The Loneliness Of The Tower Crane Driver

I don't know if this subject has been covered, but I would love to hear some interpretations of this song. Thoughts?

i just love it the way it is, with the bbc orchestra. gives me goosebumps and i dunno if anyone could do it as well

It is a very moving song, but what does it mean? Symbolic? Literal?

Literal, I think.

The story was that Guy's brother in law, I believe, met a man in a bar who was a tower crane driver, and was boasting about how much money he made doing this, but by the end of the night he was crying into his beer because he was so lonely. There's more to it than that, can't remember where I read it.

The first line "Gotta get out of TV", refers to Guy's sister, who was having a hard time working in the TV industry.

Ah! Thank you. I thought that it was strictly metaphorical, but it seems to be a mix of reality and symbolic from what you say. Such a beautiful song. But honestly, I think that Guy could move me just as much if he sang "row row row your boat" (>8

MagicalTrevor wrote:

Literal, I think.

The story was that Guy's brother in law, I believe, met a man in a bar who was a tower crane driver, and was boasting about how much money he made doing this, but by the end of the night he was crying into his beer because he was so lonely. There's more to it than that, can't remember where I read it.

The first line "Gotta get out of TV", refers to Guy's sister, who was having a hard time working in the TV industry.

Yeah, i've read that too! I can't you as to where i've read it!

It's one of the fave songs I have on "Seldom seen kid" and I prefer the non-orchestra versions because I like those shinzy old mellotrones more than huge orchestras.

Interview: Mark Potter, Elbow.
(An edited version of this interview, which took place on Monday March 17th, originally appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post.)

"(NEP): I’ve not seen a lyric sheet, and I have struggled in a couple of places without one. I’m particularly curious to know more about the lyrical concept behind Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver.

(Mark Potter): Guy [Garvey, singer and lyricist] actually met a guy in a pub – there’s a theme running here, the pub seems to come into it quite a lot! – and he was a power crane driver on one of the work sites near the studio. They started talking, and Guy was saying: Oh, it must be great doing your job and being up there. The guy was saying: Yeah, I absolutely love it, I’ve got my own little toilet, and I’ve got a TV up there.
But after a few beers, it came out that this guy was very lonely. He wasn’t liked on the site, because his was the highest paid job and so he was making more money than anyone else. And at the end of the working day, by the time he’d got down from his power crane, everyone had gone. Therefore he didn’t have any friends on the site. So it’s really about that isolated sort of feeling."

You know the free download they gave away at Christmas of TCD live in Manchester? I can only listen to it on WMP and can't transfer it to i-Tunes, but I was thinking I might be able to burn it and transfer it that way, it worked with Kasabian's free download of Heroes. Has anyone tried it?

Thank you all! Sarah, I love your pic and signoff. I am just crazy about The Decemberists too! We just got tickets to their show. I am so excited. I justified the cost because (I told my husband) "Elbow will probably never play here, so we might as well see at least one awesome show"

Hey Rascalphoto, I see you're from Seattle. I'm from Portland, but live in Elbowville now. Seattle is a great place. Do you remember the Doghouse?

sundaygirl wrote:

You know the free download they gave away at Christmas of TCD live in Manchester? I can only listen to it on WMP and can't transfer it to i-Tunes, but I was thinking I might be able to burn it and transfer it that way, it worked with Kasabian's free download of Heroes. Has anyone tried it?

They actually made an mp3 available too...

See if you can send yourself a gift download (which is hopefully the mp3) here:
http://www.u-download.co.uk/SendFreeMP3/send.php
Haven't tried it but presumably if Elbow is still on the list it's still available

Oh you so,ruuuule....

Strange... You can send the email, but when you click the download link in the email you get a '404 - page not found' error.

Check out the album cover i-Tunes chose for it!!!

Oh, it worked for me. Try again.

Fixed.

Try right clicking...

Hey, maybe I can email you the file...would that work?

Sunday girl..."doghouse?" Not sure. What is it? Or what was it rather?

Ooops...flicr gltich. Will fix later...

rascalphoto wrote:

Sunday girl..."doghouse?" Not sure. What is it? Or what was it rather?

Oh, the Doghouse was this 24 hour restaurant that was a favorite haunt of the Indie/Grunge crowd as well as the elderly groupies of "famed Seattle organist" Dick Dickerson. The place was MAD! Their slogan was "All roads lead to the Doghouse." Great milkshakes. Unfortunately it is now defunct and no doubt sadly missed. Not sure what happened to Dickerson though.

No, I never went there, but I did do "The Hurricane" once(quite dissapointed)..went back to frequenting the "five point" (motto:"Alcoholics serving alcoholics for since 19--") ...of course, that was when I was young, childless and drunk...many years ago

This is overall one of my favorite songs on the album, probably second most favorite after Mirrorball.

Great song, I liked the actual story behind it as well.

For me, it's the heart of the album. Guy's voice aches with pain and passion; it all comes to a head with the line "Send up a prayer in my name". You just don't get such a perfect marriage of words in music in modern music any more, which is why - for me - Elbow stand head and shoulders above the rest.

The poetry and symbolism in the lyrics is bloody outstanding. And then you have such evocative playing from the rest of the band. I never cease to be moved by this song; it's the song that I play to people who've never heard of Elbow before (there's not many about these days!) to show them what all the fuss is about.

The story about Guy's sister wanting to get out of the TV industry is interesting. I'd always assumed it was about the character of the song, up there with his TV in his lonely tower crane, needing to get his head out of the TV and interact with the real world.

I absolutely adore this song.

I'm 25 and a manager for McDonald's. 'Grounds for divorce', since it's single release has been played on heavy rotation on our piped in-store music system. This song lead me to listening to SSK. Blown away by the arrangement of opening track, my Floyd muscles flexed when I heard tower crane driver. Stunning. I've recorded a cover of TCD - It's on Myspace

Have a listen - If you want a better quality version, message me for a sendspace link.

Enjoy listening

JK