From the intonation, lyrics and of course the accent of the opening sentence, it’s clear that the song today is by an Aussie band. The Waifs released London Still, a perfectly formed little song, about 20 years ago and I still listen to it often. I was reminded to do so again this week as I was visiting London – with and courtesy of my brother Jonathan – for some soccer, art, good food and coffee, endless fitness steps and window shopping in the icy cold, for the unaffordable things that London affords.
London Still is about a young traveller who is living in London and missing her homeland. The song speaks to me emotionally, as I was similarly in London once for an extended period and remember how I used to miss home, family, friends and familiarity, which feeling is able to sneak up on me still. Perhaps you know it too?
The Australians that I met then, having travelled so much further (back then it wasn’t a gap year, just a travelling one, or even two) seemed to feel this yearning even more acutely.
The song speaks to me musically too. It starts over a bright and crisply articulated acoustic guitar and the sweetest, gentlest drum shuffle, before the story is told of what I guess, is “resolved homesickness”. The song builds, moves and resolves, the music mimicking the emotion, adding descending bass notes, some mournful harmonica and layered electric piano.
I think it’s a flawless moment of songwriting and execution and while The Waifs have other good songs, nothing quite reaches this level of craft. Hope you enjoy London Still.
I started a music WhatsApp group in 2023. I send one song a week on a Friday, with links to both Apple and Spotify, and an accompanying narrative/capsule piece. You’ll read it here on a Sunday. If you want to engage about a song, get a playlist or just get in touch, email me on markgrosin@gmail.com.
Listen to London Still on Spotify here and Apple Music here.
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