•
Rating: This album gives me the opportunity to briefly step away from the purely musical context. When I think of "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours," I think of Picasso, and his so-called "blue period."
Blue is the color of the album cover, blue the hue of Picasso's works; "blue" the band's mood, "blue" that of the painter. And, ironically, the same reason marks such a state of mind: the disappearance of a friend.
Picasso's friend, Carlos Casagemas, committed suicide; the friend of the Manics, Richey Edwards, perhaps... It is said that he jumped off the Severn Bridge, but his body was never found... Reason enough to fuel the sense of emptiness and anguish that has afflicted (and afflicts) the band and the fans. For heaven's sake, not that the Manics ever had a "pink period," but they weren't this sad before! They used to ROCK, they were rebellious, they were crazy, in some ways they were cool. That genius, James Dean Bradfield, used to play like Slash and sing with the anger of Joe Strummer; now his solos are halved and his screams are more melancholic than angry; now it's 1998, and the Manics are down to three. In the award-winning "Everything Must Go," which served as a "trait d'union" between the "angry" period (The Holy Bible above all) and the "blue" one (culminating with LifeBlood, albeit differently), Richey's presence was still alive, as evidenced by his last lyrics appearing on the album. Here, however, the composition is entirely the work of the award-winning Bradfield-Wire-Moore team. This results in a "winter" album: melancholic, reflective, subdued.
The album opens with "The Everlasting" the drum intro, almost a ticking of a clock, seems in perfect harmony with the song's theme: the inexorable march of time. It's a beautiful ballad, where James's voice is embellished by strings and completed by a memorable guitar solo. It's followed by "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", the real hit single of the album, and perhaps of the band's entire career. At the time it was a minor sensation and, aided by an effective video, it received fair support even from MTV Italia. The song is inspired by the Spanish Civil War, but the meaning is easily inferred from its title. It deserves a 10 just for the choruses that conclude the piece.
Never before in this album have the Manics nailed the choice of singles although, with the exception of "If You Tolerate This", commercially they disappointed expectations. This is confirmed by "You Stole The Sun From My Heart" and "Tsunami", two very catchy songs both characterized by sadly gritty choruses. The theme of the latter is fascinating: the Tsunami perhaps represents the wave that disrupted the band's balance due to Richey's disappearance; however, Nicky Wire (bassist) now has the opportunity to assert his identity as the band's lyricist. Destructive wave or purifying wave? The pathos remains at high levels even in "Ready For Drowning", a song decidedly on par with the singles, while "My Little Empire", in which James's guitar arpeggios take over his voice (it's the most vocally subdued song on the album), and the slow advance of "I'm Not Working" help to temper the mood a bit.
With "You're Tender And You're Tired", the band returns to the levels of "The Everlasting": another admirable ballad, more rhythmic but sadder, accompanied by the reverberation, perhaps intentional, of the piano and James's superb voice (how far are the times of "Motown Junk, You Love Us, Faster..."). In "Born A Girl", a little organ and the delicate guitar notes tell the repressed desire of a man who would have preferred to be born a woman, almost in the form of a lullaby. "Black Dog On My Shoulder" (title inspired by a phrase from Winston Churchill referring to depression) is just what you wouldn't expect from the Manic Street Preachers, as if the Sex Pistols started playing a Richard Hawley piece; "Be Natural" and "S.Y.M.M." (the latter an invective against the police regarding the Hillsborough stadium tragedy) have a slightly more complex structure and require more listens to be appreciated. Particularly prolix with its 6 minutes is "S.Y.M.M.", but it is nevertheless elevated by a vaguely "Gilmourian" guitar solo.
The final gem of the album (penultimate in the tracklist) is "Nobody Loved You", the album's most energetic track, where it seems the band tried to repress or, at least, control their anger throughout the record, only to let it explode in this song, where James's shouts and the guitar's distortion sound almost liberating, despite the sadness the lyrics are imbued with. In 1998 I was neither flesh nor fish. This album contributed to developing my musical identity, which, at the time, I was almost anxiously searching for. I recommend it to anyone who doesn't scoff at the stylistic evolution of bands and to those who don't seek answers in music, but rather food for thought.
Unfortunately, the Manics don't receive the right consideration in Italy, yet in Great Britain they are true idols. Then I think of how in Italy the Blue is successful, and they come from Great Britain... I think of those who tear their hair out for them, and I think of the Manics who, with that very song that introduced them to us in Italy, sang "Gravity keeps my head down or is it maybe shame at being so young and being so vain", so I've stopped looking for answers (at least in music)...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Everlasting (06:09)
The gap that grows between our lives
The gap our parents never had
Stop those thoughts control your mind
Replace the things that you despise
Oh, you're old, I hear you say
It doesn't mean that I don't care
I don't believe in it anymore
Pathetic acts for a worthless cause
In the beginning when we were winning
When our smiles were genuine
In the beginning when we were winning
When our smiles were genuine
But now unforgiven
The everlasting
Everlasting
The world is full of refugees
They're just like you just like me
But as people we have a choice
To end the void with all its force
So don't forget or don't pretend
It's all the same now in the end
It was said in a different life
Destroys my days and haunts my nights
In the beginning when we were winning
When our smiles were genuine
In the beginning when we were winning
When our smiles were genuine
But now unforgiven
The everlasting
Everlasting
In the beginning when we were winning
When our smiles were genuine
In the beginning when we were winning
When our smiles were genuine
But now unforgiven
The everlasting
Everlasting
But now unforgiven
The everlasting
Everlasting
02 If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (04:50)
The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
So if I can shoot rabbits
Then I can shoot fascists
Bullets for your brain today
But we'll forget it all again
Monuments put from pen to paper
Turns me into a gutless wonder
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Gravity keeps my head down
Or is it maybe shame
At being so young and being so vain
Holes in your head today
But I'm a pacifist
I've walked Las Ramblas
But not with real intent
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next
And on the street tonight an old man plays
With newspaper cuttings of his glory days
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next
Will be next
Will be next
03 You Stole the Sun From My Heart (04:20)
Drinking water to stay thin
or is it to purify?
