20/08/2010

Manchester


Mention Liverpool and most people can think of a well known song about it: Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields, Liverpool Lou, The Leaving of Liverpool. Mention its neighbour, and great rival, Manchester, and it is not so easy. From the Hollies and Mindbenders through 10cc, the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, the Smiths, Happy Mondays, Oasis, Manchester has produced plenty of musical artists but songs about the place itself have not sunk into popular consciousness in the way of other large cities. Even Stockport,6 miles away and part of the Greater Manchester conurbation, had a dedicated ode, by Frankie Vaughan: ‘I’ve travelled up and down this country, from the Pennines to Land End, but if you ask my favourite place of all, the answer isn’t hard to comprehend .I’m going back to Stockport.' (Though the song came out in 1983, unfortunately the town still came 12th in a 2004 list of the UK’s Crap Towns).

A musical comparison with Liverpool is interesting. There has been a strong streak of sentimentality in many of its best known songs –from Gerry and the Pacemaker’s Ferry Cross the Mersey (‘We don’t care what your name is boy, we’ll never send you away’), to the Mighty Wah’s Heart as Big as Liverpool (‘Lay me down by water cool, heart as big as the city, heart as big as Liverpool’) to Ringo Starr’s Liverpool 8 (‘Destiny was calling, I just couldn’t stick around, Liverpool I left you but I never let you down’). Actually, 30 years or so before that last song there had been a much more perceptive sketch of the Liverpool 8 district (Toxteth) by the under-rated Liverpool group, the Real Thing, in their 4 from 8 album that included Liverpool 8, Stanhope Street and Children of the Ghetto. (‘Children of the ghetto, running wild and free in a concrete jungle, filled with misery’). However ,the point is that this perspective on Liverpool’s history was not one that fitted easily with the romanticised picture more commonly painted by songs and, perhaps not unconnected, the album didn’t sell well. Though Children of the Ghetto has been covered since by Philip Bailey and Mary J Blige, its Liverpool origins are rarely mentioned.

Though only 30 miles away, Manchester has always been distinctly different. One of the few musical pairings was an odd 1966 song, Manchester et Liverpool, by a French singer Marie Laforet. The original has a set of poignant lyrics of seeking a lost love amongst the streets of Manchester and Liverpool : “Manchester is a sad mood, Liverpool is crying over the sea, I do not know if I exist” (Relevant to this column, she also commented that ‘Manchester is in the rain’).     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuLV_LHY7mk
 The English cover version, by a group called Pinky and the Fellas, had more prosaic lyrics - ‘’Manchester and Liverpool, so noisy, busy and so typical, millions there with hopes and cares’ – and a plodding intro that sounded like the theme tune from Steptoe and Son. It was, however, No 1 in Japan, possibly on the mention of Liverpool in the title.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQDl6FXuqKk

It is hard to imagine a song called The Leaving of Manchester or Manchester Lullaby. Instead, songs about the place have largely been pretty dismal, leaving an image of gloom and grey, stuck somewhere round the time depicted in the Life on Mars TV series. A number of things contributed to this. The rain and leaden skies; the slate grey of many of the buildings; the tower blocks and motorway flyovers; the large housing estates; the dark history of the Moors above Manchester. Whatever the reason, the St Etienne touch of summer light on London is hard to find. The Smith’s back catalogue has several grim pieces about the town, including Rusholme Ruffians and their song about the Moors murders, Suffer Little Children, with the lines, ‘Oh Manchester, so much to answer for’. Or there was Mersey Paradise by the Stone Roses: ‘I want to be where the drownings are’. Or Northenden by the Doves: ‘The kids are deranged, they love guns and kidnap’

Then there is the rain. Statistics show that in reality Manchester is not the UK's rainiest city but perceptions are hard to shift. The song here, Manchester by Beautiful South from 2006, plays directly to that image. With the Housemartins and Beautiful South, Paul Heaton has often written dark, jagged and bitter lyrics but with an upbeat melody. Manchester is not one of his more biting analyses-basically it rains all over Manchester. However, his usual neat turn of phrase-‘the sun strolls into town like a long lost king’- the joint vocals with Alison Wheeler and infuriatingly catchy tune turn the whole thing into a little celebration, albeit a bittersweet one and probably not one the Manchester Tourist Board want to hear.

