Their first release (January 1978) was the single "14th Floor / Oxford Street W1". Their second release, the EP Where's Bill Grundy Now? features one of their best-known songs, "Part Time Punks".
The Television Personalities' first album And Don't the Kids Just Love It was released in 1981. It set the template for their subsequent career: neo-psychedelia, an obsession with youth culture of the 1960s, a fey, slightly camp lyrical attitude, and the occasional classic pop song. Their second album Mummy Your Not Watching Me [sic] demonstrated increased psychedelic influences. Their third album, ironically entitled They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles showed Treacy's sense of irony: the TVPs (as they are affectionately known) were never to have any major commercial success. The first three albums featured Treacy and schoolmate Ed Ball; Ball left the band to found The Times, but rejoined in 2004.
The 1985 album The Painted Word was unexpectedly dark in content, reflecting Treacy's despair at Thatcherite Britain and his personal circumstances.
Various line up changes prevented their next album (Privilege) from appearing until 1990. Their next album Closer to God was a combination of fey sixties style pop and darker material, similar in tone to The Painted Word.
The album Don't Cry Baby, It's Only a Movie was released in 1998. Since then Treacy has battled mental health problems, and his addictions to heroin, amphetamine and alcohol. He has been homeless on various occasions and was briefly arrested and imprisoned in 2003/2004. However, since his release, Treacy has attempted to get his life back together and in February 2006 a new TVPs album My Dark Places was released. Despite their small sales the TVPs were very influential on British music in the 1980s, especially the so-called C86 generation and many of the bands on Creation Records.
In an article in The Guardian on April 24 2006, it was implied that Dan Treacy is in some way behind the Arctic Monkeys, although this is based on little more than a perceived similarity between their lyrical style and that of Treacy, and the fact that the lead singer of Arctic Monkeys is mysteriously not credited with their songwriting.[1]
Stop & Smell The Roses
Television Personalities Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just to see you smile
We'll make it all worth while
Sometimes
Just to be with you
Would be all I need
Then I'd have everything
Just to be with you
Cause all I'll ever need
Just to see you smile
We'd make it all worth while
Sometimes I
I would give anything
To take back all the things I said
That made you cry
Sometimes I
Pretend that I got everything
Everything in my garden
Everything is so lovely
Think I'll just stop and smell the roses
Stop and smell the roses
And then I think of you
And I know where you are
It seems so far away
Just so far away
And I don't expect to see you again
(Shunt)
(Sometimes I pretend )
(That everything in my garden's roses)
(Everything is so beautiful)
In this song, Television Personalities explore the theme of regret and longing for a lost love. The opening lines of "Sometimes/ Just to see you smile/ We'll make it all worth while" convey the desire to please the person they love, even if it involves sacrificing their own happiness. The repetition of "Just to be with you" further emphasizes the importance of their loved one's presence and the idea that being with them is enough to make them feel complete.
The second verse talks about the regret for the mistakes made in the relationship that caused their loved one to cry. The line "Sometimes I pretend that I got everything/ Everything in my garden" conveys the notion of wanting to live in a perfect world, where everything is taken care of and problems do not exist. However, the reality is different, and in the chorus, the singer finds solace in stopping and smelling the roses, which may signify a form of self-reflection and slowing down, rather than being consumed by worldly matters.
The final lines, "And I don't expect to see you again" convey the acceptance of the fact that the relationship is over, and the person has moved on, but there is still a lingering sense of longing and regret.
Line by Line Meaning
Sometimes
At times, in certain situations
Just to see you smile
In order to witness the happiness on your face
We'll make it all worth while
We will make all the efforts worth it in the end
Just to be with you
Merely being in your presence
Would be all I need
Would fulfill all my requirements
Then I'd have everything
I would possess every necessity
I could ever need
That I ever require
Cause all I'll ever need
As everything that is required
Sometimes I
Quite often, I
I would give anything
I am willing to offer anything
To take back all the things I said
To retract every hurtful thing I ever told
That made you cry
That caused you misery
Pretend that I got everything
Act like I have all that I need in life
Everything in my garden
All aspects of my life
Everything is so lovely
Everything appears beautiful
Think I'll just stop and smell the roses
Do you believe I should pause and appreciate things
Stop and smell the roses
To stop working and enjoy the moments
And then I think of you
And then I think of your existence
And I know where you are
I am aware of where you are located
It seems so far away
But it appears quite distant
Just so far away
Very, very far away
And I don't expect to see you again
And I am not assuming to encounter you again
(Shunt)
Unknown
(Sometimes I pretend )
At times I act
(That everything in my garden's roses)
That everything in life is blissful
(Everything is so beautiful)
Everything appears gorgeous
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: DANIEL J TREACY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Pedro Oppen
this can get you high up with well being or just destroy you with nostalgie
Siera
Missing my fiancé... He's up in the clouds somewhere now. We were together since I was 16 he was 15, he died last year at the age of 20. I feel like... I just want to wait until I get the chance to meet him again one day. He was my best friend
Santiago Agustín
I'm sorry I lost my best friend too three months ago. I know that feel, it hurts but you will be alright <3
david gangitano
No worries undersover, he is taking care of you from heaven … he is watching you … he would not like to see you suffering … believe me I know your feelings … I lost my best friend 27 years ago ...
bat cave
To me, The painted world is a lifetime album, the best album of the alternative 80ies, a key album of the 80ies….. Amongst pioneers, Monochrome Set gets silver medal and Robyn Hitchcock the bronze... But Dan Treacy gets the gold, because many of his songs are not anly clever but heartbreaking.... This sound….This f….guitar sound……His voice !!! I cry like f…child, not on this introducing beautiful song, but on "The girl who had everything", with the ghosts of the Velvet underground, the Rolling stones that's for sure….Big star' sister lovers, the first Pink Floyd album maybe….I don't know..I only know that This album, The Painted word, is a masterpiece. A rereading of the 60ies by a man who's inventing the alternative 80ies.
gw kiv
Sometimes I pretend.. that everything in my garden is roses.
Oscar Reyes
This means sooo much to me
Albert fly
this is what my dreams are made of
therealartistproper
great song
Andy Apricot
real beauty