SLS: Now The Day Bleeds

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After several weeks of songs from the Grammy Awards Jim has moved across the pond for the next few Song Lyric Sunday themes, beginning today with his invitation to play a song that won the Brit Award for British Song of the Year, as you can see from his post An Annual Celebration. You might think that as I am a Brit this would be easy for me, but it isn’t: the Brits have been going for nearly fifty years but are largely the province of pop music. In short, they are usually a heap of unadulterated shite. But there are a few pearls to be found amongst the swine, and I’m playing you two absolute beauties that have risen above the dross. I have no doubt that either or both of these will be played by others taking part in SLS, such is the paucity of the field, but I’ll go with these all the same. That would just confirm my choices, anyway!

My first choice is by a guy who has had huge success here in the last six years. I played several of his songs for SLS last December, but not this one, his breakthrough hit:

And the lyrics:

I’m going under and this time I fear there’s no one to save meThis all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazyI need somebody to healSomebody to knowSomebody to haveSomebody to holdIt’s easy to sayBut it’s never the sameI guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain
 
Now the day bleedsInto nightfallAnd you’re not hereTo get me through it allI let my guard downAnd then you pulled the rugI was getting kinda used to being someone you loved
 
I’m going under and this time I fear there’s no one to turn toThis all or nothing way of loving got me sleeping without youNow, I need somebody to knowSomebody to healSomebody to haveJust to know how it feelsIt’s easy to say but it’s never the sameI guess I kinda liked the way you helped me escape
 
Now the day bleedsInto nightfallAnd you’re not hereTo get me through it allI let my guard downAnd then you pulled the rugI was getting kinda used to being someone you loved
 
And I tend to close my eyes when it hurts sometimesI fall into your armsI’ll be safe in your sound ’til I come back around
 
For now the day bleedsInto nightfallAnd you’re not hereTo get me through it allI let my guard downAnd then you pulled the rugI was getting kinda used to being someone you loved
 
But now the day bleedsInto nightfallAnd you’re not hereTo get me through it allI let my guard downAnd then you pulled the rugI was getting kinda used to being someone you loved
 
I let my guard downAnd then you pulled the rugI was getting kinda used to being someone you loved
 
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Benjamin Kohn / Lewis Capaldi / Peter Kelleher / Samuel Roman / Tom Barnes
Someone You Loved lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, TuneCore Inc.
 

Lewis Capaldi won the 2020 award for Someone You Loved, which for me is one of the more well-deserved winners. He has since been nominated on another two occasions, losing out to Harry Styles and Raye: two injustices, to my ears! This song was included on his debut album, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, which was released in May 2019, getting to #1 in the UK, #5 in Canada and #20 in the UK. It has sold more than 10m copies worldwide, more than 1.5m of those in the UK where it has gone 5x Platinum. It had previously been released twice in 2018, as a single and on the EP Breach. The single came out in November 2018 and took off in a huge way, making #1 in the UK, the US (taking 28 weeks to get there!), Canada, Ireland and elsewhere, as well as high chart positions in many other countries. Despite being released fairly late in the year it was the best seller in the UK in 2019, making it a shoo-in for that Brit Award. Its sales figures are incredible: 10m (Diamond) in the US, 5.4m (9x Platinum) in the UK, and huge numbers just about everywhere else. For once, I think the Brits got it right.

As they did for me in 1992, when this was the winner:

These Are the Days of Our Lives was released as a single in the US on Freddie Mercury’s 45th birthday, 5 September 1991, and as double A-side single in Ireland and the UK on 9 December, a fortnight after Freddie’s passing, along with Bohemian Rhapsody. The double A-side debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart and remained there for five weeks, and topped the Irish Singles Chart for six weeks.

The video was recorded on 30 May 1991, apart from Brian May’s piece, which was added in later as he was out of the country at the time. There was a need for some urgency as Freddie’s health was declining, and it was shot in monochrome to hide that from his fans. That final “I love you” was his departing message for them: a showman to the last, as he knew he wouldn’t be around for another.

The single sold more than 600k copies in the UK and was an obvious selection for the 1992 Brit Award, though looking at the ones it beat it isn’t hard to see why it won: two joke songs, a bit of electronica, a heavy metal track and a show tune. The track was also on Queen’s album Innuendo, which was released in February 1991 and made #1 in the UK and in several other European countries, though it only got to #30 in the US. Sales figures show that it still did well there, though, as it shifted more than 500k copies, compared with 300k in the UK. 

That’s me done for today. Two really beautiful songs that thoroughly deserved to win their awards, amidst a sea of mediocrity. And we have more Brit Awards to look forward to next week, though happily for an award which gives me a great many more from which I can choose. See you then, but first we have Tuesday Tunes and the start of Advent to come 😊

 

 

 

36 thoughts on “SLS: Now The Day Bleeds”

  4. Pingback: ♫ Two Beautiful Songs … Courtesy of Clive! ♫ | Filosofa's Word

  7. Queen is much more popular with the general public than me. I like a few of their songs, but most people are far more enthusiastic about them than me. I’m sure you have those groups/performers too, Clive. Who is someone that most people praise whose music you don’t care for? I remembered you have a strong dislike for Ed Sheeran, to the point that you don’t like saying his name. 🤣

    I remembered from before that you are a big Lewis Capaldi fan as am I.

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    • We can’t all like the same things, can we. You’re right about Ed Sheeran, and I’d add all boy and girl bands, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and their like to the list too.

      Lewis Capaldi is an exceptional talent, and I’m glad you like him too.

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  9. A totally brilliant post Clive. Two of my ULTRA favourites. Brian May’s solo always reduces me to tears, and this was the first time I’d seen this particular video for Someone You Loved which also choked me up. I’ve only become familiar with Lewis Calpaldi this year and this track is amazing. Thanks for sharing such excellent and deserving winners.

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  10. Quite a few firsts this Sunday – beginning of December and First Advent. Did you know that if a month begins on a Sunday it will have a Friday 13th? The Queen song is a particular favorite and always tears me up.

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    • It’s a beautiful song, isn’t it, and the effort Freddie put into making the video is heartbreaking.

      Yes, I’ve spotted that, but you can rest safely – I won’t be getting out the chainsaw a week on Friday 😉

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    • Thank you, Marina, I’m pleased you liked them. And I’m surprised you didn’t know the Lewis Capaldi one: it made #1 in the US and spent months in the chart! A great song, though 😊

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