Ambition was never the Pastels' strong suit, and luck was rarely on their side; as the group's members -- now including bassist Martin Hayward and drummer Bernice Simpson -- devoted their primary focus to their studies, new music appeared only sporadically and to little notice, on a seemingly random series of labels. After 1983's "I Wonder Why" was released on Rough Trade, they moved to Creation, where they hit their stride with the 1984 drone-pop gems "Something's Going On" and "A Million Tears." After one further single, 1985's "I'm Alright with You," the Pastels split with Creation, moving to the tiny Glass label. In 1986, their track "Breaking Lines" appeared on the influential C-86 collection assembled by the New Music Express, transforming the anorak movement into an overnight media sensation quickly accompanied by intense critical backlash.
Regardless of prevailing musical trends, however, the Pastels soldiered on: after recruiting one-time Shop Assistants keyboardist Aggi Wright, they recorded the 1986 single "Truck Train Tractor," followed by Crawl Babies and Comin' Through. Finally, in 1987 the group found time to assemble an LP, Up for a Bit with the Pastels, followed in 1988 by Suck on the Pastels, a collection of unreleased Creation-era material. In 1989, former Vaselines frontman Eugene Kelly and ex-Shop Assistant David Keegan joined the fold for Sittin' Pretty, the final LP to include Superstar, Hayward, and Simpson. The remaining duo of Pastel and Wright expanded to include Katrina Mitchell for the 1991 collaboration Jad Fair and the Pastels, followed by the 1994 EP Olympic World of Pastelism. Their third album, Mobile Safari, was released in 1995 by Domino in the U.K. (which began a long-running alliance) and Up Records in the U.S. It featured a lineup including longtime band associates Norman Blake and Gerald Love (both from Teenage Fanclub) and ex-Shop Assistant guitarist David Keegan, and a guest appearance from Luna's Dean Wareham.
Their next album, 1997's Illumination, was issued by the same configuration of record labels and featured a similar lineup, only with the addition of guitarist Jonathan Kilgour and guest shots from Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell and pianist Bill Wells. A remix album, Illuminati, was released in 1998 and featured reworks of tracks by Kevin Shields, Stereolab, Cornelius, and other A-list indie rockers. This burst of recognition and activity was derailed when Wright decided to leave the band in 1998, throwing Mitchell and Pastel into a spin. Instead of jumping back into making music right away, the band went on hiatus while figuring things out. The duo next formed Geographic Records in 2000 as an offshoot of Domino, and began releasing records by friends (Future Pilot AKA, International Airport) and obscure acts (Nagisa Ni Te, Maher Shalal Hash Baz.) The band reappeared at last in 2003 with the mostly instrumental soundtrack for the film The Last Great Wilderness. The album was produced by the Sea and Cake's John McEntire and featured International Airport's Tom Crossley along with a vocal feature for Jarvis Cocker. A friendship with Japanese band Tenniscoats led to their next release, 2009's collaborative effort Two Sunsets. The core band was expanded to include Crossley and Mitchell's sister Alison, with Love still there, too. With the record label slowing its pace and releasing one album a year, the band turned toward recording an album of their own, and in 2013 their fifth record, Slow Summits, was released. McEntire was again in the producer's chair and guitarist John Hogarty had joined the ranks. Also on board as guests were To Rococo Rot's Stefan Schneider and Robert Lippok, as well as Norman Blake (again), and original bandmember Annabel Wright. (c)Jason Ankeny
2) An American 50s pop group formed by Dee Irwin while he was serving in the military. Consisted of DiFosco "Dee" T. Ervin Jr. himself, Richard Travis, Tony Thomas and Jimmy Willingham. They toured widely until splitting up in 1959.
The Viaduct
The Pastels Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Arrive there
Be alive there
But your truck's broke down
You're nowhere bound
Will never leave this town
But if it won't be you
It probably won't be me
Candle to the taper
Tonight we'll swim
In the river
Kiss and shiver
Were we ever inspired
Just for a moment
Or is this our life?
