Hello listees The Chalet Lines. I'm not going to say I can't understand what the fuss is about, and I've never been very close to the consequences of a rape, nor would like to be, so ignore me if you want, but I like this song. I can see peoples' objections to it, but I've been trying to work out why I think otherwise, so here goes. There are different faults people find with the song. Firstly, I don't think there's any problem with Stuart singing it from the point of view of a woman. I think, as Katarina said, that it sounds more like a friend telling the story to him. Stuart often changes person during a song (Electronic Renaissance is a classic example), and he does at the end of this (from "I" to "she"), so I don't think he's really singing "as a rape victim", but more like the echo from a sounding board. Belle and Sebastian often sing about pretty grim subjects, bullying, adultery, suicide, loneliness, even murder, and I've always wondered why some people have a sickly sweet impression of them. I think that some people ( including Steven Wells, maybe?), prefer a safer, more aggressive, style of "issue" songwriting, and feel more comfortable with it, like a faded black t-shirt. But, to my ears, Stuart has always touched on a more profound sadness that is caused by these events, rather than the anger that more people see. I don't think The Chalet Lines is gratuitous, or gauche, I just think it sounds quite helpless. Some people dislike the Chalet Lines, Nice Day For A Sulk segue. Maybe I'm biased because I like both songs, but I don't think Nice Day... is tactlessly happy or anything. It's just a song about kicking about town, like String Bean Jean was. And that's what I'm off to do now... Robin x +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+