Nerina Pallot (pronounced pal-oh in the French style) (b. 1975) is a London… Read Full Bio ↴Nerina Pallot (pronounced pal-oh in the French style) (b. 1975) is a London-based recording artist.

Pallot was born in London, but spent most of her childhood on the island of Jersey. Her mother is from India, whilst her father is native born from Jersey. Early in life, she spent some time living in India, but spent most of her early school years in Jersey. From there she won a scholarship to Wellington College, a famous military public school in England. Her time at this school provides much of the personal inspiration behind her single Everybody’s Gone to War as several of her school friends were directly involved in the Iraq war.

Nerina Pallot is classically trained in singing and piano, and then engaged in a peripatetic career around the fringes of the music industry. Outside these various industry-related jobs, Nerina Pallot was an active part-time musician with an ambition to follow a career in performing and song writing. At some point her career took her to her favourite job of this time, as PA to the music industry executive Andrew King; a key figure in the management of Pink Floyd from its earliest days. Still following her ambition to pursue a musical career, Pallot signed to Polydor in her mid-20s, despite misgivings from Andrew King. This signing resulted in the release of an album containing self-penned songs; the ironically titled Dear Frustrated Superstar (2001). However, singles released from this album failed to make a sales mark as did the album. Following this, Nerina Pallot was dropped by Polydor among some bitter recriminations which are documented on her web site. This experience was later to lead to the writing of Mr. King, a touching, and very probably unique tribute to a senior music industry executive.

Following this episode, Nerina Pallot returned to University to study English with a partially formed plan to become an English teacher. However, during her studies she rekindled a love of lyrical English and started to write again. The song Idaho came from this period, using the state as a metaphor for the place where she wanted to actively steer her life, rather than just letting it drift. Idaho, Mr. King, and Everybody’s Gone to War became three of the tracks that made up her second album Fires. This was, in part, financed by money from her publishers, Chrysalis, who had remained faithful, and partly through re-mortgaging her home. As important was the extensive good-will and contacts that she could call upon within the industry in both London and Los Angeles. The eventual album was released under her own label Idaho which, despite rave reviews, failed to make significant sales headway. This, and subsequent activities, lead to an early termination of her degree course, but she has expressed a desire to complete it.

Nerina Pallot persisted by extensively touring the country, and sometimes Europe, supporting acts such as Missy Higgins, Sheryl Crow, James Blunt, Suzanne Vega, Joseph Arthur, and Ray LaMontagne. This, and a very active and acerbic presence on MySpace resulted in a considerable word-of-mouth following. Typical of many of her contemporary artists in the Internet world, she is strongly supported by a group of dedicated fans, connected via so-called social networking sites. Nerina Pallot also benefits from support within influential parts of the media including the BBC.

Eventually this activity and support resulted in Nerina Pallot being signed to the Warner label 14th Floor who specialise in promoting acts with a partially established following. Fires received a slight makeover, and was re-released under the 14th Floor label. Everybody’s Gone to War was released as a single with a video filmed in a Los Angeles supermarket in the style of a Hollywood war film, save being staged as a “food-fight”. A second single, a remixed Sophia, was released in early October 2006. Learning to Breathe is to be released in early 2007 as the third single under the 14th Floor label.

During the summer of 2006 Nerina appeared at many music festivals, promotional and charity events. For the autumn months she is touring intensively in the UK and Europe as a headline act.

During her early 2007 tour of the UK and Ireland, Nerina Pallot reprised several songs from her Dear Frustrated Superstar period, possibly marking a coming to terms with a dark period in her career.

In 2007 Nerina Pallot was nominated for a Brit Award in the Best British Female category won by Amy Winehouse. Such was the unexpected nature of this nomination to her, that she had already set the date, St. Valentine’s day 2007 for her marriage to the music video producer Andrew Chatterley, both briefly leaving the reception in London for the award show.