When I lived in North Lancashire, Manchester didn’t seem particularly gloomy. Actually, it seemed like the exciting big city, rather like Tracey Thorn viewed London from Hatfield in Oxford Street. It used to be said of Liverpool that you only had to walk down a street and you would bump into someone who used to be in a pop group. Something of that ilk did happen in Manchester, on a train from Lancaster when the person sitting across the carriage table turned out to have once been in a Manchester group, the Dolphins, with future Hollies Tony Hicks and Bernie Calvert. However ,it did really seem quite rainy there. Driving out of the town once was the only time in my life that the rain was so hard that the windscreen wipers fell off.

The song has echoes of a poem by Adrian Mitchell , Watch Your Step-I’m Drenched - ' In Manchester there are a thousand puddles.....In Manchester there lives the King of Puddles’. A bit of poetic licence where fact and fancy become indistinguishable

Link to song
Link2 to song

48 comments:

  1. Hey Geoff! I love this column as I've always been fascinated by the North of England and avidly watch films like Billy Elliot:) I'd love to listen to the song but when I click on the link it takes me to a youtube page that says 'this video is blocked in your country.' So I think any U.S. readers will have trouble with the link.

    In case it helps, I found this one instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFWP62EoU4g&

    Maybe if it works for you in England too, you could use it as your link?

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  2. Wow, that's a really catchy tune! And it's great the way he's so sarcastic all the way through about Manchester being "great" - that's the sense of humor we've come to love and expect from the British!

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  3. Especially when you watch the music video, you can't help but feel he's poking fun at a certain kind of Britishness, in the way that Little Britain does. I mean, the video has the ugliest group of people! With worse fashion than Coronation Street! I think it's affectionate poking though - not just meanness. At least I hope so! I'm not sure what it means when a song plays into all the national stereotypes about rain, and its music video plays into certain other regional or class stereotypes about beer and tracksuits, etc.

    Great column though! I'm impressed you picked Manchester first, rather than Liverpool, for a column about the North!

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  4. Hey Desiree-I have tried your link and it says it is blocked here! I'll try and find another..

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  5. I definitely think it's affectionate, and maybe not even poking fun. I think Heaton just really likes rain and the British pub. Didn't he recently do a whole cycling and pub tour - combining two classic British things? He cycled some huge distance, hundreds of miles, from one British pub to the next, performing shows and staying the night afterwards. So if there is some stereotype about beer drinking Northerners, Heaton is sincerely part of that stereoype!

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  6. Jeez, they're trying to drive a wedge between Brits and Yanks!:)

    You could always post two links marked "UK accessible" and "US accessible".....

    The one I posted is the official music video, not sure if that's the same as yours.

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  7. Yes, I agree with Sasha - Heaton even began his tour at the Rover’s Return on Coronation Street in Manchester, suggesting he embraces the kind of scene in that music video wholeheartedly, without parody - Coronation Street fashion and all!

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  8. I've put a second link up to see if that is accessible

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  9. I think this song was written for the regeneration of the city.........

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  10. I think Paul Heaton has always worn tracksuits and cardigans!

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  11. Yes, the second one works great - thanks Geoff!

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  12. Great column Geoff. I wonder though if the song itself plays into the mythology of it being 'grim up North'. (see a whole song with this very title: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwtSdJaPCSI)..... Surely the light does look as nice up there somewhere as it does in St Etienne's London, and I can't help but feel there is something classist about the message that it's grim (read 'working class, dirty, poor, full of miners and factory workers on strike') up North. If it doesn't actually rain more in Manchester, but people believe it does, doesn't that say something about our assumptions about the grim (grimmer than the South) North, and isn't this song playing into that?

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  13. Laura, that track you linked to was from 1991. I imagine it WAS grim then - unemployment, post Thatcher destruction of industry, etc. If anything, the notion of it being grim up North - including the grey endless rain that the Beautiful South song alludes to - can be seen as protest: if it's grim in spite of the incredible natural landscape of the North, then people have made it so by cutting the legs off the working class.

