# ARE GORKY'S MISERABLE BASTARDS?

I had previously thought of Gorky's as being a fairly chirpy little band, prone to the odd bit of melancholia, until I heard Gorky 5 that is, upon which I was sent scurrying back to re listen to all their older stuff and see if I could find evidence to support the idea that they are infact unhappy chappies. I'd always thought they were possibly a bit mental, what with songs like The Telescope And The Bonfire, The Man With Salt Hair and Laughing At Your Own Garden In A Blazer, and such like, but always in a very lovely kind of way. Gorky Five just seems to be sad though, but it's still sad in a nice way.
Right, here comes the technical bit- listen....

MISERABLE: wretchedly unhappy or uncomfortable
GLUM: sullen
DISMAL: causing or showing gloom; miserable, dreary
UNHAPPY: not happy, miserable, unfortunate, unsuccessful
DEPRESSION: state of extreme dejection, lowering of the spirits, sadden
(oxford english dictionary)
GEWN NI GORFFEN is a fairly quiet and gentle song, and a rule of thumb for Gorky's songs seems to be the noisier the happier, and the sleeve note for it says "a defeatist song from a grim period: let's finish before we even begin." It relies heavily upon Megan's violin which doesn't help as violins always bring to mind images of bleeding hearts and weeping. And contains the line
"now everything has had it... oooh raining."
Patio song also has a reference to rain (dreary, tear like, dismal,- your guess is as good as mine).
Let's now move onto to LUCY'S HAMPER, Mark Radcliffe's picnicking anthem for our time, which kicks off with the immortal lines
"It was the most miserable night that I have ever seen, And the rain came down like something obscene.
And we cried in our pint for no reason at all
Except that our lives was shite and we wanted so much more." A touch of bitterness towards the music industry for their lack of recognition? The tune for LH is not depressing though in the slightest, infact it's quite up beat. A lot of Gorky's songs do this, have cheery little tunes for more dismal lyrics. Belle and Sebastian do it too, but probably to a more pronounced degree.
PATIO SONG, with it's Welsh and English bit changes mood with the language. The English bit is fairly happy (0- oh isn't it a lovely day etc.) and the Welsh bit is fairly sad (or so I am assured by my aunt who translated it for me years ago when it first came out. She said It said something along the lines of "hold my hand it's raining, there's too much in the world" which certainly isn't cheery)

SOMETIMES THE FATHER IS THE SUN caused me great trouble at the time Barafundle came out as it is so sad. (Ok maybe great is a bit of an over exaggeration) I don't want Gorky's to be sad. They are too nice for it, but then who deserves unhappiness? The title would suggest thai sometimes the kid is the father which is a weighty, hideously adult responsibil ity and the chorus line of "watch the Irish sea, going out but it never takes Lme" almost makes me want to cry. ~

TEARS IN DISGUISE says "I can look, ooh,
but I can't touch
I been dreaming too much...
I tried to explain
And nothing seems sacred. My heart is broke." I think. I have this on 7" and the crackle that comes off it makes bits of it almost inaudible + I will admit I have a tendency to invent lyrics that are more depressing than they really are (see Natalie Imbruglia's wishing I Was Here which I convinced myself was Wishing I Was Dead)
And then we come to BILLY AND THE SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN, a sorry tale of suicide by a dope head in prison. I know he's only a character but would a happy mind really have come up with him? And then there is Gorky 5. Almost all of it is miserable. Just look at the titles- you've got NOT YET, HUSH THE WARMTH, THE TIDAL WAVE, FROZEN SMILE, SOFTLY, need I say more?

Right, what conclusions can be drawn from this? Hmmm.... Time to rub your chin-
1. That you could have done this yourself
2. Gorky's are contrary little buggers and they will do a
perfectly jolly number that when you listen to properly could make you cry
3. Not all quiet songs by Gorky's are glum
4. Not all loud songs by them are happy either
5. That I have no training what so ever as a psychologist and
therefore am in absolutely no position to say anything at all
and that you have probably just wasted a good three minutes of
your life reading this.

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