Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Letters in Music: "Letter from America"

The Proclaimers (1962) are a pair of twin brothers, Craig and Charlie. On their website, their biography partly reads:

Born in Leith in 1962, Craig and Charlie Reid grew up in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty in Fife. At home, they listened to early rock ‘n’ roll and country greats such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams. At school they played in punk bands and formed The Proclaimers in 1983. With a fervent live following growing in Scotland, particularly in Inverness where they performed regularly, their first big break came late in 1986 when they were invited to tour with The Housemartins. Then in January 1987 they made a now seminal appearance on the Channel 4 pop programme The Tube, performing Letter From America & Throw The ‘R’ Away. Singing in regional accents about Scotland – its emigration and its politics – they were a far cry from the mid-Eighties playlist staples of Rick Astley and Sinitta, and became a phenomenon almost overnight, signing to Chrysalis within a month and recording their debut album acoustically, This Is The Story, a week later, produced by the man who also signed them to Chrysalis, John Williams. Voted NME Readers Best New Band that year, they toured the UK extensively and a new ‘band’ version of Letter From America, produced by Gerry Rafferty went Top 3 in November.



"Letter From America"

When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada
Broke off from my work the other day
I spent the evening thinking about
All the blood that flowed away
Across the ocean to the second chance
I wonder how it got on when it reached the promised land?

When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada

I've looked at the ocean
Tried hard to imagine
The way you felt the day you sailed
From Wester Ross to Nova Scotia
We should have held you
We should have told you
But you know our sense of timing
We always wait too long

When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada

Lochaber no more
Sutherland no more
Lewis no more
Skye no more
[3x]

I wonder my blood
Will you ever return
To help us kick the life back
To a dying mutual friend
Do we not love her?
I think we all claim we love her
Do we have to roam the world
To prove how much it hurts?

When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada

Bathgate no more
Linwood no more
Methil no more
Irvine no more.
[3x]

Bathgate no more
Linwood no more
Methil no more
Lochaber no more.

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