Belle and Sebastian released their first two albums in 1996: Tigermilk, recorded over three days, and If You're Feeling Sinister, recorded in a week, at the peak of the chamber pop movement. At first, some critics in Britain's music weeklies tied the band into the subgenre, yet the group was too pretty, too delicate, to bear that label. Through their first two years of public existence, the band shielded their personalities, submitting publicity photos featuring a girl, who was a friend of the band and reluctantly posing for photo shoots. Furthermore, they performed in odd venues, playing not only the standard coffeehouses and cafes, but also homes, church halls, and libraries.
Prior to the formation of Belle and Sebastian, Murdoch suffered from a protracted battle with chronic fatigue syndrome, which forced him to drop out of school and spend seven years living in his parents' home crippled by his condition.Whilst in his parents home, Murdoch wrote a short story about a boy named Sebastian and a girl named Isabelle based on the names from Madame Cecile Aubery's children's book Belle et Sebastian. On New Year's Day 1996, Stuart attended a party at which he met a young singer and cellist named Isobel Campbell. In a letter to his brother Fraser, Murdoch explained how he was making a single for Stow college at the end of February. Murdoch opted to use the name Belle&Sebastian for the project because it was occupying him at the time. Murdoch took to songwriting as an escapism from the four walls surrounding him in his room and eventually recorded demos with bassist Stuart David whom he met at a government training programme called Beatbox. Murdoch quickly met a series of other musicians through social and musical circles in his hometown Glasgow and they agreed to help with the Stow project. The members he found for this initial lineup were Stevie Jackson (guitar), Mick Cooke (trumpet), Chris Geddes (keyboards), Stuart David (bass), Richard Colburn (drums), and Isobel Campbell (cello). The Stow College record was to be issued by Electric Honey, but it turned into a full album. The course instructor Alan Rankine determined that Murdoch had enough good material to record a full LP and could do so if they could get it all done in three days, studio time allotted for the single. Murdoch and his musicians rose to the challenge and recorded ten tracks putting the songs in order as they would appear on the record and mostly completing them in just a few takes.
In May of 1996, Belle and Sebastian self-released their debut album, Tigermilk, on Electric Honey Records. Only 1,000 copies of the album, which was only pressed on vinyl, were released, but it unexpectedly became a sensation, earning terrific word of mouth throughout the UK. As a result, the band became slightly more than a school project — it became an actual band. If You're Feeling Sinister, released on the independent Jeepster label, followed in November of 1996. By the time the album was released in America on the EMI subsidiary The Enclave, it had earned considerable critical acclaim in the U.K. — not only from music weeklies, but from newspapers like The Sunday Times and magazines like The Face — and a large cult following; by some accounts, Tigermilk was being sold for as much as 75 pounds. Over the course of 1997, word of mouth continued to grow in America, even as the band pulled out of an American tour because The Enclave went bankrupt and closed.
As the band cult continued to build in 1997, Belle and Sebastian released three EPs — Dog on Wheels (May), Lazy Line Painter Jane (July), and 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light (October). Each subsequent EP placed higher on the indie charts and received great critical acclaim. Later in the year, violinist Sarah Martin became a member of the band. By the end of the year, the group finalized an American deal with Matador Records, issuing The Boy With the Arab Strap in September 1998. The following year saw the eagerly anticipated wide re-release of Tigermilk, the album that started it all. It was the biggest selling album but is unpopular with the group themselves. Following completion of 2000's Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, Stuart David left Belle and Sebastian to focus full-time on his solo project, Looper, being replaced by Bobby Kildea of V-Twin. In 2001, the group released two EPs — Jonathan David and I'm Waking Up to Us — and recorded the soundtrack for Todd Solondz's film Storytelling. Just before the soundtrack's release in spring 2002, Belle and Sebastian embarked on a comprehensive tour of the United States and Canada before returning to Europe for the summer festival season. Midway through the tour, Isobel Campbell left the band, citing the usual differences.
Another major change that soon took place was the band leaving Jeepster and Matador to sign with Rough Trade, with their next record, late 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress, produced by the inimitable Trevor Horn (who also produced Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Yes, and scores of others). The record spawned the brilliant "Step into My Office, Baby" and "I'm a Cuckoo" singles, the latter of which was the group's biggest U.K. hit, reaching number 14 in early 2004. After a long worldwide tour that found Belle and Sebastian reaching new levels of success, they retired to Scotland and began preparing for the recording of their seventh full length album, The Life Pursuit, released in 2006.