I love you all the same
But there's no, no real truce with my fury
you don't have to believe me
I love you all the same
But you stole the sun from my heart
You stole the sun from my heart
Oh, you stole the sun from my heart
You stole the sun from, you stole the sun from
You have broken through my armour
and I don't have an answer
I love you all the same
I paint the things I want to see
but it don't come easy
I love you all the same
But you stole the sun from my heart
You stole the sun from my heart
Oh, you stole the sun from my heart
You stole the sun from, you stole the sun from
Think I'm lost among the undergrowth
and so much so I woke up
I love you all the same
But you stole the sun from my heart
You stole the sun from my
Oh, you stole the sun from my heart
You stole the sun from, you stole the sun from
I have got to stop smiling
It gives the wrong impression
I love you all the same
04 Ready for Drowning (04:32)
Here's a true story, said someone to me yesterday
Said he'd heard it in a taxi
Must have had him at my mercy
Drown that poor thing
Put it out of its misery
Condemn it to its future
Deny its history
Deny its history
So where are we going?
We're not ready for drowning
So where are we going?
We're not ready for drowning
Look through my Venetian blinds
Dusting the past off my mind
Seeing orange everywhere
I'd go to Patagonia, but it's harder there
I'll do anything to prove I care
Fascinated by good
Destroyed by evil
What is there to believe in?
So where are we going?
We're not ready for drowning
So where are we going?
We're not ready for drowning
So where are we going?
We're not ready for drowning
So where are we going?
We are not waving, we are drowning
05 Tsunami (03:51)
For you my dear sister
Holding onto me forever
Disco dancing with the rapists
Your only crime is silence
Can't work at this anymore
Can't move I want to stay at home
Tied up to all these crutches
Never far from your hands
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Can't speak, can't think, won't talk, won't walk
Doctors tell me that I'm cynical
I tell them that it must be chemical
So what am I doing girl
Cry into my drink I disappear
Eyes for teeth grating over me
Bring down the shadows of my mind
Sleep and breathe under our sheets
Inhale the anxiety in-between, in-between, in-between, in-between
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Through September under the weather
In-between, in-between, in-between, in-between
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Tsunami tsunami came washing over me
Take the GI's I will have the spies
08 You're Tender and You're Tired (04:37)
You're so fragile tonight
Been up hurting all night
It's not trivial like they think
Yes you're desperate and hurt
Thought about it so many times
Too afraid to open your eyes
To see the sadness that's inside
Just sit back in and stop time
You're tender and you're tired
You can't be bothered to decide
Whether you live or die
Or just forget about your life
But it's too late to be real
No time to be strong enough
Just time to leave it all behind
Memory has become pain
Rebuild the void with flowers
Sad eye destruction built around sand and sea
Yes you can build yourself around
Build yourself around me
You're tender and you're tired
You can't be bothered to decide
Whether you live or doe
Or just forget about your life
Drift away and die
Never say goodbye
Drift away and die
10 Be Natural (05:13)
Been natural
For once in my life
Now I'll have to
Swallow some pride
Know that I should
Never give advice
But it's too late now
To say goodbye
Be natural
Don't want any friends
Be natural
Come on and hit me again
Be natural
I'm repeating myself
Be natural
Is there anything else
Star bright keep me safe
Today and tonight
No water tastes like lemonade
Slowly, slowly
It starts to fade
Be natural
With me tonight
Be natural
Put your fists in my eyes
Be natural
So turn me into stone
Be natural
Just leave me alone
Grown up
Or backwards born
Into eternity
And black holes
Floating around
Up here on my own
Screaming at me
Forever unknown
Be natural(repeat 3x)
Been natural
Is there anyone else
13 S.Y.M.M. (06:16)
The subtext of this song
I've thought about it for so long
But it's really not the sort of thing
That people want to hear us sing
The context of this song
Well I could go on and on
But it's still unfashionable
To believe in principles
South South Yorkshire - mass murderer
How can you sleep at night, sleep at night
South South Yorkshire - mass murderer
How can you sleep at night, sleep at night
The reason for this song
Well maybe it's a pointless one
But thank you Jimmy McGovern
For reminding me of what lives on
The ending for this song
Well I haven't really thought of one
There's nothing I could ever say
That could really take the pain away
South South Yorkshire - mass murderer
How can you sleep at night, sleep at night
South South Yorkshire - mass murderer
How can you sleep at night, sleep at night
14 Socialist Serenade (04:12)
Socalist Serenade Lyrics
What's the point in an education
When you have to pay for the privilege?
This side of the truth where no sun shines
They don't count the cripples and the blind
I was thinking everybody had a chance
Like a dream stretched way too far
All this time such a debt to the city
I don't know who's the real enemy
This is a socialist serenade
Yes I have money but I hate champagne
This is a socialist serenade
I can't see the past anywhere
Some greater benefit for the people
Ha ha ha ha we all believed in you
Is it about the politics of celebrity
Or endless days in the sun of Tuscany
This is a socialist serenade
Yes I have money but I hate champagne
This is a socialist serenade
I can't see the past anywhere, anywhere
This is a socialist serenade
Yes I have money but I hate champagne
This is a socialist serenade
I can't see the past anywhere, anywhere
Change your name to New
Forget the fucking Labour
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By GrantNicholas
"'The Everlasting' is among the best pieces written in those years, a splendid ballad with strings and the wonderful voice of Bradfield dominating."
"If I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists" – a memorable line from 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next.'
