Keane achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK charts, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the second best-selling British album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK album charts and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.
After the release of their compilation album The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a hiatus, lasting nearly 5 years.
The band returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of the songs were written by Tim Rice-Oxley during his divorce, and after discussions with Tom who had visited Tim the previous year, decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keane_(band)
Studio albums
Hopes and Fears (2004)
Under the Iron Sea (2006)
Perfect Symmetry (2008)
Strangeland (2012)
Cause and Effect (2019)
Walnut Tree
Keane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pushed my head beneath the waves,
I was gone.
Underneath the walnut tree,
Where you said you'd wait for me,
And I waited a long, long time
I waited a long, long time,
I waited a long, long time,
I waited a long, long time.
Why, why do I come here?
Seeking out the memories I hold dear,
'Cause you put your spell on me,
Made me live a memory,
And I'm frozen in just the wrong time.
I waited a long, long time,
I waited a long, long time,
I waited a long, long time,
I waited a long, long time.
The opening lines of Keane's song "Walnut Tree" depict a turbulent event - a great storm that pushes the singer's head beneath the waves, submerging them in danger and chaos. The storm symbolizes a difficult time in the singer's life, perhaps a personal struggle or emotional upheaval that threatens to overwhelm them. Despite the severity of the storm, we do not hear any sense of panic or fear in the singer's voice - this may suggest that they have already weathered the worst of the storm and are now in a place of relative calm.
The second verse, however, introduces a new element to the story - the image of a walnut tree where the singer's loved one has promised to wait for them. This image is full of both hope and longing, as the singer has been waiting for their loved one for a long time beneath its branches. There is a sense of bittersweet nostalgia here, as the singer's memories of this person are intertwined with the tree, making it a symbol of their love and loss.
The chorus repeats several times, emphasizing the theme of waiting and the passage of time. The final verse continues the theme of memory, as the singer returns to this place again and again, seeking out the memories that they hold dear. However, they are also aware that this obsession with the past has left them "frozen in just the wrong time," unable to move forward with their life. In this sense, the walnut tree becomes a haunting symbol of nostalgia, love, and the passage of time.
Line by Line Meaning
Once there was a great storm,
There was a time when there was a terrible storm.
Pushed my head beneath the waves,
The storm caused me to be submerged under water.
I was gone.
I disappeared.
Underneath the walnut tree,
I found myself beneath a certain tree.
Where you said you'd wait for me,
You said you would be waiting for me there.
And I waited a long, long time
I waited for a very long time.
I waited a long, long time,
I continued to wait, seemingly endlessly.
Why, why do I come here?
I wonder why I keep returning to this place.
Seeking out the memories I hold dear,
I am searching for the memories that I cherish.
'Cause you put your spell on me,
You enchanted me with your influence.
Made me live a memory,
You made me dwell on a specific memory.
And I'm frozen in just the wrong time.
I am trapped in a specific moment that has the wrong connotations.
I waited a long, long time,
I continued to wait for what seems like an eternity.
I waited a long, long time,
I continued to wait endlessly.
I waited a long, long time,
I have spent an interminable amount of time waiting.
I waited a long, long time.
I endured an angst-ridden wait for an extraordinarily long period of time.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JAMES KEITH WARNOCK SANGER, RICHARD DAVID HUGHES, TIMOTHY JAMES RICE-OXLEY, TOM CHAPLIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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