Sinister: The Chalet Lines, cliches and emotions

[Scott Turner]

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.

Markx



*******************************************************************
Please Note that from the 17th of June, the HIT UK address changes to -

HIT Entertainment PLC
5th Floor, Maple House
141-150 Tottenham Court Road
LONDON, W1P 9LL
Tel: +44 (20)7 224 1717
Fax: +44 (20)7 224 1719

The contents of this e mail from HIT Entertainment PLC are
confidential and intended for the addressee only.  If you are not
the intended recipient you must not copy or further distribute
this e mail; please notify us by telephone on 020 7224 1717, and
delete the e mail from your computer.

This e mail has been checked by our anti-virus system before leaving us;
we accept no responsibility for the e mail and any attachments once they
leave us.

www.hitentertainment.com

www.bobthebuilder.org

********************************************************************
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
    +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
    To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
    send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
    majordomo at 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           +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+


To:	sinister at missprint.org@Internet
cc:	 (bcc: CN=Scott Turner/OU=PHI-PA/OU=US/OU=JHMarsh/O=MMC)
From:	Mark at xxx.com
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
    +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
    To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
    send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
    majordomo at 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           +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+