After yesterday's tribute to Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit, let's move to another great Scottish singer-songwriter who mixes dark matters with wry humour but also deep emotions. The former Arab Strap frontman from Dumfries and Falkirk, who has now released several more solo albums than the five he did with his old band, is known for his indie-folk sweary lyrics and deadpan humorous cynicism, and much of his material touches on death, sex, heartbreak and stupidity. But these two songs also feel very heartfelt. The first, from his 2009 album Waxing Gibbons, may have a throwaway, humorous title, but circling around depression and reaching out as cry for help, is anything but. The second, from 2007's A Brighter Beat, is an exquisitely beautiful song about communicating unnoticed feelings. So, in the light of the recent Hutchison tragedy, paired together, one is about reaching out to be saved, the other is about reaching out to save someone else.
Oh will you come home soon
Come home soon and save me
I'm so bored. Soul destroying gloom
The walls are closing in all around
Oh will you find me now
Find me out and show me
I can't get up. Life threatening doom
Dragging me darker and down
Take my hand
Dragging me down
To the ground
Darker and down
Down, down, down
All the way down
Oh won't you come for me
Comfort me in the night
I'm so tired of feeling sick and tired
Dying at life's door all the time
Oh I'm locked inside
Trapped inside this body
I can't get out, and there's not enough room
I'm glued to the back of this bone mask
Take my hand
Dragging me down
Through the ground
Darker and down
Down, down, down
All the way
Take my hand
Dragging me down
Through the ground
Darker and down
Down, down, down
All the way down.
Come here
Before I go away again
There's something I'd like you to hear
Somebody loves you
And I know who it is
A million dollar answer
If you're up for the quiz
Close your eyes
Spin around you're done
It's me you're after
I am the one
I am the one
Come here
Before I go away again
There's something I'd like you to hear
The devil deals the cards out
He's all hearts and queens
Even an idiot
Knows what this means
There's never enough blood
For the heart and the head
A world is rocked
Without a word being said
A word being said
Listen here
The mid October sun and I
Have never seen eye to eye
A little yellow flower
A little ball of flame
A slow walk up a steep hill
And I'm in love again
A stranger sky
I've never seen
In a stranger's eyes is
Where you've always been
And you'll always be.
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