Playlist: Anything but typical

Matt Berger

13 years ago

Posted by Stephen Hoffman

For Marketplace, Friday, August 20, 2010

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This week on Marketplace Money I was really pleased to use a bit of music that I tend to play around my house or in my iPod just about everyday. “Geraldine,” by the Scottish band Glasvegas.

What I like about it, unfortunately, can be heard just by listening to the show because we have informal rules about not playing the lyrics in a bridge, I cut out before we got to the song’s words, but I recommend everyone give it a listen.

Glasvegas consists of he band consists of James Allen on vocals and rhythm guitar, Rab Allan on lead guitar, Paul Donoghue on bass. When “Geraldine” starts, it’s a great guitar riff that just builds to a pleasant roar, but when James starts singing, it seems like he’s describing a typical relationship.

The lyrics start out: “When your sparkle evades your soul, I’ll be at your side to console … when your standing on the window ledge, I’ll talk you back from the edge … but when you get to the end of the stanza, you realize this is anything but typical.”

See, I may be wrong, but the subject of the song isn’t a wife or girlfriend, but someone who nonetheless offers to be there in support no matter what happens, through thick and thin. See Geraldine is a social worker, and she’s there to make sure that nothing bad ever happens.

First time I heard it, it really gave me chills — maybe because my father was a social worker and I knew how hard he tried to connect to his clients. But for whatever reason it’s just an amazing example of great song writing.