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
Calculating Bimbo
Belle and Sebastian Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You took for being lazy
I was just being lazy
I'm even doing it now
I know that you have saved me
I love that you have saved me
Let both blue eyes be watchful
It's best to forget freedom
It's best to be enslaved
It's better still to love first
It's harder still to love first
You're my winter queen that disappeared
Your hands grew cold
You ran a mile from my ways
I still heard you had a fourth floor view
With lots of time
A notebook full of the finest, creamy, rich girl parchment pages
Slowly fill with all your passing days
Every sacred word paints a picture
Bigger were his muscles
Than father ?
But when you are in trouble
And when you are uptight
I get the midnight phone call
I'm your captain for the long haul
If someone else is near me
You scuttle up the pavement
It's no one that I care for
I pause for an effect
You calculating bimbo
I wish you'd let the past go
The Belle and Sebastian song "Calculating Bimbo" is a melancholy reflection on past relationships and missed opportunities. The lyrics start off with a sense of self-awareness and honesty, as the singer admits to being lazy, but the tone becomes more bitter as the song progresses. The singer seems to be addressing an ex-girlfriend or partner who was difficult and calculating in their behavior, making it hard for the singer to move on.
The chorus is a meditation on the nature of love and freedom. The lines "It's best to forget freedom / It's best to be enslaved / It's better still to love first / It's harder still to love first" suggest that although being in love can be difficult and even oppressive at times, it is still preferable to the loneliness and emptiness of independence. The tone is somewhat mournful, as if the singer is regretting their own inability to love fully and openly.
The song also contains several vivid images, such as the winter queen with cold hands who disappears, and the notebook filled with "the finest, creamy, rich girl parchment pages." These details add to the overall sense of wistfulness and nostalgia that permeates the song.
Line by Line Meaning
A lack of understanding
I was not aware of the situation
You took for being lazy
You misunderstood my inaction as laziness
I was just being lazy
I was not actively taking any steps, but not out of laziness
I'm even doing it now
I am still not taking any action
I know that you have saved me
I appreciate that you have helped me before
I love that you have saved me
I am grateful for your help
Save your pennies careful
Be mindful of your spending
Let both blue eyes be watchful
Be alert and cautious
It's best to forget freedom
Sometimes it is easier to not have choices
It's best to be enslaved
Having limited options can make life simpler
It's better still to love first
It is more fulfilling to love without reservation
It's harder still to love first
It takes courage to love without holding back
You're my winter queen that disappeared
You were once important to me but are now gone
Your hands grew cold
Our relationship cooled off
You ran a mile from my ways
You left me because of the way I behaved
I still heard you had a fourth-floor view
I heard you moved to a nice apartment
With lots of time
You have time to reflect
A notebook full of the finest, creamy, rich girl parchment pages
You have a fancy notebook
Slowly fill with all your passing days
You write down your experiences
Every sacred word paints a picture
Your words are meaningful and expressive
Bigger were his muscles
He was physically strong
Than father?
But when you are in trouble
If you need my help
And when you are uptight
Or if you are worried
I get the midnight phone call
I am available to help you
I'm your captain for the long haul
I will support you for the long term
If someone else is near me
If I'm with someone else
You scuttle up the pavement
You hurry off
It's no one that I care for
That person is not important to me
I pause for an effect
I purposely slow down for dramatic effect
You calculating bimbo
You are manipulative
I wish you'd let the past go
I hope you can move on from past issues
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