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  14. I like how the "Grim up North" song has the same issue of rain! The video is in black and white and it is pouring rain. This is definitely how foreigners imagine England!

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  15. Quick note, as probably people don't want want to get too off topic with talking about the Grim Up North song that Geoff didn't actually post or talk about (!), but I think people are missing that the song is just poking fun at the music industry.

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  16. The Grim up North song I mean, not "Manchester" by Beautiful South.

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  17. The long version of "It's Grim Up North" is a epic rollercoaster of grey drizzle; back in 91 it made me proud to be pennyless and freezing in an ex mining town on the side of a windy hill. Mind you, nine years later I moved just 150 miles down the country and quadrupled my wages.

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  18. I do think this song ("Manchester") and its video points to the whole problem of stereotyping the North as being full of council estates and pubs. I'm not sure if Beautiful South intended this as a double parody (poking fun at people who think of the North this way). Or just a straightforward one-layer parody, where it continues the stereotype.

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  19. I see what Laura's getting at, although not sure if we should take the song that seriously. Anyway, having spent time 'darn sarf' i can easily say its very grim down there, only good thing that comes out of it is the road back to the north.

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  20. I would imagine that given Paul Heaton's history of class conscious lyrics and generally socialist perspective that what seems a pretty simple song has a number of layers

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  21. Completely agree with K.B. The Grim up North song was made to draw attention to the demise of the North (industry etc) during the 80's and that the government were only interested in the South. For that reason I think it's great. It isn't putting down the 'north' this is a poetic tribute as well as containing a political dimension.

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  22. Quick fact about "It's Grim Up North," the JAMs took over a stretch of motorway for the video and went on to graffiti a stretch of the M1 with the slogan. Questions were asked in the House Of Commons. I think they burned real money too.

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  23. Yes, you have to watch "It's Grim Up North" to the end, then the protest element becomes crystal clear: "The North Will Rise Again" is the final line on screen!!

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  24. Its loads grimmer in the Midlands........Hinckley Daventry Telford Tamworth Redditch Loughborough Banbury Derby Kettering Nuneaton Kidderminster Coventry Corby to name but a few.

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  25. I have to say, I don't see the element of making fun of Britain that people are seeing in "Manchester". Probably both the song and the video have British stereotypes at their core but TBS were very true to their home in everything from their name to their laddish culture.

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  26. The burning money reference was Bill Drummond in 1994, burning a reputed £1m

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  27. Great column Geoff. I loved the image of your wipers falling off!!

    Not sure about other American readers, but I was having trouble hearing all the lyrics in "Manchester" maybe because of the singer's accent, so I found the lyrics online - here they are below.

    Also, to translate for my brethren - I googled and it seems like "lolly" is a popsicle and "brolly" is an umbrella.

    From Northenden to Partington it’s rain
    From Altrincham to Chadderton it’s rain
    From Moss Side to Swinton hardly Spain
    It’s a picture postcard of “wish they never came”

    And whilst that deckchair in the garden it makes no sense
    It doesn’t spoil the view or cause offence
    Those Floridas, Bavarias and Kents
    Make gentlemen wear shorts but don’t make gents

    So convertible stay garage-bound
    Save after-sun for later
    If rain makes Britain great
    Then Manchester is greater
    As you dry your clothes once again
    Upon the radiator
    What makes Britain great
    What makes Britain great
    Makes Manchester yet greater

    From Cheetham Hill to Wythenshawe it’s rain
    Gorton, Salford, Sale pretty much the same
    As I’m caught up without my jacket once again
    The raindrops on my face play a sweet refrain

    And as winter turns reluctantly to spring
    For the clouds above the city there’s one last fling
    Swallows build their nests, chaffinch sing
    And the sun strolls into town like long lost king

    And the mood of this whole sodden place is melancholy
    Like the sun came out to play, shone through the clouds
    But dropped its lolly
    And everyone looks so disappointed, so, so sorry
    Like the rain blew into town, kidnapped the sun
    And stole its brolly

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  28. Thanks Geoff, I didn't know about Heaton's previous class conscious lyrics and socialist perspective, which does give the song a whole other meaning - not just North bashing.