Nerina Pallot released her third studio album "The Graduate" in 2009, on her own label. Nerina worked with many writers for the album but when it came down to the final tracklist only Pallot written material has made the cut. She wrote in her blog that she had approximately 60 viable songs. The album title refers to Pallot's 2009 graduation from university with a first-class honours English Literature degree.

Nerina Pallot and her husband Andy Chatterly wrote the title track and third single, "Better Than Today" from Kylie Minogue's 2010 studio album, "Aphrodite". Pallot signed with Geffon Records and released "Year Of The Wolf" in 2011. The album's title comes from her son, Wolfie, with whom she was pregnant during the recording of the album. Lead single "Put Your Hands Up" was originally written for Kylie Minogue.

57 Flavours
Nerina Pallot Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Oh the lights here are beautiful
Strung like chandeliers in the rain
But, in the face of my past misdemeanours
I can't go there again....

So come on and save me from the height of bad behaviour
I've got a taste for the misadventurous kind
So in the light of it, in spite of it all

I want your 57 flavours
57 reasons
57 moments
57 bad dreams of you.

And it's so tempting to think of you....
My head on your heart like a marble breeze
Still, in these moments of quiet reflection
I know that it's wrong for to think of it -
All the same, I wanna go there again

So come on and save me from the height of bad behaviour
I've got a taste and it's murderous sometimes
So in the light of it, in spite of it all
I want your 57 flavours
57 reasons
57 moments
57 bad dreams of you.

I've got bad dreams.....
I've got bad dreams of you......

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Nerina Pallot's song "57 Flavours" depict a struggle with temptation and desire for someone who is not good for the singer. The first stanza describes the beauty of the setting but acknowledges the singer's past mistakes in the same situation, suggesting the fear of repeating them. In the chorus, the singer implores the object of their affections to "save" them from their "bad behaviour" and their "murderous" tendencies. Despite the acceptance that thinking of this person is wrong, the temptation persists as described in the second stanza. The repetition of the number 57 throughout the chorus gives the impression of a desperate desire for this person, while the final line of the song stating "I've got bad dreams of you" reveals the damaging impact of these feelings.

Line by Line Meaning

Oh the lights here are beautiful
The lights in this place are an amazing sight to see

Strung like chandeliers in the rain
They are beautifully arranged and look like chandeliers that are illuminated in the rain

But, in the face of my past misdemeanours
Despite how beautiful this place is, I cannot ignore the mistakes I have made before

I can't go there again....
I cannot afford to make the same mistakes again, so I have to avoid going back there

So come on and save me from the height of bad behaviour
Please help me avoid making serious mistakes that I might regret later

I've got a taste for the misadventurous kind
I have developed an appetite for taking risks and going on misadventures

So in the light of it, in spite of it all
Despite the consequences, I am still attracted to this kind of lifestyle

I want your 57 flavours
I desire the full range of experiences and emotions that you can offer me

57 reasons
I want to know every reason why I am drawn to you

57 moments
I want to experience every moment we can share together

57 bad dreams of you.
I cannot help but think of you even in my worst nightmares

And it's so tempting to think of you....
I am lured to the idea of being with you again despite knowing that it is not a good choice

My head on your heart like a marble breeze
I can remember the sensation of putting my head on your chest, feeling your heart beat like a gentle breeze made of marble

Still, in these moments of quiet reflection
During my solitary moments, I realize that what I am feeling is not right

I know that it's wrong for to think of it -
I understand and acknowledge that I should not entertain thoughts of being with you again

All the same, I wanna go there again
However, I still have the urge to experience what it feels like to be with you again

I've got a taste and it's murderous sometimes
My appetite for taking risks can sometimes lead me to dangerous situations

I've got bad dreams.....
I cannot escape the thought of you, even when I am asleep

I've got bad dreams of you......
My nightmares are always about being with you and experiencing the problems that come from it

Contributed by Madison Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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