Described as "classic UK rock delivered with whiskey vocals", the band have been summarised as possessing a sound akin to the genres of alternative rock and "British traditional rock". Stereophonics' debut album, Word Gets Around, was released in August 1997 and charted at number six in the UK, aided by the singles "Local Boy in the Photograph", "More Life in a Tramps Vest" and "A Thousand Trees". The band reached mainstream success with the release of Performance and Cocktails (and its promotional singles "The Bartender and the Thief", "Just Looking" and "Pick a Part That's New") in 1999 and have achieved a total of ten top-ten singles as well as one number one: "Dakota" (2005). Having sold around 10 million copies worldwide by 2016, Stereophonics are one of the most successful Welsh rock acts. Upon their release of Pull the Pin, they achieved five consecutive UK number one albums.
The band have also been praised for their live performances, which have landed them headlining slots at many of the UK and Ireland's most high-profile music festivals, including Reading and Leeds in 2000, Glastonbury in 2002, V Festival in 2002, the Isle of Wight in 2004 and 2009, Oxegen in 2010, Tramlines Festival and TRNSMT in 2018, and Latitude in 2019. The band is part of the Cardiff music scene.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereophonics
Studio albums
Word Gets Around (1997)
Performance and Cocktails (1999)
Just Enough Education to Perform (2001)
You Gotta Go There to Come Back (2003)
Language. Sex. Violence. Other? (2005)
Pull the Pin (2007)
Keep Calm and Carry On (2009)
Graffiti on the Train (2013)
Keep the Village Alive (2015)
Scream Above the Sounds (2017)
Kind (2019)
Oochya! (2022)
Billy Davey's Daughter
Stereophonics Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I only knew her fame
She lived near my town
Another goldfish to drown
Well I just past the bridge
That parts us from them
The bridge that she used
Again and again
I remember when they found her
Billy Davey's daughter
Word gets around, word gets around
Billy Davey's second daughter
Threw herself to dirty water
Billy's left with nothing but a dream
Billy Davey's second daughter
Threw herself to dirty water
Billy's left with nothing But a dream
He dreams
He dreams
Dreams
Dreams
He Dreams
Dreams
Dreams
Dreams
Word gets around
The lyrics of Stereophonics' Billy Daveys Daughter contain hauntingly beautiful melodies and poignant lyrics that tell the story of the tragic suicide of a young girl known only for her fame in a small town. The song's opening lines, "I never knew her name, I only knew her fame," imply a superficial relationship with the subject, who remains nameless, but her fame is synonymous with the sad end of her life. The singer of the song, who uses the bridge to cross from his town to where the girl lived, is a witness to the tragedy. The lyrics "Another goldfish to drown" suggests that the people in the girl's town were indifferent to her plight and that she was just another victim of society's indifference.
The chorus of the song, "I remember when they found her, Billy Davey's daughter, Word gets around, word gets around," magnifies the social implications of the event - that people gossip about such tragedies behind closed doors but often do not act to prevent them. The song continues by repeating the tragic event that led to the girl's death -"Billy Davey's second daughter threw herself to dirty water," opening up a tale of loss and dreams that could never be realized. The haunting repetition of "dreams" and the elongated cries at the end of the song suggest that the people left behind, in this case, Billy Davey, or anyone dealing with such loss, are left to deal with their shattered dreams.
Line by Line Meaning
I never knew her name
I didn't know the identity of the person about whom the song is.
I only knew her fame
Though I didn't know who the person was, I was aware of her popularity.
She lived near my town
The person in question lived close to where the singer resided.
Another goldfish to drown
The person was an addition to the list of people the local people love to criticize.
Well I just past the bridge
The artist crosses a bridge that separates him from the area where the person used to be.
That parts us from them
The bridge marks the boundary that separates the singer's area from the one where the person used to reside.
The bridge that she used
This refers to the same bridge that the person in question used when alive.
Again and again
This refers to the person's repeated crossing of the same bridge before her death.
I remember when they found her
This could refer to the moment when the locals discovered the person's dead body.
Billy Davey's daughter
The dead person was the daughter of a man named Billy Davey.
Word gets around, word gets around
News of what happened spreads throughout the town, indicating the town's gossip culture.
Billy Davey's second daughter
The person in question is the second daughter of Billy Davey.
Threw herself to dirty water
The person committed suicide by drowning herself in contaminated water.
Billy's left with nothing but a dream
The person's father, Billy Davey, is left with nothing but memories of his lost child.
He dreams
Billy Davey still dreams of his daughter even though she is no more.
Dreams
This line could indicate the futility of holding on to something that can never come true, given the daughter is already dead.
Dreams
This line could emphasize the point expressed in the previous line.
Dreams
This line could refer to the gap between the father's dreams and reality.
Dreams
This line represents the fact that Billy Davey can only hold on to his dreams and memories to keep his daughter alive in his mind.
Word gets around
This line reiterates the fact that people in the town talk about such incidents and the lives of those who reside there.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Kelly Jones, Richard Mark Jones, Stuart Cable
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind