This week’s invitation to Song Lyric Sunday is to share a final song (live or recorded) played by a band or artist. This sounds to me to be a bit like last week’s theme, but Jim’s post Last Piece Played explains all. My first thought was to go with Tom Petty and American Girl, which he played to close his final show a week before he died, but I suspect that others may choose that and have decided to go with something which I guess may well be unknown to my friends across the pond.

I’m interpreting the brief to mean the last song released by my chosen band, and it is this, from Lloyd Cole and The Commotions:

And this wouldn’t be SLS without the lyrics, would it:

[Christine has advised me that this video doesn’t work in the US and has very kindly provided one that does, in her comment below. I guess that one does, as I can’t see it here! Failing that, maybe this link to an audio version will help?]

From The Hip was released as the lead track (of four) on an EP in April 1988, the final release before the band broke up in 1989, and it made #59 in the UK Singles chart. It is a pretty nihilistic song about how his mother has caused him – in his eyes – to become addicted to prescription medicine, so there isn’t exactly a fun subject lurking behind the pleasing melody, is there! A critic at the time described it as “a beautifully bitter number” but there is no mention on Lloyd’s Wikipedia page as to whether this is truly autobiographical or just a songwriter’s version of poetic licence.  Hopefully for him, it was the latter!

Lloyd Cole and The Commotions formed in Glasgow in 1982, and were purveyors of what Wikipedia classes as ‘jangle pop.’ And they did it very well, too: between 1984 and 1989, the band had four Top 20 albums and five Top 40 singles in the UK; they also had success in several other countries including Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden and New Zealand. After they broke up in 1989, Lloyd embarked on a solo career during which he has released thirteen further albums, the most recent of which was in 2023. With The Commotions there were three studio albums, all of which I bought at the time and played to bits, and these were followed by the first compilation, which I also bought to play in the car. Those albums were Rattlesnakes (October 1984, UK #13), Easy Pieces (November 1985, UK #5), and Mainstream (September 1987, UK #9), with the compilation 1984-1989 coming out in March 1989, making #14 here. All four albums were awarded Gold Discs here in the UK. From The Hip was the third and final track taken for release from Mainstream, on which it first appeared, so I think it fits today’s brief!

The two other songs released from that album as singles are both favourites of mine, so I thought I’d be self-indulgent and play them too, as they give you two more good examples of Lloyd’s songwriting style and that jangly pop stuff. In a nod to democracy all the tracks on that album are credited as full band creations, but we all knew that Lloyd did most of the writing! The first single was released in September 1987 alongside the album:

My Bag made #46 in the UK and #20 in Ireland, and it was the only one of their records ever to achieve a US chart placing: #13 on their Alternative Airplay listing, based on radio airplay as its name suggests.

And this is the second single:

Jennifer She Said was released in December 1987, and reached #31 in the UK and #27 in Ireland. Like everything else the band did I loved it then and still do, and I have several of Lloyd’s solo albums too, all of which are showcases for his songwriting talents and his pleasant vocals.

That’s my Song Lyric Sunday selection for today, and as always I hope you enjoyed the music and offer my thanks to Jim for running the show.

See you again for another round of Tuesday Tunes? Hope so 😉