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
Another Sunny Day
Belle and Sebastian Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You were digging plants, I dug you, beg your pardon
I took a photograph of you in the herbaceous border
It broke the heart of men and flowers and girls and trees
Another rainy day, we're trapped inside with a train set
Chocolate on the boil, steamy windows when we met
You've got the attic window looking out on the cathedral
Another day in June, we'll pick eleven for football
We're playing for our lives the referee gives us fuck all
I saw you in the corner of my eye on the sidelines
Your dark mascara bids me to historical deeds
Everybody's gone you picked me up for a long drive
We take the tourist route the nights are light until midnight
We took the evening ferry over to the peninsula
We found the avenue of trees went up to the hill
That crazy avenue of trees, I'm living there still
There's something in my eye a little midge so beguiling
Sacrificed his life to bring us both eye to eye
I heard the Eskimos remove obstructions with tongues, dear
You missed my eye, I wonder why, I didn't complain
You missed my eye, I wonder why, please do it again
'The lovin is a mess what happened to all of the feeling'
I thought it was for real; babies, rings and fools kneeling
And words of pledging trust and lifetimes stretching forever
So what went wrong? It was a lie, it crumbled apart
Ghost figures of past, present, future haunting the heart
The lyrics to Belle and Sebastian's Another Sunny Day are about a relationship that started in a garden and went through various seasons and settings. The song talks about the different experiences that the couple had together throughout the year. The first verse talks about meeting in the garden, where both of them were working. The singer took a photo of the other person, and it was so beautiful that it broke the heart of everything around them. The next verse is about a rainy day, where they are trapped inside, and they spend time together playing with a train set. The attic window offers a view of the cathedral, and they can hear the bells ringing out in the evening.
The third verse is about playing football in June, where they are playing for their lives, and the referee is giving them a hard time. As the game goes on, the singer sees the other person on the sideline, and they look gorgeous with their dark mascara. The fourth verse is about taking a long drive after everyone has gone. They take a tourist route before going to the peninsula, where they walk down an avenue of trees that goes up to a hill where they still live. The final verse is about a midge in the singer's eye that brings them eye-to-eye with the other person. The song ends on a sad note, with the singer wondering what went wrong in their relationship and lamenting the loss of their love.
Line by Line Meaning
Another sunny day, I met you up in the garden
On a bright day, we first encountered in the garden
You were digging plants, I dug you, beg your pardon
You were gardening and I found you attractive, excuse my forwardness
I took a photograph of you in the herbaceous border
I captured an image of you among the garden's flowers and plants
It broke the heart of men and flowers and girls and trees
Your beauty was so strong that it affected all living things around you
Another rainy day, we're trapped inside with a train set
On a gloomy day, we were stuck indoors playing with a toy train
Chocolate on the boil, steamy windows when we met
We had hot chocolate and the warmth of the room caused the windows to condense
You've got the attic window looking out on the cathedral
Your attic window has a view of the nearby cathedral
And on a Sunday evening bells ring out in the dusk
On Sunday evenings, the bells of the cathedral ring at sunset
Another day in June, we'll pick eleven for football
In June, we will assemble a team of eleven for a game of soccer
We're playing for our lives the referee gives us fuck all
We are playing very seriously, but the referee is not making fair calls
I saw you in the corner of my eye on the sidelines
I noticed you standing on the side of the field out of the corner of my eye
Your dark mascara bids me to historical deeds
Your makeup is inviting me to do something memorable with you
Everybody's gone you picked me up for a long drive
Everyone else had left, but you chose to take me for a long drive
We take the tourist route the nights are light until midnight
We drive along the scenic route and the summer nights are still bright until midnight
We took the evening ferry over to the peninsula
We rode aboard the ferry in the evening to travel to the nearby peninsula
We found the avenue of trees went up to the hill
We discovered a path of trees that led us to a hill
That crazy avenue of trees, I'm living there still
I am still living in my memories of that extraordinary path of trees
There's something in my eye a little midge so beguiling
There is a small insect in my eye that is very charming
Sacrificed his life to bring us both eye to eye
The insect died while trying to bring us face to face
I heard the Eskimos remove obstructions with tongues, dear
I heard a myth that the Eskimos clear things from their eyes by licking them
You missed my eye, I wonder why, I didn't complain
When you tried to remove the insect, you missed my eye, but I didn't say anything
You missed my eye, I wonder why, please do it again
You missed my eye again, and although I am uncertain why, I request you to try once more
'The lovin is a mess what happened to all of the feeling'
Our relationship has become complicated and lost its emotional spark
I thought it was for real; babies, rings and fools kneeling
I believed our love was genuine, with talk of marriage and starting a family
And words of pledging trust and lifetimes stretching forever
We made promises to each other, trusting that our love would last a lifetime
So what went wrong? It was a lie, it crumbled apart
Our love story fell apart, and what we shared was not the reality we had pledged
Ghost figures of past, present, future haunting the heart
Memories from the past, the uncertainties of the present, and worries about the future linger in our hearts
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Sarah Martin, Stuart Murdoch, Richard Colburn, Michael Cooke, Christopher Geddes, Stephen Jackson, Bob Kildea
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@patatas7036
Palermo being rushed with glasses in his eyes
@tilin4113
El estaba en la mierda visual xd
@NowInAus
Yeah totally random Belle and Sebastian but so right for that scene
@thewariscomingtoatownneary7572
Islam is the truth
@anarshukurov206
La Casa De Papel Palermo❤
@miguelgomezvillarino8919
WTF
@laura-5669
this is one of those songs that is happy and sad at the same time
@Pd46.2
Perfect description of love and happiness and how all of those wonderful hopes and promises can change over night.
@AmberAmber
Yes❤😭💔😊
@AmberAmber
@@Pd46.2 Yup - Esp. Cos my ex husband (tho' I'm gay but whatever) got me into them...
I'll miss him forever despite loving my current partner soooo much.
Life is finite.
This song makes me ache...