Slackness in
The blackness
If that's the way we are
No tricks, no coins
No stars
We need to stray
And find a gateway
Lifelong
Feeling we're wrong
To still be
Hanging around
Our old hunting ground
We could go far
Thanking our stars
That the viaduct
Broke
Or we'd never have spoken
By now
Can't you see i'm
Trying to tell you
We've paid our dues
The Pastels’ song “The Viaduct” is a introspective and melancholic ballad about feeling stuck and suffocated by one's environment. The song begins with bittersweet optimism, as the singer dreams of escape and moving on to better things. They yearn for a sense of freedom and adventure - the possibility of going “far” - but the reality is less than ideal. The truck is broken down, and the feeling of being “nowhere bound” is crushing.
The chorus of the song is a poignant reflection on the fragile nature of inspiration and motivation. The singer asks whether the moments of passion and inspiration that they have experienced were fleeting, or whether they will be able to sustain this energy throughout their lives. As they swim in the river, they embody the physical sensations of shivering and kissing in a moment of connection and possibility. But they are acutely aware that this could all be for naught, that they might be stuck in “slackness in the blackness.”
This song captures the struggles of feeling trapped in a certain place or mindset, and the importance of taking risks to achieve a sense of fulfillment and purpose. The viaduct symbolizes the breaking point between the past and the potential for a better future - a sign of hope or a signal of a missed opportunity. The singer is asking their partner to see the urgency of the situation, and to understand that they cannot continue to “hang around / our old hunting ground” forever. The idea is that if they don’t act soon, they will essentially waste their lives and “pay their dues” for nothing.
Overall, the song is about the search for meaning and direction, and the tension between yearning for something more and coming to terms with one’s current circumstances. It’s an ode to the importance of taking risks and seizing opportunities before it’s too late.
Line by Line Meaning
We could drive there
We have the chance to go somewhere we want to.
Arrive there
We can reach that place we want to go to.
Be alive there
We can experience life to the fullest if we go there.
But your truck's broke down
Unfortunately, we can't go there because your vehicle is broken.
You're nowhere bound
We are stuck and don't know where to go now.
Will never leave this town
We are resigned to staying in this place forever.
But if it won't be you
If you can't take me there, then somebody else probably will.
It probably won't be me
I won't be the one to leave this place with you.
We capered, burnt a
We had fun and joked around, we ended up lighting a
Candle to the taper
candle and let it slowly burn.
Tonight we'll swim
Later, we'll go swimming.
In the river
We'll swim in the river.
Kiss and shiver
We'll share a romantic moment and feel both love and shudders together.
Were we ever inspired
Did we ever feel truly motivated?
Just for a moment
Did our inspiration only last for a short time?
Or is this our life?
Is this all there is for us?
Slackness in
We feel very lazy
The blackness
and powerless in the face of darkness and negativity around us.
If that's the way we are
If this is our situation and our mindset,
No tricks, no coins
We don't have any clever ideas or money,
No stars
and it doesn't look like our fate will be kind to us,
We need to stray
We must wander off-track
And find a gateway
to discover an escape route to start anew.
Lifelong
We've been feeling like this for a long time.
Feeling we're wrong
We feel like we've made some bad decisions along the way.
To still be
We're still
Hanging around
stuck in this area.
Our old hunting ground
Our previous territory where we used to have fun.
We could go far
We could go very far if we leave this place.
Thanking our stars
We'll be grateful for the stroke of luck we encounter.
That the viaduct
If the viaduct hadn't broken down,
Broke
and ceased to work,
Or we'd never have spoken
we would have never had this conversation and thought of leaving town.
By now
Some time has passed already.
Can't you see i'm
Don't you perceive that I'm
Trying to tell you
attempting to explain to you how much we need to take action.
We've paid our dues
We've had a tough time up to this point, and we deserve a chance to start over.
Contributed by Makayla R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.