When I listen to an album that I haven’t heard before I tend to take most notice of the big noisy songs that immediately grab your attention. But it is often the quiet, subtle ones that get you in the end.
I was listening to live versions of A Woman a Man Walked By and it got round to Cracks In The Canvas. I listened absent-mindedly to the spoken words, I like the bit where Polly says “Dear God, you better not let me down this time”. But then she starts to sing. I don’t remember that bit? Where did that come from? So I check the lyrics on the PJH web site – just the spoken words. And on here – just the spoken words. So I check more widely, and I find extra lines slotted in between the spoken words. What? So I go back and listen to the album again. And there it is. So quiet and subtle, Polly singing in between the spoken lines. And when she sings it live, she sings that part separately at the end.
I had never noticed the sung part before. And it is stunningly beautiful. It is the ethereal angels singing to Polly while she speaks her earth-bound words. It fits together so well. And I had finally found it. The earth-bound disbeliever finally hearing the angels.
And thank you to Kuk91 for the “angelic version” with the sung part brought to the top of the mix (I found this later).
And I must also mention the live version where Polly explains at the start that if her lip starts to quiver the band will wave finger puppets at her so she doesn’t cry!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epRyS6wBL2A&t=6sAnyone else want to confess to finally listening to a song properly after hearing it many times?
How do we cope
PollyWith the days after a death?
Go to sleepEmpty days, nothing left
You haveNot even a funeral
No one to wait forI see shapes forming inside paintings
The Polly hearsAnimals and humans
AnotherRow upon row
VoiceWalking toward something
Waiting for something
OutsideI'm looking for an answer
The windowMe and a million others
The voicesDisbelievers
Ten thousand angelsDeserted lovers
Ten thousandDear God, you better not let me down this time
Lives that lived beforeCracks in the canvas
Look like roads
That never end