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
Love on the March
Belle and Sebastian Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Street clears in summer
Kids run around, having their fun
Men are already drunk
A religious holiday's begun
Maybe it's because we have no sun
Words that are twisted to
Meanings of hate, look at the face
Bitter and ready to fight
A religious holiday's begun
Maybe it's because we have no sun
Lost in the crowd
Shouting loud
Drinking my fill of a bottle of gin
I'll do anything to help me forget about you
You're full of it
You hopelessly flirt
With that girl who works in the pub for a night
But at closing time
You will be at my door
Tell me what it is I have to do?
I'd sacrifice everything for you
I was feeling so good and the sun was shining
All I wanted was to get across the street
I made my biggest mistake when I left her
With a yelling match and a broken kettle
I'm sick of this, you're a little kid
I always have to bail you out
When you take off with your drinking friends
And their idiot games
If you sing the songs you half deserve to take a beat
They beat me up because I crossed the march
They said I need to learn a bit of respect
But I am on their side and I follow the team
When I get out of here
Somebody's going to get it
The first stanza of Belle and Sebastian's "Love on the March" talks about the beginning of a religious holiday, where animals come and bang their drums as the people start marching. In contrast to the excitement of the event, the street clears, and the men are already drunk. The lyrics paint a picture of a day filled with festivities, but something sinister lies beneath the surface. The holiday may have started because there's no sun, which implies that the holiday is a way to lighten up the gloomy mood.
In the second stanza, the lyrics continue to talk about the march, and how animals sing words that are twisted to meanings of hate. The people's faces are bitter and ready to fight. The picture that the lyrics paint is far from the joyous celebration of a religious holiday. The march reeks of anger and hatred, and the people who participate in it have no qualms about expressing it.
The third and final stanza talks about a person who is lost in the crowd, trying to forget about someone who has hurt them. They consume a bottle of gin and do anything in their power to get over the pain. They address the person who hurt them and wonder what they must do to make everything right again. The song ends with a person who has gotten beaten up because they crossed the march. They want revenge, and someone is going to get it.
Line by Line Meaning
Animals come, banging their drums
The protestors arrive with loud noise and vigor
Street clears in summer
The roads empty out as people avoid the disruption caused by the protest
Kids run around, having their fun
Children play innocently, oblivious to the adult world's chaos
Men are already drunk
Some people are already drunk and therefore more prone to violence and chaos
Marching begins, animals sing
The protest is underway with noise and commotion
Words that are twisted to
Meanings of hate, look at the face
Bitter and ready to fight
Some protestors are motivated by hatred and rage, as seen in their faces and demeanor
Lost in the crowd
Shouting loud
Drinking my fill of a bottle of gin
I'll do anything to help me forget about you
The singer is drunk and trying to forget about a painful past relationship
You're full of it
You hopelessly flirt
With that girl who works in the pub for a night
But at closing time
You will be at my door
Tell me what it is I have to do?
I'd sacrifice everything for you
The artist accuses someone of being a serial flirter, but still has feelings for them and would do anything for them
I was feeling so good and the sun was shining
All I wanted was to get across the street
I made my biggest mistake when I left her
With a yelling match and a broken kettle
The artist reflects on a mistake they made involving an argument with someone and a broken kettle
I'm sick of this, you're a little kid
I always have to bail you out
When you take off with your drinking friends
And their idiot games
If you sing the songs you half deserve to take a beat
The artist is frustrated with someone who always needs rescuing because of their reckless behavior and drinking, and implies they deserve to be beat up if they don't learn from their mistakes
They beat me up because I crossed the march
They said I need to learn a bit of respect
But I am on their side and I follow the team
When I get out of here
Somebody's going to get it
The singer was beaten up by the protestors for crossing their path, but still supports their cause and plans revenge on those who hurt them
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: COLBURN, COOKE, GEDDES, JACKSON, KILDEA, MARTIN, MURDOCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind