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
Marx and Engels
Belle and Sebastian Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From people on TV
After their tea when life begins again
They'll be happier than me
There are a thousand meals being made on Saturday
From the view I saw today
I took a bet inside the launderette
She spoke in dialect I could not understand
But one thing that she made clear
There was no coming on to her
There was no way
There's misery in all I hear and see
From people on TV
After their tea when life begins again
They'll be happier than me
There are a thousand meals being made on Saturday
From the view I saw today
I took a bet inside the launderette
With a girl from Wallasey
She spoke in dialect I could not understand
But one thing that she made clear
There was no coming on to her
There was no intellect
That she could respect
If it couldn't see
That the girl just wants to be
Left alone with Marx and Engels for a while
She's writing in the style
Of any riot girl
The lyrics of Belle and Sebastian's song Marx and Engels speak of the misery and discontentment prevalent in the world around the singer. He observes how people on TV seem happier than him after their evening meals and the routine life they lead. The singer then moves on to talk about his experience in the launderette, where he meets a girl from Wallasey who spoke in a dialect he could not understand. The girl made it clear that there was no coming on to her and that she was looking for someone who could respect her intellect. The singer realizes that the girl just wants to be left alone with her books of Marx and Engels, and she is writing in the style of any riot girl.
Line by Line Meaning
There's misery in all I hear and see
The world around me is full of sadness and despair.
From people on TV
This sadness and despair is often depicted on television.
After their tea when life begins again
People find happiness in their everyday routines, but this happiness is not enough to satisfy me.
They'll be happier than me
Others are able to find contentment in their mundane lives, but I cannot.
There are a thousand meals being made on Saturday
People are preoccupied with their daily routines and simple pleasures, like cooking meals on weekends.
From the view I saw today
This observation is from a recent experience, possibly just today.
I took a bet inside the launderette
The singer is inside a launderette, possibly washing clothes.
With a girl from Wallasey
The artist meets a girl from Wallasey (a town in England).
She spoke in dialect I could not understand
The girl speaks a regional English dialect that is foreign to the artist.
But one thing that she made clear
Despite the language barrier, the girl was able to convey an important point.
There was no coming on to her
The girl was not interested in any romantic advances from the singer.
There was no intellect
The girl values intelligence and education in others.
That she could respect
It is important to the girl that the person she talks to is smart and knowledgeable.
If it couldn't see
If the person does not share her values or interests, she is not interested in talking to them.
That the girl just wants to be
The girl desires solitude and independence.
Left alone with Marx and Engels for a while
She prefers the ideas of philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels over mindless small talk.
She's writing in the style
The girl writes in a certain way.
Of any riot girl
The girl identifies with the feminist punk rock movement known as 'Riot Grrrl'.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: CAMPBE, COLBURN, COOKE, GEDDES, JACKSON, MARTIN, MURDOCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind