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
Little Lou Ugly Jack Prophet John
Belle and Sebastian Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What a waste, I could've been your friend
Perfect love is like a blossom that fades so quick
When it's blowing up a storm in May
Travel south until your skin turns, woman
Travel south until your skin turns brown
Put a language in your head and get on a train
Yeah you're great, you're just part, of this lifetime of dreaming
That extends to the heart of this long summer feeling
Quiet night, you see the TV's glowing
Quiet night, you hear the walls are awake
Me and you are getting out of the party crowd
Can I see what's underneath your bed?
Can I stay until the milkman's working?
Can I stay until the cafe awakes?
Do you hate me in the light?
Did you get a fright?
When you looked across from where you lay
Yeah you're great, you're just part, of this lifetime of dreaming
That extends to the heart of this long summer feeling
All the history of wars I invent in my head
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
All the history of wars I invent in my head
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
What a waste, I could've been your lover
What a waste, I could've been your friend
The lyrics to Belle and Sebastian's "Little Lou Ugly Jack Prophet John" tell a melancholic story about missed opportunities and unrequited love. The singer laments that they could have been the object of someone's love and friendship, but those opportunities have now passed. The lyrics are simple but powerful, capturing the feeling of regret and longing.
The song then goes on to talk about the possibility of traveling to new places and experiencing new things in an attempt to forget about past mistakes. The idea of putting a language in your head and getting on a train is a potent metaphor for leaving the past behind and exploring new horizons. However, as the chorus reminds us, even the most beautiful moments are fleeting, and the summer feeling will eventually come to an end.
The bridge of the song is a reflection of the singer's thoughts and fears, with mentions of war and history. The characters "Little Lou Ugly Jack Prophet John" are invented in their head as representations of past struggles and conflicts. Overall, "Little Lou Ugly Jack Prophet John" is a bittersweet song that captures the essence of regret and missed opportunities.
Line by Line Meaning
What a waste, I could've been your lover
Regret over the missed opportunity to have a romantic relationship
What a waste, I could've been your friend
Regret over the missed opportunity to have a platonic relationship
Perfect love is like a blossom that fades so quick
Love is short-lived and fragile like a flower
When it's blowing up a storm in May
When things get rough and unpredictable
Travel south until your skin turns, woman
Explore new places and experiences until you're transformed by them
Travel south until your skin turns brown
Embrace diverse cultures and people
Put a language in your head and get on a train
Learn new languages and travel to broaden your horizons
And then come back to the one you love
After discovering yourself, return to the person you care about
Yeah you're great, you're just part, of this lifetime of dreaming
Appreciation for a person's unique qualities in the context of life's fleetingness
That extends to the heart of this long summer feeling
A deep emotional connection that transcends time and seasons
Quiet night, you see the TV's glowing
The calmness of the night illuminated by soft light from electronic devices
Quiet night, you hear the walls are awake
The awareness of the sounds of the night, even in a silent room
Me and you are getting out of the party crowd
Choosing to spend time together intimately rather than in a large group
Can I see what's underneath your bed?
A desire to know the intimate and personal side of a person
Can I stay until the milkman's working?
A request to extend the time spent together until early morning
Can I stay until the cafe awakes?
A request to stay until the start of the new day
Do you hate me in the light?
Uncertainty about how a person feels in the open and direct reality
Did you get a fright?
A feeling of fear or surprise
When you looked across from where you lay
Reflecting on a past interaction with another person
All the history of wars I invent in my head
The tendency to overthink and imagine various hypothetical scenarios
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
Unique names assigned to imagined characters in one's thoughts
All the history of wars I invent in my head
The tendency to overthink and imagine various hypothetical scenarios
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
Unique names assigned to imagined characters in one's thoughts
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
@chyntiadiva1744
What a waste, I could've been your lover
What a waste, I could've been your friend
Perfect love is like a blossom that fades so quick
When it's blowing up a storm in May
Travel south until your skin turns, woman
Travel south until your skin turns brown
Put a language in your head and get on a train
And then come back to the one you love
Yeah you're great, you're just part, of this lifetime of dreaming
That extends to the heart of this long summer feeling
Quiet night, you see the TV's glowing
Quiet night, you hear the walls are awake
Me and you are getting out of the party crowd
Can I see what's underneath your bed?
Can I stay until the milkman's working?
Can I stay until the cafe awakes?
Do you hate me in the light?
Did you get a fright?
When you looked across from where you lay
Yeah you're great, you're just part, of this lifetime of dreaming
That extends to the heart of this long summer feeling
All the history of wars I invent in my head
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
All the history of wars I invent in my head
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
What a waste, I could've been your lover
What a waste, I could've been your friend
@warayupay84
This song--no matter what mood I find myself in at its beginning--never fails to calm me down.
@chyntiadiva1744
What a waste, I could've been your lover
What a waste, I could've been your friend
Perfect love is like a blossom that fades so quick
When it's blowing up a storm in May
Travel south until your skin turns, woman
Travel south until your skin turns brown
Put a language in your head and get on a train
And then come back to the one you love
Yeah you're great, you're just part, of this lifetime of dreaming
That extends to the heart of this long summer feeling
Quiet night, you see the TV's glowing
Quiet night, you hear the walls are awake
Me and you are getting out of the party crowd
Can I see what's underneath your bed?
Can I stay until the milkman's working?
Can I stay until the cafe awakes?
Do you hate me in the light?
Did you get a fright?
When you looked across from where you lay
Yeah you're great, you're just part, of this lifetime of dreaming
That extends to the heart of this long summer feeling
All the history of wars I invent in my head
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
All the history of wars I invent in my head
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
What a waste, I could've been your lover
What a waste, I could've been your friend
@GraachAhim
Isn't it "... untill your skin turns warmer" ?
@adriancornes9145
Such a great duet it brings out the best in both stuart and Norah’s voices
@lalinternahumana4257
Maravillosa canción. Gracias . Que dos voces, cuanto talento
@ZorbaTheDutch
How beautiful a duet can be...
@wayneanthonyholmes4437
Absolutely wonderful Norah Jones 👍👍👍
@ernestbutts3827
Love 💖 this song!
@KebieRuff
I listen to this song and allowing the love filling in my body and soul. Beautiful :)
@emmanuelacosta5895
I'm in love with this girl. Norah is the best!