I think the cliche issue of this song is not that "all rapes are the same", but that Stuart's artistic expression of this incident is cliche in its kind of flat first person documentary style. I think because of this it lacks power- which to me is disturbing given that the content is about a rape. Let me compare it to "ease your feet into the sea"- a song that seems to be about something equally tragic- suicide, i think is what is being referenced- but its so nuanced and different and literary and personal that it takes on (for me at least) a weighty affective magic. Its beautiful, swelling and deeply personal without reverting to documentary style directness. You know the lyrics, but look at them again: "Troubles come and troubles go The trouble that we've come to know Will stay with us till we get old Will stay with us till somebody decides to go Decides to go Soberly, without regret, 1 make another sandwich And I fill my face, 1 know that things have got to you But what can 1 do? Suddenly, without a warning On a pale blue morning You decide your time is wearing thin A conscious choice to let yourself go dangling Hovering It's an emergency There's no more "wait and see" Maybe if I shut my eves Your trouble will be split between us People come and people go You're scouring everybodies face For some small flicker of the truth To what it is that you are going through, my boy I left you dry The signs were clear that you were not going anywhere Anywhere Save for a falling down Everything's going wrong" and then compare them to the writing from chalet lines: "He raped me in the chalet lines The girl I shared with was away for the night I couldn't get up for my shift today I'll have to leave the camp now anyway I'll go to London there's a mate of mine I know she'll give me a place Full of woe and further to go She caught the bus "Oh I'll go anywhere" She caught the bus Her face was just a smear on the pane" To me, chalet lines reads like a documentary and not a song. Its just not very literary or affective compared to his other work. Which may be my point with the songwriting on the new album- it sounds to me really uninspired- like Stuart was depressed when he was writing- not melancholic and emotional, but instead empty and depressed- like he writers block or something. I think Stuart in the past has wrote very literary songs drenched in emotions- like he was able to ride the fine line between melancholy and depression and joy and mania and manifest it into beautiful art. But this album, for me, lies emotionally flat, and in many places, feels forced and empty. Just some thoughts. .scott Memo from Mark on 9 June 2000, 12:45 EDT Friday To: sinister cc: (bcc: Scott Turner) Subject: Sinister: The Chalet Lines Maybe I'm just as bad as Stuart, but "a clichéd rape"? Is this possible? Isn't rape, by definition, something intensely personal and (hopefully) unique, something which comes in as many forms as there are victims? Some may question the wisdom of Stuart writing the song. I quite literally did at the press conference. However, I don't personally think it was unwise, but courageous ("brave" always seems a bit weedy, almost an excuse). When I spoke to Stuart after the event, partly to apologise in case I had embarrassed him, he said he was pleased someone had asked him a question that didn't have a mindless journalese answer (sorry if I'm blowing my own trumpet here, but it's an important subject, I think). The point was that something very emotional affecting happened to a friend of Stuart's, and many years later it still made enough of an impression for him to want to express how he feels about it, the incident, the subject. For one second imagine if he'd written a third person account. Yuk. Instead, Stuart puts himself in an extremely vulnerable emotional position - I'm sure it was hard for him to express those emotions, and I'm sure he's aware that others will interpret them negatively, in ways he never meant, and he's prepared to stand up for himself. The song is awkward and sometimes difficult to listen to, but I can't imagine any male putting it more honestly or more sensitively. Perhaps, you may argue, that's the point - he simply shouldn't have written about it. I strongly believe the opposite, and to me, this otherwise unremarkable song is probably the most vital on the album. Stuart, so adept at writing about the vague and abstract, has taken an impossible subject and tackled it without hesitation. It's one of the few pieces of evidence that B&S are moving forward, rather than treading water and indulging in retro as recent releases have hinted at. 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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 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ To: sinister@missprint.org@Internet cc: (bcc: CN=Scott Turner/OU=PHI-PA/OU=US/OU=JHMarsh/O=MMC) From: Mark@hitentertainment.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+