Excuses/Fugitive for UK Christmas single
Posted: Sun 18 Jun 2006, 12:07 am
The UK is a great country for making unlikely or 'difficult' records into number one hits at Christmas: six-minute Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975, 3/4 time Mull of Kintyre in 1977, kitschy Save Your Love in 1982 and the minimal Mad World in 2003.
So why not choose this time to release Excuses as a single, keeping the second section of the song but changing the first so that Chris's walk home amidst the London traffic is also accompanied by sleigh bells and other festive sounds.
The song would be very Radio-2 friendly at a time when the usual record buying public extends to older generations. It would also be very apt for the season because we all go to parties just to 'make an appearance' and we often talk of 'making our excuses and leaving' when what's really happening is that we don't like the party. And its references to loneliness would be the perfect antidote to a period when we are all being encouraged to be sociable, but which for many people can be one of the loneliest times of the year.
And they should put Fugitive as its double-A side, which will grab just enough attention to keep sales up.
Final point about Excuses - it is similar in subject matter to Divine Comedy's 'Our Mutual Friend' about finding the person you love in bed with someone else. The difference is that Neil Hannon's record puts the long mournful bit at the end and tells the story first.
And this 'new day' in Fugitive rather rhymes with Uday, who I think was Sadam Hussein's brother (I'm really gonna miss you). Is this deliberate?
So why not choose this time to release Excuses as a single, keeping the second section of the song but changing the first so that Chris's walk home amidst the London traffic is also accompanied by sleigh bells and other festive sounds.
The song would be very Radio-2 friendly at a time when the usual record buying public extends to older generations. It would also be very apt for the season because we all go to parties just to 'make an appearance' and we often talk of 'making our excuses and leaving' when what's really happening is that we don't like the party. And its references to loneliness would be the perfect antidote to a period when we are all being encouraged to be sociable, but which for many people can be one of the loneliest times of the year.
And they should put Fugitive as its double-A side, which will grab just enough attention to keep sales up.
Final point about Excuses - it is similar in subject matter to Divine Comedy's 'Our Mutual Friend' about finding the person you love in bed with someone else. The difference is that Neil Hannon's record puts the long mournful bit at the end and tells the story first.
And this 'new day' in Fugitive rather rhymes with Uday, who I think was Sadam Hussein's brother (I'm really gonna miss you). Is this deliberate?
