favourite song

Choosing one favourite song has to be the hardest thing in the world to do. Picking a favourite album is bad enough. Most days I would say 'Don't Stand Me Down' by Dexys is my favourite album of all time, for a bunch of reasons which I will write about one day but at the moment I can't think of any album being better or more 'playable' than 'Separation Sunday' by The Hold Steady.

As opposed to reviewing the Twilight Sad or Tiny Vipers albums, today I thought I would write about the song that if I absolutely had to choose one, I would probably say is my favourite song.

It is 'Walking' by Tindersticks.

It is a low-key, quiet, murmur of a song. When they play it live you don't hear cheers from the audience like you would when they play 'City Sickness' or 'Patchwork'. It is so gentle it is almost a lullabye. But it is perfect. Perfect.

Opening with a sombre keyboard refrain, it doesn't sound much like a Tindersticks song until you hear Stuart Staples murmur

"Wake up
Its alright
I don't need to know where you've been
You went for a walk
out of my sight
You went astray again"

Such a typical Tindersticks lyric. He repeats it as the song goes on, adds a verse, repeats it again, changes it slightly, all while the song builds ever so slightly, the hint of a violin here, the strum of an acoustic guitar there. You wait for it to build into a Tinderstick-esque crescendo, all violins, trumpets and guitars, like a 'Sleepy Song' or a 'Raindrops'...

but it never does. It keeps on building towards this, but never gets there. and the song is all the more magical for that.

There's no conclusion to the lyric, no resolution, no twist at the end, just a feeling that continues throughout the 5 minutes and 7 seconds of the song.

There are times and days when I only want to listen to this song.