Friday Night Jukebox, Vol.CDLXXVI--The Waterboys: The Big Music

Yikes, only four days late....

Kind of surprised it took me 477 posts to get to this week's tune, though in fairness, even some twenty odd years down the road since I first heard it, its greatness in my estimation only continues to grow and that perhaps explains it--just waiting for its apex.  I have to admit it did take a while for the song to sink in--I first heard it on a greatest hits package and there were a few other songs that struck a chord (so to speak) before this one.  But over time...man what a song. In fact, in my ever so humble opinion, it's one of the ten greatest rock and roll songs ever....

I wrote about The Waterboys in Jukebox CXIII so there's no need for an elaborate bio.  However I should note that Mike Scott and his rotating cast of bandmates have released four more albums since then (2017) and have toured several times as well.

"The Big Music" was released in 1984 as the first single from their rather blasphemously named album A Pagan Place.  The song would reach #124 on the U.K. Singles Chart, while the album would hit #100 on the U.K. Albums Chart.  Neither charted here in the States.

Fun Fact (well, at least for me):  My post for The Waterboys "A Man Is in Love" has the second highest number of pageviews in the history of Friday Night Jukebox.  And if any of my three loyal readers are wondering which FNJ volume has the most page views...oddly enough, it's Chatham County Line's "Speed of the Whippoorwill."

Mike Scott has said that "The Big Music" is not about music but is about something religious.  For me, the song is about music--there is nothing religion related that has moved me spiritually one/one hundredth as much as music has.  And though he may not have intended it, that's exactly what I've taken from the song.  Scott's vocals conjure all the grandiosity of its metaphysical quest, while the band, with the wailing sax and the angelic backing vocals, takes us all to a higher plain.  Even the ending, wherein the exhilarating journey we've been on comes to a quiet close with the drums slowing slowing slowing like a heartbeat...and then just stops.  And then you ask yourself--is this heaven?  It very well might be, but the one thing I can say for certain is that it's a stunning piece of rock and roll.

Lyric Sheet:  "(You'll never get there, you'll never get there, you'll never get there)/But I will/I will always climb the mountain/Because/I have heard the big music/And I'll never be the same..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee