Music Monday: Like a Motorway by Saint Etienne

Music Monday is a meme that was created by Drew from The Tattooed Book Geek. Bjørn and I will pick a song alternatively on each Monday and share our thoughts about them. Bjørn’s pick this week is Like a Motorway by Saint Etienne.

Saint Etienne. One of my favourite bands. Made famous by …actually nothing at all, because when they nearly had a top 10 single in the UK with the eurohouse ‘He’s On the Phone’ they immediately went away for three years, returning with The Cardigans’ cover album… I mean, indie pop rock of Good Humor – complete with American spelling, as if to emphasise that they have never had even a shade of success in the US. ‘Like a Motorway’ was my introduction to the band. I had no idea it was based on an old folk song, ‘Silver Dagger’ rewritten and re-produced to sound like Kraftwerk collaborating with Pet Shop Boys. 

Their latest album, International, is their last, and they’re going out on a high. Perhaps the biggest mystery is how they managed to hold on to contracts with (indie imprints of) major labels for 35 years when they’ve always done everything to avoid having too many fans while creating that special sort of British pop no other nation has ever managed to reproduce – maybe because they saw how successful Saint Etienne were and so avoided trying?

(He’s gone, he’s gone)

She wears sad jeans
Torn at the waistband
Her pretty face, is stained with tears
And in her right hand, she clasps a letter
I know this means, that he has gone

And in this town
Of mis-guided tourists
She never thought, she’d fall in love
It was a few days, after her birthday
The thrill hostess, gave her first kiss

He said her skin
Smelled just like petals
Said stupid thing, he knew she’d like
She said her life, was like a motorway
Dull, grey, and long, ’til he came along

(He’s gone, he’s gone)

I said “How could he ever leave you?”
“You two were good, you were so right”
She said “I wish that he just left me”
“He’d be alive, alive tonight”

(He’s gone, he’s gone)

(He’s gone, he’s gone)
(He’s gone)