Glasvegas - Geraldine

I first heard this dynamite song on Left of Center at around 2am driving home from San Francisco to Monterey, the Sunday after thanksgiving. I’m only just now writing about it because a friend of mine relies on me for new tunes and told me yesterday when i told her to check this song out that i had told her to do that a month ago and that she owned the album already. I thought that was pretty cute and classic since i personally don’t own the album, but regularly listen to it on youtube. That night i kept rewinding the Sirius machine to hear this jam over and over again. Actually to be fair i usually let a lot of other songs play after a song i like, just to be sure i really like it. That night i heard other fun songs like Of Montreal’s “Id Engager” and Ra Ra Riot’s plethora of super-duper fantastico tracks (ghost under rocks, dying is fine, do you realize). Geraldine has a soulful approach that builds her up to a heavenly body or a guardian angel. It’s really can feel like a magnificent song. As it turns out the song is really a tribute to a woman named Geraldine that sells the bands merchandise and accompanies them to each show.

Glasvegas Last.FM blurb:
Formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 2006, the band is composed of James Allan (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rab Allan (lead guitar), Paul Donoghue (bass guitar) and Caroline McKay (drums). Their music is influenced by artists such as ‘Wall of Sound’ producer Phil Spector and other, more recent, bands which share that same aesthetic such as My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

The song starts out with a high guitar solo and in come the booming drums. Lots of girls will no doubt fall in love with the accent. I personally didn’t even notice it until someone on songmeanings pointed out the fact that he was Scottish. Honestly the only words i think i understood the first dozen times i heard this song were “I’ll be the angel on your shoulder, my name is Geraldine, i’m your social worker" and then something about “I see you, i love you too”. The song sounds just as strong now that i’v read the lyrics as it did when i didn’t understand it. It reminds me of opera and hearing Andre Bocelli belt out these ballads, in a foreign tongue, you can sense the depth of each song. We know from his voice, the music, and the tone what he’s trying to say. Because we’re so familiar with those tones in our everyday life. We know how anger sounds, we know how sadness sounds, we know how grief sounds, we know how pain sounds. That’s what i sensed in glasvegas, remorse, pain and suffering, and a calm gratefulness to the subject.

p.s. right now i’m listening to Kosheen – Resist.