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.
Love Is an Unmade Bed
Nerina Pallot Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now you sleep on the sofa and I don't care
Times I'd reach for your hand and you'd always be there
So what we can we do but divide up our books
And our records and field all our friends' funny looks
You take the TV and I'll take the bed or a chair
When I still wore your clothes and we'd just stay in bed
On Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays I'd skip work for you instead
Oh love is a rock, not a straight jacket
Love is an unmade bed
Oh love is a rock, not a straight jacket
Love is an unmade bed
You and me babe, we're a vaudeville show
All jazz hands and kisses, nobody would know
Dying inside, but always a life and a soul
Like brother and sister, none closer than we
When you say that you're tired, I'm secretly relieved
But I try to see you again
To see you like the first time
And sometimes I glimpse us before we were us
Before we had bills, before we had stuff
Before we bought suitable wine for our meals
And bought records instead
Oh love is a rock, not a straight jacket
Love is an unmade bed
Oh love is a rock, not a straight jacket
Yeah, love is an unmade bed
Doo doo doo
I see you again in a year, maybe two
At a wedding or birthday and you have moved on
And just for a moment I choke
Then the moment is gone
Just for a second I'll question it
All nostalgic and trying to hide it
Then I'll snuff out that thought in this manner
The issue decided
The song "Love Is an Unmade Bed" by Nerina Pallot talks about the ups and downs of a romantic relationship, which has come to an end. The lyrics describe the difficulties of accepting that the love is not what it used to be, and both parties have to divide up their belongings, including books, records, and even the bed. Pallot reminisces about the good times shared by the couple, such as staying in bed for long hours and skipping work just to be with each other. However, as time passed, their relationship has become stale and unfulfilling, and they had to move on.
The metaphor of love as an unmade bed gives the impression that the couple has become too comfortable with each other, and their love has lost its passion and drive. Similarly, the metaphor of love as a rock, not a straight jacket, suggests that love can be strong and sturdy but not constricting, and shouldn't be used as a means of control.
In the end, the singer accepts that the relationship has come to an end and reflects on how life moves on, even though it's hard to let go. The lyric "Just for a second I'll question it, all nostalgic and trying to hide it, then I'll snuff out that thought in this manner, the issue decided" implies that although the singer has a moment of weakness and wishes things were different, they ultimately accept and move on with their separate lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Good times and bad times, the love that we shared
We had our ups and downs, but our love was real and we shared it.
Now you sleep on the sofa and I don't care
Things have changed and you're sleeping on the couch, but I'm indifferent to it.
Times I'd reach for your hand and you'd always be there
In the past, whenever I needed you, you were always there to hold my hand.
So what we can we do but divide up our books
We have to split up our possessions, like books, as we move on from each other.
And our records and field all our friends' funny looks
Our friends might make fun of us for dividing up our possessions, but it's something we have to do.
You take the TV and I'll take the bed or a chair
We have to split up all our belongings, which includes the TV and the bed or a chair.
I found an old photo from when we first met
I came across a photograph of us from when we first met.
When I still wore your clothes and we'd just stay in bed
There was a time when I used to wear your clothes and we would spend all day in bed.
On Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays I'd skip work for you instead
I used to skip work on weekends just to spend time with you instead.
Oh love is a rock, not a straight jacket
Love should be strong and supportive, not suffocating.
Love is an unmade bed
Love is messy, imperfect and comfortable, like an unmade bed.
You and me babe, we're a vaudeville show
We're like performers in a comedy show, we put on a good act for others but inside, things are different.
All jazz hands and kisses, nobody would know
Our public persona involves a lot of affection, but nobody knows the loneliness and sadness we feel inside.
Dying inside, but always a life and a soul
We might be struggling inside, but we always manage to put on a good front and keep things lively.
Like brother and sister, none closer than we
Our relationship is so close, it's like we're siblings.
When you say that you're tired, I'm secretly relieved
When you say you're tired, I'm secretly relieved because I know I won't have to try as hard to please you.
But I try to see you again, to see you like the first time
Even though things have changed, I still want to see you and remember the way we used to be when we first met.
And sometimes I glimpse us before we were us
I sometimes remember a time before we became who we are, with all our responsibilities and possessions.
Before we had bills, before we had stuff
Before we had to worry about financial responsibilities and accumulating possessions.
Before we bought suitable wine for our meals
Before we started buying things that were considered suitable for our social status, like wine.
And bought records instead
Instead of buying the things we thought were suitable for us, we used to just buy records and enjoy them together.
Yeah, love is an unmade bed
Love is like an unmade bed. It's comfortable, messy, and imperfect.
I see you again in a year, maybe two
I may see you again in a year or two, maybe at a wedding or a birthday.
At a wedding or birthday and you have moved on
When we meet again, you may have moved on from our relationship.
And just for a moment I choke
Just for a moment, I feel a surge of emotion and I'm choked up.
Then the moment is gone
But the moment passes quickly and I carry on with my life.
Just for a second I'll question it
For a brief moment, I'll question our relationship and where we stand now.
All nostalgic and trying to hide it
I'll feel nostalgic about our past and try to hide it from others and myself.
Then I'll snuff out that thought in this manner
I'll quickly shut down that thought and move on.
The issue decided
It's settled in my mind that we have moved on and our relationship is over.
Contributed by Jasmine T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.