Last Three Months Theme - Entry Three B: She Was Into S&M and Bible Study, Not Everyone's Cup of Tea
6. Belle and Sebastian
The first time I heard Belle and Sebastian it was on a mixtape (with a drawing of a cat on it) given to me on a first date – the ultimate form of hipster flirting, amiright? The track the guy included was “If You’re Feeling Sinister” from the album with the same name. Upon first listen, I didn’t like it at all. It was not something I would have expected the dude to include – he was punkish in appearance, adorned in denim vests with Black Flag patches and wore a large, full, angry, red beard. “What is this,” I remember asking myself. “Wistful pop is definitely not my thing.” By the first chorus, during which are sung the words “if you are feeling sinister go off and see a minister,” I skipped the track. “Oh great,” I thought. “He’s a bible thumper.”
I abandoned the mixtape, having found only one track out of twenty listenable. Soon after, I stopped seeing the guy, for reasons apart from having received an underwhelming mixtape, and I shoved the cd into my case and it was more or less forgotten about. Aside from this, all I knew of Belle and Sebastian was the slight controversy regarding their relationship with Aidan Moffat and their use of "arab strap" in both a song title and album name. I fuc
king love Arab Strap and that hairy troll of a man, so I was a bit turned off from the start.
A handful of months ago, however, I attended an album-trade party hosted by a good friend, and she tried to trade me Belle and Sebastian’s
The Life Pursuit for my copy of
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. I refused, remarking that Belle and Sebastian weren’t my style. “Really?” she asked. “I would have guessed they were right up your alley.” I told her about my limited exposure to them and she insisted I try listening again – she didn’t make me give up my Flaming Lips album, instead we ended up trading a Simon and Garfunkel for a Tom Waits. As I was leaving the party, she looked at me very seriously and said “Listen, give
Life Pursuit a shot. If I could embody a track it would be ‘Dress Up In You.’ Seriously, the album is great.” I believed her, she had never steered me wrong musically.
Upon my arrival home I spotify-ed the track and was immediately enveloped in the beauty of it. The subtlety of the bass line, the perfect use of horns, the attention-grabbing harmonies, the relatable and honest lyrics – I was enamored. It became the anthem I sang to myself in memory of friends I’ve had in years past who, from early ages, ensured their life success simply in their essences. There are people who you just know will make it – no matter which road they take, they’ll end up somewhere that works for them and is somehow always perfect and enviable. I’ve never felt like that, I’ve never been like that. I’m just not that person, but I have a fondness for finding those that fit the description and doing what I can to ensure they realize their own potential.
I always loved you
You always had a lot of style
I'd hate to see you on the pile
Of “nearly-made-its”
You've got the essence, dear
If I could have a second skin
I'd probably dress up in you.
After drowning myself in
The Life Pursuit I pulled out the old mixtape with the drawing of a cat on it and gave it a second chance. It was then that I realized I had missed the second half of the chorus of “If You’re Feeling Sinister” –
But if you are feeling sinister
Go off and see a minister
He'll try in vain to take away the pain of being a hopeless unbeliever
- and realized I had entirely missed the point of the song, and entirely missed out on such a great band for all of those months. Wistful pop is absolutely my thing. I was an as
shole for thinking I was above it. Lesson learned, I suppose.