Forty years old this year, this song dropped back into my life recently, a young Paul Weller's rumination on place, identity, home and belonging. Tucked away in the middle of side two of All Mod Cons it can easily be overshadowed by its surroundings- A Bomb In Wardour Street and Down In The Tube Station At Midnight follow it- but its one of those songs which seems quintessentially Weller. Ray Davies is there in the lyrics and Motown in the music but no one else could have written these words at that point. It's also one of the few songs on All Mod Cons that is written in the first person (most of the songs on All Mod Cons are third person and observational). Home and place are topics he's come back to throughout his career but in some ways he said it all here and best in 1978, in two minutes fifty-four.
The Place I Love
2 comments:
Yes! Love this.
And it's always in the back of my mind...
From my point of view, The Place I Love has always been a highlight on All Mod Cons. Weller captured that teenage need for identity as the world around them gets more serious and complicated.
Martin's comment says it all really...And it's always in the back of my mind...
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