fear, here. Have we? We have no fear, here. Have we? We have no fear
The Fear: But here, closer every year, so near , the fear is coming clear. My dear, the fear is here.
It seems like parts of the same story and this is what I love about Frans songwriting, the fact that every song is a little piece in a giant puzzle :) For me Battleships is like a grown up Driftwood for example...
But we could overanalyze every single word I guess:
Lose, Line, Fine, Sing, Song, Long, Belong, Flowers, Windows, Love, Heart, Me, I, You, Too, Dear, Glue, Do, Blue High, Low, Again, Anyway, Myself, Time, Today, Day, Are, Is, Door, Floor, Anymore, Baby, Turning, Turn, Down, Ground, Sand, Hand, Understand, Pictures, Picture, Eyes, Why.
Maybe we should just enjoy the music, this is getting nerdy ;)
And I know I have no life
