The Television Personalities are an English post-punk group with a varying … Read Full Bio ↴The Television Personalities are an English post-punk group with a varying line up. The only constant member is singer/songwriter Dan Treacy.

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]

Three Wishes
Television Personalities Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

So frightened, so worried
So cold and it's raining
My naive illusions
Distraught by confusion
You're laughing, I'm crying
Outside it's still raining
Graveyard of soldiers
No flowers on their graves

So helpless and lonely
Outside it's still raining
To afraid to ask why
No questions are made
You're laughing, I'm crying
I feel like I'm dying
My naive illusions
Distraught by confusion

If I had three wishes
I'd wish for three more
But dreams are for lovers
And love is so precious
You're laughing, I'm crying
I feel like I'm dying
My naive illusions
Distraught by confusion

If I had three wishes

If I had three wishes
If I had three wishes

Overall Meaning

The song "Three Wishes" by Television Personalities is a melancholic and introspective reflection on life's hardships and the yearning for love and connection. The first stanza captures a sense of fear and confusion, as the singer struggles with their naive illusions and their inability to understand the world around them. Despite their distress, they are met with laughter and insensitivity from those around them, exacerbating their pain.

The second stanza deepens the sense of isolation and despair, as the singer feels helpless and alone in the face of life's challenges. Despite their inner turmoil, they are unable to voice their concerns and ask for help. The chorus offers a glimpse of hope in the form of three wishes, but even this seems out of reach, as dreams are reserved for lovers and love is a precious commodity. The song closes with a reiteration of the chorus, amplifying the sense of longing and unfulfilled desires.

Overall, "Three Wishes" is a poignant and poignant meditation on the struggles of life and the human desire for connection and love. It offers a raw and vulnerable expression of the pain and confusion that can accompany such yearnings.

Line by Line Meaning

So frightened, so worried
I am scared and anxious

So cold and it's raining
The weather is gloomy and cold, adding to my despair

My naive illusions
My unrealistic expectations

Distraught by confusion
I am confused and overwhelmed

You're laughing, I'm crying
You are happy while I am sad

Outside it's still raining
The weather remains bleak, reflecting my mood

Graveyard of soldiers
A cemetery where soldiers are buried

No flowers on their graves
The graves are bare, indicating that no one visits or remembers the soldiers buried there

So helpless and lonely
I feel powerless and isolated

To afraid to ask why
I am too scared to seek answers

No questions are made
I avoid asking questions because of my fear