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Worried Looks

from Fugitive Orchestra by Fugitive Orchestra

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about

The idea for this song came from some cursory research into the life (and death) of national treasure, Tommy Cooper. I tried to imagine how witnessing that fateful night's performance might have affected a spectator, while at the same time trying to create a feeling of Waitsian bizzarreness.

While on a train, in the process of writing the song, the train pulled up at a station and I saw what could only be described as the most harrowing family day-out I have ever witnessed. The mother and grandmother wore similar expressions of determined and affected stoicism, while the two children had an ineffable look of worry and dread on their faces. That was among the most evocative expressions I have ever seen, and at that moment I knew I had the title for the song.

lyrics

You were there the night Tommy Cooper died,
Sat making notes on the back row,
Trying to finish that novel you started,
And ensuring it didn't end a diatribe.

You clapped along when you felt like it,
Laughed when it felt appropriate,
I’m sure you stuck out like a sore-thumb.
But when you feel like the end is coming,
You take you chance – ‘cause you might not get another one.

And the worried looks on children’s faces,
Were enough to make you scared,
Though you tried to act so nonchalantly,
They all knew that you cared –
For the ones who saw it coming,
And the ones you left behind,
While mediocre wasn’t what you hoped for,
It was all that you could find.

You tried your hand at levitation,
You tried to saw yourself in two,
But your living room’s not the place for magic tricks,
And you ended up with a nasty bruise.

So you packed your dreams in freezer bags,
And hid them all away,
But when the time came to unpack them all –
You realised they’d been replaced.

Peering over the tops of the walls you’ve built,
Standing on the tips of your toes.
You look out on all the bone’s you’ve collected,
And hope you’ll live to see them decompose.

And the worried looks on children’s faces,
Were enough to make you scared,
Though you tried to act so nonchalantly,
They all knew that you cared –
For the ones who saw it coming,
And the ones you left behind,
While mediocre wasn’t what you hoped for,
It was all that you could find.

credits

from Fugitive Orchestra, released April 19, 2014
Produced by Iain Reddy.
Mastered by Sam Hocking.
Lead Guitar & Bass: Iain Reddy.
Drums: Roo Walker.

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Fugitive Orchestra Portsmouth, UK

Singer-Songwriter James Tattington began performing as Fugitive Orchestra after reading a passage in a J. G. Ballard novel.

Fusing together Beatboxing, Live-Looping and Guitar, Fugitive Orchestra makes music best described as Alternative Jazz-infused, Bluesy Hip-Pop; drawing inspiration from the likes of Andrew Bird, LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Kate Bush and the Blue Nile. ... more

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