In 2010, they released their eighth full length album, Write About Love.
Official website: www.belleandsebastian.com
Act of the Apostle
Belle and Sebastian Lyrics
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She was late for class and she knew it
The broadcaster had a voice that was soothing
She couldn't tell if it was a man or woman
A patch of sun fell onto her neck
She put her head on her arms on her desk
The lesson today was Acts of Apostles
The crazy hippies, they're running scared
She shut her eyes and imagined the desert
No cars, no mobiles, just sun and bread
What would she look like standing by the well?
More like a women and less like a girl
Oh, if I could make sense of it all!
I wish that I could sing
I'd stay in a melody
I would float along in my everlasting song
What would I do to believe?
Later on she plays Morning Has Broken
She knows she's bad
She is slowing everybody down
The choirmaster, usually a bastard, knows her mother's sick
He'll be nice to her
She thinks that she shouldn't be there at all
Her worries make everything else seem trivial
Oh, if I could make sense of it all!
I wish that I could sing
I'd stay in a melody
I would float along in my everlasting song
What would I do to believe?
The song Act of the Apostle by Belle and Sebastian is about a girl who is struggling with finding her place in the world. The first verse starts off with her rushing to class and being distracted by the soothing voice of the broadcaster on the radio. She imagines herself in a desert, away from the chaos of modern society. The second verse describes her playing the piano and feeling inadequate because she's not as good as the other students. She's worried about her sick mother and feels like her problems are bigger than what's going on around her. The chorus repeats the same lines about wanting to find meaning and purpose in her life by believing in something greater.
The lyrics suggest that the girl is feeling lost and disconnected from the world around her. She longs for a sense of purpose and meaning but doesn't know where to find it. The reference to the Acts of Apostles suggests that the girl is looking for guidance from religion or spirituality, but she's not sure if she believes in it. The idea of singing and floating along in an everlasting song represents the desire to find some sort of transcendence or higher power in her life.
Overall, Act of the Apostle is a melancholic song that captures the feeling of being lost and searching for something greater in life. It's a relatable theme that many people can identify with, and the lyrics are written in a way that's poetic and insightful.
Line by Line Meaning
Morning prayers took the girl unawares
The girl was caught off-guard by morning prayers
She was late for class and she knew it
She knew she was running late for class
The broadcaster had a voice that was soothing
The person talking on the radio had a calming voice
She couldn't tell if it was a man or woman
She was unsure if the artist on the radio was male or female
A patch of sun fell onto her neck
She felt a bit of sunlight touch her neck
She put her head on her arms on her desk
She rested her head on her arms on her desk
The lesson today was Acts of Apostles
The lesson for today was about the Acts of the Apostles
The crazy hippies, they're running scared
The artist is referring to a specific group of people (possibly students or protestors) who are frantic and fearful
She shut her eyes and imagined the desert
She closed her eyes and pictured a desert landscape in her mind
No cars, no mobiles, just sun and bread
She imagined a place without modern technology, just sunshine and basic sustenance
What would she look like standing by the well?
She wonders how she would appear if she were standing by a well
More like a women and less like a girl
She wants to appear more mature and less childish
Oh, if I could make sense of it all!
The singer is expressing a desire for understanding
I wish that I could sing
The singer wishes they could sing
I'd stay in a melody
The singer would remain in a musical rhythm if they could
I would float along in my everlasting song
The artist imagines themselves drifting along to their own personal, eternal melody
What would I do to believe?
The artist doesn't know what they need to do in order to believe in something
Later on she plays Morning Has Broken
At a later time, the girl plays the song 'Morning Has Broken'
She knows she's bad
The girl is aware that she's not very good at singing
She is slowing everybody down
Her poor singing is causing others to slow down while they practice
The choirmaster, usually a bastard, knows her mother's sick
The director of the choir (who is normally unpleasant) is aware that the girl's mother is unwell
He'll be nice to her
Despite his usual demeanor, the director will be kind to the girl because of her mother's situation
She thinks that she shouldn't be there at all
The girl believes that she shouldn't be in the choir at all
Her worries make everything else seem trivial
The girl's concerns seem more important than anything else going on around her
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BOB KILDEA, CHRISTOPHER GEDDES, MICHAEL COOKE, RICHARD COLBURN, SARAH MARTIN, STEPHEN JACKSON, STUART MURDOCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind