Cuckoo Song. The version from 1999.

Silence.

Feel free to block away 

LIVE BED SHOW

Life Must Be So Wonderful
David's Last Summer

saw119 wrote:

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Songs like Watching Nicky and Razzmatazz aren't exactly bundles of laughs either. I'm sure if you tried to explain The Night That Minnie Timperley Died to someone they wouldn't be reyt happy either. I suppose there is often a streak of cruelty in Jarvis's songs that is directed at the protagonists and participants.
But I definitely don't think of Pulp as being a depressing band, in fact I always think of them as optimistic and positive. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

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 Yeah, i think too that Pulp songs are more cruel than sad. "Paula" its really cruel to her main character but at the same time its like really sad what the theme of the song its. 

They are joyful in the best way posible, trying to look for the sun in the night...

Live Bed show and the original Peel Session of Wishful Thinking.

My dad passed away last week and when I went to see him what would be the last time I then had a very long drive back to brisbane - 8 hours away. And I started sniffling - getting very teary during The Hymn of the North. I'm from what you would call the mid-north coast of australia so it hits incredibly hard when Jarvis sings Northern lights will guide you home. Its very affecting.

thank you I really appreciate that. Hugs and care to you as well.

lipglossed wrote:

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Cuckoo Song. The version from 1999.

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 100% with you on this

Sorry for your loss, cut copy, and yours, OP.
Good choice re Hymn of the North. I have welled up so many times listening to that one. I've even properly cried listening to it. Really tugs at my heart that one and I'm not sure I can totally articulate why. Sometimes I think a song can do this without lyrics even...it can just be a note e.g. like that note that comes in when the snowman has melted in The Snowman. Bloody heck, that gets me every year! That one note. I love the crashes in HOTN which sound like waves and the sea always gets me emotional.
With HOTN, I think the lyrics have a good deal to do with it too though. Maybe it's the push and pull. Family and region. I think of family ties and wanting your family to have their own lives but also wanting to be together and the sadness of knowing that no matter how much time you spend together it will never ever be enough.
Also, just that love/hate for wherever you're from because depending on where that is you can really be prejudged when you go out into the world and yet you wouldn't be you without where you're from. It can be a curse and a blessing but I think you should always be proud of it and never ever disown it. I think of how important Sheffield was and is in their story. Russell saying he felt pride coming home from Bath to a place that he felt was so 'unremittingly ugly'! That interaction between North and South, it's repeatedly stated to be so significant in the story of Pulp and yet see how Pulp is global. People all around the world get them and get that song. Music is a universal language and yet it can be so of the place where its writers are from. I hear Pulp when I'm out and about and it feels like home. I dunno. Music is spiritual, isn't it. It's some intangible thing and it's hard to put words to why it moves you or breaks your heart. Isn't that so powerful that a piece of music can make you happy or make you sad. I just sense a huge amount of love and yet sadness on HOTN. it's that melancholy type thing. Love/hate, push/pull, a curse/a blessing, freedom/comfort zone, happiness/sadness. Wishing for your child to explore and yet not wanting to lose them, not wanting them to forget who they are and yet also be open to discovery. That one is heartbreaking. I think that one can fill your heart and yet break it too.
I love Jarvis' voice on this one too. There's a particularly moving 'no, never forget your northern blood'. Don't start me talking about this song because I can't stop I'd swear it must be my favourite Pulp song at this stage.

When I saw the title, three songs came up

Cuckoo Song, the 1999 demo. I like both this version and Jarvis's solo version. But the demo version is sadder and hopeless.
Bar Italia
Slow Jam

I also feel that Bad Cover Version is a sad song. Jarvis always writes lyrics from the sad and heartbroken person; Bad Cover Version is the opposite. However, I feel heartbroken from this song, too.


To cutcopy, I am sorry for your loss. :(

lipglossed wrote:

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I've taken to doing Cuckoo Song at my local folk music pub, using a fluffy cuckoo - one of those you get from museums and RSPB places that make a birdcall when you squeeze them - to give me a 'helping hand'.

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Erm...we're gonna need footage of this.