One of my all time favourite songs: Aztec Camera's Walk Out To Winter. This is the single which is so much better than the version on High Land Hard Rain. Roddy Frame has never been consistent as far as I'm concerned, but every so often through his career he has come up with some absolute gems. And this one stands head and shoulders above his own songs, and most of anybody elses.
"Walk out to winter, I swear I'll be there
Chill will wake you, high and dry, you'll wonder why
Walk out to winter, I swear I'll be there
You'll find snow blind, this is why, this is why"
It's another of those songs where you're not quite sure what it's about. It seems to be about being young and rebellious, and perhaps replacing the previous generation's icons (faces of Strummer..). That makes Roddy sound like The Alarm or something.
But to me Walk Out To Winter is a love song, perhaps only in love with being young, but a love song nonetheless. And it's a love affair that's already over before it's begun. Just listen to the way Roddy Frame's voice cracks on that last chorus. Heartbreak, pure heartbreak. Then the second solo kicks in and it's all melody and melancholy. Simply one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. And yet there's sunlight in it's grooves, spring just around the corner....
Walk Out To Winter mp3
Saturday 23 February 2008
Walk Out To Winter
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2 comments:
First time I saw them live, he was just about to introduce this when someone in the crowd shouted 'wanker' and Roddy said 'This is 'Walk out to Wanker'. Brilliant, brilliant song. Spring around the corner indeed - I think it's fear and hope, not regret, that make his voice go. I would though, just now.
Fear and hope? Mmm could be. Maybe it's my regrets tied up in this song not Roddy's!
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