Some riot

Hi All - At the Berlin gig on Thursday (Yes - I will shut up about it soon!), Guy said that this was about alcohol abuse (not sure about his exact words - maybe TL or Jones could quote him better). What are your views about this one, beside its wonderfulness, of course.

Some Riot strikes straight to the heart as a very astute, yet loving commentary on the self destruction of someone close. Like the other gritty subjects Elbow have written about (Tailfly for instance), there's a lot of insight and understanding; the 'seeing things from both sides'. Despite all that empathy, there's also very raw, honest anger and pain about what's going on. All held together by such emotional music.

On top of all that, the 'breaking my heart..." line gets me everytime. Epic song.

The opening line always gets me "A friend of mine grows his very own bramble. Twist all around him 'till he can't move"

Lovely song. I seem to recall Guy saying it was about drink too.

Must admit, this was the song that took the longest for me to get into from the album and I've absolutely no idea why, as the tone of Guy's voice and the touching and explicit lyrics are EXACTLY the reasoning to why I adore them. One of my favourites from the Abbey Road DVD. Agree with Leo, a superb opening line.

Leo wrote:

The opening line always gets me "A friend of mine grows his very own bramble. Twist all around him 'till he can't move"

oh yes, it moves me. Everytime. over and over again.

I'm with Mrs W, the "breaking my heart" line always breaks MY heart.

Of course another meaningful, insightful gem of a song.
Self-inflicted, or driven to it....either way some kind of intense sadness and desperation about it all.
Been there a few times at certain points in life.

Mmm... Yes, I seem to recall reading (or hearing) Guy say that although the song talks about 'a friend of mine', he probably wrote it about himself.
Of course, I could be completely wrong, but is it that much of a stretch?
'The booze turns a tall gentle boy to a terrible totem' ...???

I think you're probably right Jones - Has anyone else heard him talking about it?

I can't check because these won't play on macs, but -

http://www.xfm.co.uk/artists/elbow-on-the-seldom-seen-kid

It might not be this one, but I'm sure he said something along the lines of Jones' post..

That's great al! Well done on finding that one.

The album playbacks are really good, there's a COT and Leaders one somewhere...

al wrote:

The album playbacks are really good, there's a COT and Leaders one somewhere...

Don't think the above two are accessible online anymore.

I have John Kennedy's playback of COT on cassette tape, recorded off the radio in 2003 before I had anything digital, so its the complete playback with all the songs too. It was pretty special at the time as it was a few weeks till the album was actually released.
If I get a way to transfer from cassette I could share by adding on Elbowfans Ning, unless anyone already has it computer friendly?
I have LOTFW playback somewhere too.

Some Riot started off as 'Brambles' and that version played a few times live before TSSK came out.

I remember too, that Guy said, that between the lines "Some riot" is about himself. It's moving that he is that selfcritic. Most people who drink too much would say "Me? Alcoholic?? No way" (see Miss Alehouse -sorry- Winehouse, who sings that she does not need rehab ) But Guy said in an german interview something like "I'm afraid I am an alcoholic". I just hope he still isn't .

TamedLamia wrote:

I remember too, that Guy said, that between the lines "Some riot" is about himself. It's moving that he is that selfcritic. Most people who drink too much would say "Me? Alcoholic?? No way" (see Miss Alehouse -sorry- Winehouse, who sings that she does not need rehab ) But Guy said in an german interview something like "I'm afraid I am an alcoholic". I just hope he still isn't .

Sadly, you either are or you ain't. You can't shake it off like a cold. It's a psychological condition as much as anything. However, on the plus side of things a sober life is a good life ... paranoia, panic attacks and the like become a thing of the past. And yep, this comes as a result of personal experience. Don't know if your songwriting turns to crap but I suspect not. Wish Guy was my songwriter/lyricist. Have a few tunes in demo format that are crying out for his magic ... oh to be a wordsmith

I think you mean Brambles....!!!

Jones wrote:

Mmm... Yes, I seem to recall reading (or hearing) Guy say that although the song talks about 'a friend of mine', he probably wrote it about himself.
Of course, I could be completely wrong, but is it that much of a stretch?
'[i
]The booze turns a tall gentle boy to a terrible totem[/i]' ...???

In my opinion its almost impossible not to write about yourself, just ask a counsellor

I actually thought it was "The bruise turns a tall gentle boy to a terrible totem."...

Some Riot is one of my favourites off TSSK, it's a beautiful song!