Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. V--Big Country: In a Big Country

Every now and again I'll hear a song for the first time and realize instantly that I am listening to a song that I'm going to love for the forseeable future.  This week's tune is one of those songs, only it's thirty-two years later and it still sounds every bit as good as it did the first several hundred times I heard it.

Released in 1983, Big Country's "In a Big Country" was the only hit the band had here in the States (they did quite well in the U.K. for a number of years) but--recurring theme--what an only hit to have had.  The band's (unfortunately) late lead vocalist and guitarist Stuart Adamson said himself that if "In a Big Country" was the only song the band was remembered for he would be "quite happy with that."

The song is the opening cut on the band's album The Crossing and is a mix of impassioned wailing vocals,  heart pounding drums, and whirling guitars that often mimic bagpipes on speed (somewhat to my chagrin, I found out while researching the song that the guitar sound was studio enhanced--as if guitar players were wizards who could make unimaginable sounds merely by circling a finger).  The most amazing thing about the song is every time I hear it, I feel like I'm swirling, in of all things, a big wide open country (like their native Scotland).

Come up screaming, indeed.

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee