Jamie T - 'Sheila'
Poetry analysis is, to be fair, not the sort of thing you usually associate with brilliant pop records. As a rule, it's more what you associate with English Language GCSE and while there's nothing wrong with that per se, there are times when we all feel a little constrained by expectations to sample 80's hair metal on your pop music and not analyse the lyrics of 'More Than A Feeling' by Boston on your GCSE. Hurrah for Jamie T, then.
He has, you see, taken upon himself, as part of 'Sheila' (a tragedy of getting on with things any way you can in London) to sample 'The Cockney Amorist' by John Betjeman. Now I don't know if that's ever actually made it onto a poetry syllabus but you have to admit it's more original than another bit of Cutting Crew. And it, y'know, really works, the first verse mumbled under the intro to the song ("Oh when my love, my darling, you've left me here alone, I'll walk the streets of London which once seemed all our own.") sets the scene for a song which manages to sound a reasonable amount like nothing else.
In the way of a lot of acts that have a good song, which the people who heard it thought was good but there weren't many of them, and who then re-release it when more people are paying attention, this is actually Jamie's first single. It originally came out last year and despite playing it a minimum of several thousand times a day ever since, I'm still not sick of it. In principle it's a fairly simple song, with Jamie telling (fairly depressing) stories about people he knows, over such a jaunty beat that it manages to be more life-affirming than wrist-slitting and occasional well-chosen samples. As well as the Betjeman, there's speech from My Fair Lady and Lock Stock and it's a surprisingly layered song, given how simple the premise is.
Jamie's personal approach to the stories is particularly touching, without being sleazy or selling tragedy - he's full of affection for the people he's talking about and whether they're real or just based on real people, they're completely believable, from boozy-but-sensible Sheila, through to beaten alcoholic Georgina via a drug dealer and a pregnancy. He speaks about them nostalgically, although without too much tint on his glasses and there's something genuinely affecting about it. One of the things I like most about the song is how honest it seems, without any pretense of any of it being good but equally saying that none of it was purely bad.
In short, it's scrappy and inelegant and doesn't all quite make sense, with nearly-random samples that somehow fit right in and it'll make you feel good, even though it's sad. Top marks all round.
Download: Out now
CD Released: May 7th
(Hazel Robinson)
Comments
This is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time and it's only one of many great song on the album.
I still can't get over the fact that his album "Panic Prevention" has so many brilliant songs yet it was largely written and recorded in his bedroom. (actually, if you listen closely to "If you got the money" I swear you can hear the TV on in the next room :D) Absolutely amazing.
I can't wait to see what he's going to release next.
Anyone reading this, do yourself a favour, grab a copy of the album. You won't regret it.
I didnt use to like this song i actually thought it was a load of what i would call "crap" but after closely listening to the lyrics and reading a variety of analysis reports on it i thing its deep and very affecting i think it should be studied in english literature GSCE as it relates to real life now days. i agree the 'The Cockney Amorist' at the begining fits in with the song (if you've heard the fuller version-especially) im only 15 but i wish we would study this in english it would be much more interesting! no matter how many times i listen to it ill never get bored of it ... well done Jamie .... amazing !!! =)