Something slightly different to start the merry month of May. What links Father Ted, Tomorrow’s World and The IT Crowd? Yes, easy – all have Divine Comedy written theme tunes. Aha! The Divine Comedy!
An old housemate of mine created a new musical category years ago – “Girlfriend Music” – the stuff that your girlfriend listens to try and impress you because she knows you’re into music. Sleeper were definitely Girlfriend Music, as were Cake. Current keepers of the flame of GFM might include Coldplay and any of those indie-by-numbers bands we’re currently plagued with. And that’s how I started off thinking about the Divine Comedy – GFM.
But no! Listen! Where else can you find songs about fish, hay fever, Goths, Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World, Mr Ben, Alfie, coach trips and of course some Songs of Love? All delivered with Neil Hannon’s wonderful voice and a big, often stringsy sound. They’ve slimmed down a bit, from a proper band to basically Neil Hannon and whoever’s around – but the quality is still there. Proper songs sung by someone with a proper voice. Not that I’m knocking improper songs.
And what do they mean to me? I first heard of them many years ago when I was trying to an impress a new girlfriend and, desperate to make an impression, looked up the gig of the week in Time Out. Divine Comedy? Never heard of them. We pottered along to Camden Town Hall (I’ve never been to a gig their before or since – quite pokey) and had a great time – which is a bit unusual as I didn’t know any of their stuff and don’t usually choose gigs like that. They were touring to promote Cassanova, their breakthrough album, and Neil was on top banter form – he even reluctantly removed his shades at one point after encouragement from the crowd. The song I remember best was The Frog Princess where Neil gets to show off his vocals a bit. Crowd pressure cajoled him into a live My Lovely Horse and they finished off with a speedy Tonight We Fly. My date for the night went out and bought Cassanova the very next day and taped it for me – with the track listing done in multi-coloured felt tip pens. GFM, I thought.
I’ve seen them a few times since then; probably the best was a double header with Ben Folds finishing with a version of Careless Whisper. Their output over the years has really got me into them. My old housemate turned out to be a complete arse and GFM one of those categories of music created to pour scorn on those who liked something a bit different – he was a budding DJ and carpet layer – I did listen to a Sleeper album last year and it wasn’t entirely bad. And I’ve come to love the Divine Comedy for their fun and singalongability and some dashed fine sings on the way too.
I hope you find yourself singing “could turn my frog into a cooooow!” at inopportune times today.
And that girl I was trying to impress? Today’s our 10th wedding anniversary. Hooray!
mp3 : The Divine Comedy – The Frog Princess
JOHN