Song of the Day 28/12/2008

Elbow - The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver


18 years it took them. 18 years of understated grandiosity before they finally burst into the national consciousness thanks to a beautiful, confidently-produced record and a bunch of understanding Mercury Prize judges. It was a bittersweet moment for me, actually - sweet that they finally got the recognition they deserved, as a rich man's Coldplay; but bitter that now songs like Tower Crane Driver and One Day Like This would no longer be the secret pleasure of a few hardy fans, but anthems for a nation and a host of adverts/TV montages. Still, you can't begrudge such a nice bunch of lads their reward for two decades of hard slog. And it takes nothing away from what is their biggest, most complete album yet.

Tower Crane Driver is one of those songs that seems a bit of a luxury, a bit unnecessary and bombastic. But after a few listens the subtelties kick in and you realise it's got all of what Elbow are about wrapped up in one song. Gentle, reflective lyrics, bursts of energy and beauty and neat little segues in between.

The vid - well, it's not a single so some fella's gone and made his own, and it's rather nice, save for the camera move at the end. I'd like to see some collaboration between this fella and the youtuber who did Camera Obscura's Lunar Sea (SotD 15/10/2008), it could be quite beautiful.

Anyway, this is my favourite song from my #2 record of the year.