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.
Blood Is Blood
Nerina Pallot Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No fairy tale or happy ending, just prehistoric songs.
A crystal in my baby's eyes, I want what I can't love
So now I've learnt how to despise, I think I've learnt enough.....
If blood is blood, then blood will flow -
That's all it does, that's all it knows
But I've one question, I want something,
So flesh is flesh, an urgent fire
It drags you down, this cheap desire.
We all want something, maybe beauty,
Maybe more...
Absolution, constitution, leave it all behind
Take off your shirt, your worried face, and let me lose your mind.
I thought that I might change the world, but all I changed was me..
So now I sleep most days and think of where this all might lead.
Oh blood is blood, and blood will flow -
That's all it does, that's all it knows
But I've one question, I want something,
I want more.
So flesh is flesh, an urgent fire
It drags you down, this cheap desire
We all want something, maybe beauty,
Maybe more...
Blood will rain a little,
Down each mountainside -
Every cloud will bring you......
Here.
Oh blood is blood, and blood will flow -
That's all it does, that's all it knows
But I've one question, I want something,
I want more.
So flesh is flesh, an urgent fire
(So flesh is flesh, and it twists the soul)
It drags you down, this cheap desire
(Like a tourniquet, like a begging bowl)
We all want something, maybe beauty,
(Like some long forbidden treasure in the dirt....)
Maybe more...
Oh blood is blood, and blood will flow -
(Blood is Blood, and it's on our hands)
That's all it does, that's all it knows
(That's the price of grace for the common man)
But I've one question, I want something,
(For that one good hour you pay with all your life)
I want more.
In "Blood is Blood," Nerina Pallot explores the complex and often tumultuous aspects of human desire. She juxtaposes fairy tale imagery with the rawness of human emotion to create a sense of longing and a search for something deeper within ourselves. Tinkerbell, the iconic fairy tale character, serves as a reminder that the storybook endings we so often seek may not exist in the real world. Instead, the song emphasizes the inevitability of human desire and the power it has to shape our lives.
The chorus of "Blood is Blood" repeats the phrase "that's all it does, that's all it knows," emphasizing the destructive nature of desire and its hold over humanity. The lyrics also express a yearning for something more, perhaps something transcendent that is beyond the physical world. The final lines of the song suggest that the human desire for beauty or something more may ultimately lead to our downfall, with "blood on our hands" serving as a metaphor for the consequences of our actions.
Line by Line Meaning
Tinkerbell, my winged friend, I think we got it wrong.
The singer realizes that life is not a fairy tale, with a happy ending, and hopes for more.
No fairy tale or happy ending, just prehistoric songs.
Life is not a fairy tale with a happy ending but rather just a string of events that are timeless and without meaning.
A crystal in my baby's eyes, I want what I can't love
The singer desires something she cannot have and struggles with the limitations of her love.
So now I've learnt how to despise, I think I've learnt enough.....
The artist has learned to hate and is no longer interested in learning more about herself or the world.
If blood is blood, then blood will flow -
The artist acknowledges the inevitability of violence and bloodshed in the cycle of life.
That's all it does, that's all it knows
Nothing can stop the cycle of violence and bloodshed, it is all that life does.
But I've one question, I want something,
Despite the inevitability of violence, the singer still longs for something more, something better.
I want more.
The artist longs for more from life than just violence and despair.
So flesh is flesh, an urgent fire
The artist compares her desire for more to the raw, physical urge of the flesh.
It drags you down, this cheap desire.
The artist recognizes the cost of desire as a cheap, unfulfilling state of being.
We all want something, maybe beauty,
All humans desire something more from life, perhaps something beautiful.
Maybe more...
Whatever people long for, there is always something more they desire.
Absolution, constitution, leave it all behind
The singer encourages the listener to let go of the past and all their beliefs about what life should be like.
Take off your shirt, your worried face, and let me lose your mind.
The singer wants the listener to relax, forget their troubles and let go of their worries.
I thought that I might change the world, but all I changed was me..
The singer once hoped to change the world but now realizes the only thing she can truly change is herself.
So now I sleep most days and think of where this all might lead.
The artist has given up trying to change the world and now spends most of her days sleeping and thinking about the future.
Blood will rain a little, down each mountainside -
The artist acknowledges the constant flow of bloodshed and violence as an inherent part of the natural world.
Every cloud will bring you...... Here.
The singer believes that no matter where you go in life, violence and bloodshed will always be there.
So flesh is flesh, an urgent fire
The singer again compares her longing for more to the physical urge of the flesh.
(So flesh is flesh, and it twists the soul)
The artist recognizes that the physical urges of the flesh can also have a negative effect on the soul.
It drags you down, this cheap desire
The artist again acknowledges the cost of desire, leaving one feeling unfulfilled and cheapened.
(Like a tourniquet, like a begging bowl)
The artist uses metaphors to compare desire to a tourniquet and a begging bowl, emphasizing the negative effect that desire can have on one's life.
We all want something, maybe beauty,
All people desire something more from life, perhaps something beautiful.
(Like some long forbidden treasure in the dirt....)
The artist again uses metaphors to describe the object of desire as buried treasure, something valuable and rare.
Maybe more...
There is always something more that people desire, beyond what they currently have or know.
Oh blood is blood, and blood will flow -
The singer reiterates the inevitability of violence and bloodshed in the cycle of life.
(Blood is Blood, and it's on our hands)
The singer believes that everyone is responsible to some extent for the violence and bloodshed in the world.
That's all it does, that's all it knows
Just like life, blood only knows how to flow and perpetuate the cycle of violence.
(That's the price of grace for the common man)
The artist believes that the price of living in this world is to be caught up in the cycle of violence and bloodshed.
But I've one question, I want something,
Despite her recognition of the cycle of violence and bloodshed, the singer still longs for something more from life.
(For that one good hour you pay with all your life)
The singer recognizes that achieving happiness and fulfillment in life often comes at great personal cost.
I want more.
The artist's desire for something more from life remains even after accepting the inevitability of the cycle of violence and bloodshed.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Nerina Pallot
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind