Tom McRae is a singer-songwriter from the United Kingdom. He grew up in Suf… Read Full Bio ↴Tom McRae is a singer-songwriter from the United Kingdom. He grew up in Suffolk, the son of an Anglican vicar. McRae sang in the choir. His mother played guitar and as a teen, he'd borrow it. He began writing songs at 15. At 18 he moved to London to study politics at London Guildhall University, soon forming bands and writing songs. A chance meeting with sound engineer Roger Bechirian led him to a working relationship that shaped McRae's soft-spoken sound and later landed him a deal with DB records.

Changing his name from Jeremy Thomas McRae Blackall to just Tom McRae - he released his first, self-titled album in 2001, during the height of the new acoustic movement, and gained Mercury Music Prize nomination. His second album, Just Like Blood, was released in February of 2003, which was produced by Ben Hillier, responsible for Elbow’s Asleep In The Back, with which McRae’s album shares a similar melancholy but uplifting atmosphere. In 2004, McRae moved to California where he wrote and recorded his next album, All Maps Welcome, which was released in May 2005. His fourth album, King of Cards was released on 14th May 2007. A talented live performer, he supported Tori Amos on the UK leg of her Original Sinsuality tour, Paul Weller, Dido, World Party, The Waterboys among others. He is recognised as an intelligent and talented performer, influenced by, among others, Nick Drake, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Jeff Buckley.

Border Song
Tom McRae Lyrics

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She lies still
Her eyes on fire
Undressed to kill
And untethered in time
And in the arms of a stranger
You search for someone like her

And the music carries on

In a simple border song
You once knew

People like you
They come and they go
What's left to say
We already know
And we've danced these shoes to pieces
And we stood where no one has stood

And the music carries on
In a simple border song
You once knew

And I guess I've said it all
And I guess I've said it all
You can climb but you will fall
And I guess I've said it all

You will walk
You will walk
You will walk out of here

You will walk
You will walk
You will walk out of here

And I guess I've said it all
And I guess I've said it all

You can climb but you will fall
And I guess I've said it all

Overall Meaning

Tom McRae’s Border Song is a song that revolves around the themes of nostalgia and longing. The song begins with the image of a woman lying still with fire in her eyes, dressed to impress, and free from temporal constraints. The singer is in search of someone like her and finds himself in the arms of a stranger. The lyrics evoke a sense of yearning and longing for a connection to something concrete, something real that represents the past.

As the song progresses, the singer reflects on the transient nature of life and how people come and go without any lasting impact. The shoe metaphor is used to describe how the people in the singer’s life have danced their way out of his life, leaving him alone with memories of moments frozen in time. In essence, the song is a commentary on how past experiences shape who we are and how we relate to others. The singer is saying that he understands the song of life, much like a border song, and it is simple yet complex in its melody.

The song ends with the singer resigned to the fact that everything worth saying has been said, and there is no use in trying to climb the ladder of life because you will eventually fall. The final lines of the song emphasize the inevitability of change and the need to move on. The song ends with the singer stating that he is ready to leave and walks out.

Line by Line Meaning

She lies still
She is lying motionless in a state of emotional unrest

Her eyes on fire
Her intense emotions are reflected in the burning of her eyes

Undressed to kill
She is dangerously attractive and provocative in her appearance

And untethered in time
She is detached from the conventional constraints of time and space

And in the arms of a stranger
She has sought solace in the embrace of a stranger

You search for someone like her
You are in search of someone with a similar, elusive quality

And the music carries on
The melody continues unabated

In a simple border song
In a song that is in-between, neither here nor there

You once knew
Something about it used to be familiar to you

People like you
Those who are similar to you in some way

They come and they go
They arrive and depart, as people often do