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Tuesday 25 April 2017

All Your Friends And Family Think That You're Lucky



I've posted This Is The Day by The The before, twice in fact, but until last week I had never seen the video.



None of you need me to tell you what a great song this is, from the accordian to the softly sung vocals and the affecting autobiographical lyrics. I always assumed Matt was singing about a woman he knew but it occurred to me watching the video that he might be singing to himself. Either way, the observations are spot on. It is also one of those songs which seems to be about you. I'm also a big fan of the 1993 version complete with Casio organ preset rhythm (also known as That Was The Day)

This Is The Day (Disinfected Version)

The early 90s full band version of The The, including Johnny Marr and James Eller plus Zeke Manyika, reunited for a RSD only 7" playing tribute to Matt's artist brother Andy, who designed the eye catching The The sleeves, who sadly died last year. Just 2000 copies, no re-release, no downloads. I know at least one person reading this has one.

12 comments:

C said...

Thanks so much for this SA; you know how much remembering Andy means to me. All the family - including him - are in this video (which I was told was quite a nightmare to do and not exactly what was intended!) so it's quite something to watch, and very moving for me now. The song itself of course is sublime.

Michael Doherty said...

I don't have a download of the new The The track but it's at the very start of this DJ Food mix. Really good, a fitting tribute that should be more widely available.

Michael Doherty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael Doherty said...

https://www.mixcloud.com/Spiritland/dj-food-at-spiritland-23rd-april-2017/

Also, I did see on their Twitter feed that there'd be news of extra copies on their mailing list.

Swiss Adam said...

Thanks Michael.

The Swede said...

Matt Johnson spoke to Steve Lamacq about the new tune last week. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p050hv63

Simon said...

Love The The. this and the Jools piano track are as good as anything from the 80s And then Infected was even better. Lyrically superb.

Echorich said...

I've listened to the beginning of the DJ Food Spiritland/Mixcloud set a dozen times and I just can't get enough of We Can't Stop What's Coming. It has risen to the top of songs I've heard in 2017 and may be really hard to beat as the year gets closer to it's midpoint. This is the Matt Johnson of Soul Mining and Infected, baring his soul and questioning, looking for answers. If it's a one off and nothing more comes from The The in future, this will be held as a magnificent tribute to a brother as well as a final curtain call the band both brothers centered their lives around.

Brian said...

Post of the day, Adam. One of those songs you never tire of hearing. I had never seen the video either.

C said...

I'll be sure to pass the positive feedback on :-)

Jez said...

Agreed, a great video, puts a different slant on the song.
Hadn't seen it before so many thanks

JC said...

One of my all time favourite songs as evidenced by its very high placing in the 45 45s at 45 rundown almost nine years (eek!) ago.

Until now, I had no idea that C was connected in any way to Andy Dog. You will need to tell me more when we meet up.

Missed out on the vinyl and am loath to pay the £40 being sought on discogs. Pleased that there will be a digital release for, as Echorich says, its a great bit of music.