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  29. Thanks Martha! The names mentioned are all areas of Manchester

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  30. There's more about the money burning here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Foundation_Burn_a_Million_Quid

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  31. Thank you for your posting, Geoff. As you point out, Manchester is certainly not the UK's rainiest city. We have an average annual rainfall of 31.76 inches, a good ruler length below the UK average of 44.29 inches, raining on a mere 140.4 days per annum compared with the UK average of 154.4 days.

    When trying to shift perceptions about the city, I often like to give a single example that points to our history, our survival and our regeneration. On Saturday June 15, 1996 (which was a sunny day by the way!), a red pillar box took the full force of a 3,300lb bomb in a lorry outside the Marks and Spencer store on Corporation Street in Manchester. The box was unmoved and has come to symbolise the spirit of the city.

    Here it is, standing amidst the rubble:

    http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/275159_manchester_bomb

    And here it is now:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/bus_stop/116320146/

    We are a place born of ingenuity and energy that survives and thrives. Now, for example, visitors enjoy our pedestrianised route passes through Exchange Square, a playful space which provides delight throughout the day and evening with rows of lights gently changing colour, a water feature following the historic watercourse of Hanging Ditch, and 20 metre high pop art windmills spinning round and round.

    We hope you come and visit, and you might even leave your umbrellas at home!

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  32. Don't believe a word about the weather - it's beautiful here!

    --Michelle from Manchester

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  33. I love the Beautiful South. They sound like Hull (where they're from). Like the Beach Boys sound like California. And the Sex Pistols sound like England.

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  34. ps - with apologies for not identifying myself more clearly, I'm with the tourist board for Greater Manchester.

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  35. If you do ever do Liverpool, can I put in a vote for the Suzanne Vega song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0df0racc3vk&

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  36. Great column, great band. They have a unique way of combining light and fun melodies with some edgy vocals that I find quite appealing. And to look at this debate from another angle, isn't the song raising the question, is it the rain that makes Britain great?

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  37. Very fun song - especially as it sounds at first as if it's an anti-Manchester song, but then it becomes quite the opposite, I think.

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  38. Hi Claire-yes, I thought you might be! I think Manchester is a great place-perceptions of what a place is like dont always keep up with reality

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  39. Their lyrics were excellent - very intelligent and witty.

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  40. To reply to Mike's point, I suppose you could say that it was the damp weather that made Lancashire the centre of the cotton industry and kick-started the industrial revolution there

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  41. I love Manchester, honest. And I love Stockport too, it's not really one of the country's Crap Towns (see sign above me):

    http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs468.snc3/25667_376877677622_19036402622_4171296_4869611_n.jpg

    Your readers might enjoy a song on my new album, Acid Country. The song is ‘Welcome To The South’ and it is a song about loss of Northernness.

    Cheers, Paul.

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  42. I think they are the most English band ever, and you either get them or you don't.

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  43. Wow, I'm familiar with Children of the Ghetto by Mary J Blige - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1wg5k_mary-j-bligechildren-of-the-ghetto_music - had no idea it began as a song about Liverpool - thanks Geoff!

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  44. Hey-thanks for the comments and the link to your website. I'll have a listen to the new album

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  45. Interesting writing. My song was written by André Popp. He was very in demand at the time having done many quirky arrangements for others. The song was intended as a space age instrumental, urbane, trying to set the tone, the mood, painting a colorful picture. It was to be a soundscape with a magical musical final touch, like the faint, quavering harmonica. It does demand somewhat of the listener I suppose.

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  46. That is fascinating to hear. The song was a lot more evocative in its mood than the English version

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  47. Manchester Rambler by Euan McColl is a classic. But in terms of pop, I don't think naming songs after the city is relevant. The great Manchester bands haven't called their songs 'Manchester Lullaby' or whatever because Mancunians are way too sardonic for scouse-style sentiment. But nor is it necessary as the city's DNA seems sealed within those bands music.

    Elbow are different as they tend to write about the city itself. Their track "Forget Myself" is my favourite song about Manchester, beautiful alliteration and imagery that captures the buzz of the city filling up on an evening. There's a much better video with Garvey cavorting around town but they seem to have buried it in favour of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2k5EfLPB3A

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