This predominantly Glaswegian act became one of the top-selling UK bands of the late 1980s/early 1990s. The group's members were Ricky Ross, Lorraine McIntosh, James Prime, Dougie Vipond, Ewan Vernal and Graeme Kelling.
Ross, a former school teacher originally from Dundee, was the group's frontman, penning the vast majority of Deacon Blue's songs. He married female vocalist Lorraine McIntosh in the later years of the band's career. McIntosh, born May 1964 in Glasgow joined the band in 1987 as a vocalist.
The band's first album, Raintown, produced by Jon Kelly and released in 1987, is regarded by many as the band's finest effort, spawning the singles "Dignity", "Chocolate Girl" and "Loaded". Many consider Raintown to be a concept album, since nearly all the songs contribute to the overall theme of being stuck in a dead-end life in a deprived city longing for something better. The city that the album's title refers to is Glasgow, and the memorable cover art of the album is a shot of the River Clyde's docks taken on a miserable day from Kelvingrove Park.
The second album, 1988's When The World Knows Your Name, was the band's most commercially successful, with the mega-selling singles "Real Gone Kid", "Wages Day" and "Fergus Sings The Blues". However, music critics began deriding the band at this stage for pursuing commercial success over artistic quality, citing the earlier achievements of Raintown.
Jon Kelly returned to the producer's chair in 1991 for Fellow Hoodlums, and the album was met with more critical success, but by now the group's honeymoon period was over and their success started to wane. This album was followed up with Whatever You Say, Say Nothing in 1993, a much more experimental album which gained praise from the critics, but was a commercial failure.
The band released a Greatest Hits compilation the following year.
With Vipond's decision to quit the group in favour for a career in television, Deacon Blue split up in 1994.
Five years later, the band held an unexpected reunion gig in 1999, and this led on to a new album, Walking Back Home, with the band now working on a part-time basis.
The band released another album, Homesick, in 2001.
Though Graeme Kelling died from cancer in 2004, the band has vowed to continue in his absence.
The year 2006 saw Deacon Blue returning to the studio to record three new tracks for a Singles album - including the track "Bigger than Dynamite".
The band performed at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium, as the pre-match entertainment for the Rugby League Super League Grand Final on the 14 October, and continued on to a full UK tour in November.
The album The Hipsters was released in 2012.
http://www.deaconblue.com/, followed by A New House, Believers, City of Love and Riding On The Tide Of Love.
In 2023 the band released a greatest hits set titled "All The Old 45's" along with a box set of all their albums titled "You Can Have It All".
Down In The Flood
Deacon Blue Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hard to be happy when the sun goes down
Hard to be happy when you're down, down, down
Walk to the river
And the river dont stop
Try to cling on
To the hands on the clockThe clock keep turning
And the river keeps rolling
And the man from the ministry said
People keep drowning ain't that sad
Hard to be happy in your home town
Hard to be happy when the sun goes down
Hard to be happy in your home town
Hard to be happy when you're down, down, down
In the flood
Joseph was a walking
Down by the shore
Mary was a talking
'Cause the weights getting more
People are just floating
Driven by the wind
Getting pulled down
By the western swim
I need some rope and some high mountain
And some wheels of fire to leave this hurricane
I need some ground and some real good friend
And some God-blessed-hope to hit the land again
The song "Down In The Flood" by Deacon Blue is a melancholic reflection on the challenges faced in one's hometown. The opening lines indicate that happiness is elusive in one's surroundings that one grew up in. The lyrics suggest that the town's situation may have changed for the worse with the passing of time or that the individual has grown tired of the mundane quality of life in the hometown. As it gets darker, the mood grows increasingly somber.
The line "Walk to the river/And the river don't stop" provides imagery of a journey that doesn't seem to have a destination. The individual tries to hold on to the present, yet time keeps moving forward with the clock ticking away. The river is a metaphor for time and life, and it keeps moving forward regardless of the situations that people face. The lyrics imply that drowning in the stream may be a subtle metaphor for losing the present moment, lost in the current of life without any control over its flow.
In the chorus, "hard to be happy in your hometown, hard to be happy when the sun goes down," the artist seems to capture a universal feeling of being stuck in the present and feeling disconnected from it. The lines "I need some rope and some high mountain/And some wheels of fire to leave this hurricane" manifest a sense that the singer needs some drastic changes in their life - some ground, friends, and hope to look forward to hit the land again.
Line by Line Meaning
Hard to be happy in your home town
Being content where you grew up is difficult
Hard to be happy when the sun goes down
Sunsets are a reminder of sadness and loneliness
Hard to be happy when you're down, down, down
It's challenging to remain optimistic when feeling low
Walk to the river
Head towards a source of change or escape
And the river dont stop
Time and change are inevitable and unstoppable
Try to cling on
Attempt to seize control of the situation
To the hands on the clock
To the passage of time
The clock keep turning
Time keeps moving forward
And the river keeps rolling
The flow of change never stops
And the man from the ministry said
A figure of authority warned
People keep drowning ain't that sad
People are struggling and facing adversity
In the flood
In the midst of overwhelming obstacles
Joseph was a walking
Joseph was traveling
Down by the shore
Near the coast
Mary was a talking
Mary was communicating
'Cause the weights getting more
As the burden increases
People are just floating
People are struggling to stay afloat
Driven by the wind
Being controlled by external forces
Getting pulled down
Being dragged down by oppression
By the western swim
By the tide moving towards the west
I need some rope and some high mountain
I require support and elevation
And some wheels of fire to leave this hurricane
Some potent propulsion to escape the chaos
I need some ground and some real good friend
I need stability and companionship
And some God-blessed-hope to hit the land again
And some divine inspiration to persevere
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Douglas Vipond, Elysee Vernal, Graeme Hunter Kelling, Jim Prime, Lorraine Marie Mcintosh, Ricky Ross
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Nigel Smith
on Long Window To Love
This whole explanation is completely wrong. The song is about the Labour Party not winning a general election