The Big Music

"The Big Music" is a song from Scottish-Irish folk rock band The Waterboys, which was released in 1984 as the lead single from their second studio album A Pagan Place. The song was written and produced by Mike Scott.

"The Big Music"
Single by The Waterboys
from the album A Pagan Place
B-side"The Earth Only Endures"
ReleasedMarch 1984[1]
LabelEnsign
Island
Songwriter(s)Mike Scott
Producer(s)Mike Scott
The Waterboys singles chronology
"December"
(1983)		 "The Big Music"
(1984)		 "Church Not Made with Hands"
(1984)

The name "Big Music" was adopted by some commentators as a description of the early Waterboys' sound, and is still used to refer to the musical style of their first three albums.[2][3]

Background

Scott wrote "The Big Music" while living at Aldridge Road Villas, Notting Hill, West London. It was recorded at Rockfield and Farmyard Studios during the Autumn of 1983.[4] The song's two lead and two rhythm guitar parts were performed by Scott on his Danelectro "Bellzouki" 12-string guitar.[5] The song features Eddi Reader on backing vocals, during the early phase of her career when she was working as a session vocalist in London.[6]

"The Big Music" was performed as part of the earliest Waterboys concerts from February 1984, but was dropped from the set in April.[7] In a summer 1984 interview with New Musical Express, Scott said of his reluctance to perform the song live: "We don't do that live. There's no way I can sing it. It's too big! I can't get my emotions round that in a live context. 'Big Music' describes a state of mind that doesn't apply most of the time. If I went on stage after a day full of epiphanies I could sing [it]. But if I can't turn it on I won't do it."[8]

The song returned as a regular feature to the setlist from October 1984,[7] and the band continued to perform it throughout 1985 and 1986.[9][10] A 1985 performance of the song at London's Town & Country Club featured backing vocals from Sinéad O'Connor in her first UK live appearance.[11] Scott frequently performed the song on the 1995–96 tour promoting his debut solo album Bring 'Em All In.[12][13]

Music video

The song's music video was directed by John Mills and shot at the Lake District in March 1984. Scott was later critical of the video in his autobiography, "The concept made me cringe - bigness, outdoors, mountains, awful clichés of the time, and not what my song was about. I knew it was gonna be bad but it was out of my hands, I couldn't control it. I told [Island Records] not to use the video, and miraculously it was mostly buried till the YouTube age."[14]

Critical reception

On its release, Charles Shaar Murray of New Musical Express considered the song "quite an epic" and added, "Here Scott recounts an experience of being carried away with such visionary passion that he and his admirable sax player almost carry the listener right along."[15] Debbi Voller of Number One described the song as a "full bodied, Big Country kind of sound".[16]

In a review of A Pagan Place, Mike Daly of The Age noted the song "fashions a spectacular Hadrian's Wall of sound around the slow, soulful melody".[17] Diana Valois of The Morning Call considered the song "joyfully proud, creating exhilarating and intoxicating rushes not unlike Springsteen's 'Night'".[18] Tom Harrison of The Province felt it "approximately describes the magnitude of the LP's eight tracks" and added "there is nothing small about the ambitions of Mike Scott".[19]

Formats
7" single
No.TitleLength
1."The Big Music"4:37
2."The Earth Only Endures"5:06
7" single (New Zealand)
No.TitleLength
1."The Big Music"4:37
2."All the Things She Gave Me"4:34
7" single (UK promo)
No.TitleLength
1."The Big Music (Radio Edit)"4:16
2."The Big Music (Full Length Version)"4:37
12" single
No.TitleLength
1."The Big Music"4:37
2."Bury My Heart"6:23
3."The Earth Only Endures"5:06
12" single (European release #2)
No.TitleLength
1."The Big Music"4:37
2."A Pagan Place"5:09
3."The Earth Only Endures"5:06

Personnel

The Big Music

Production

  • Mike Scott - producer (all tracks)
  • Ted Sharp - engineer on "The Big Music"
  • Steven W. Tayler - engineer on "The Big Music" and "The Earth Only Endures"
  • Jim Preen - engineer on "Bury My Heart"

References
  1. "Releases". The Waterboys. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  2. "The Waterboys | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  3. McGee, Alan (27 March 2008). "Time to rediscover the Waterboys". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  4. "A Pagan Place: Sleeve notes". The Waterboys. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  5. Scott, Mike (2017). Adventures of a Waterboy. Jawbone. p. 298. ISBN 978-1911036357.
  6. McNairabout, James (24 January 2003). "Eddi Reader: Some like it Scots". The Independent. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  7. "Set Lists: 1984". The Waterboys. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  8. Cook, Richard; Anderson, Peter (11 August 1984). "Scott: Yet another God-like genius?". New Musical Express. p. 6.
  9. "Set Lists: 1985". The Waterboys. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  10. "Set Lists: 1986". The Waterboys. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  11. Abrahams, Ian (2007). Strange Boat: Mike Scott and the Waterboys. S. A. F. Publishing Limited. p. 84. ISBN 978-0946719921.
  12. "Set Lists: 1995". The Waterboys. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  13. "Set Lists: 1996". The Waterboys. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  14. Scott, Mike (2017). Adventures of a Waterboy. Jawbone. p. 301. ISBN 978-1911036357.
  15. Murray, Charles Shaar (14 April 1984). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 19.
  16. Voller, Debbi (7 April 1984). "Singles". Number One. p. 33.
  17. Daly, Mike (31 January 1985). "More big music from Scott-land". The Age.
  18. Valois, Diana (5 January 1985). "Records". The Morning Call.
  19. Harrison, Tom (19 August 1984). "Rock Records". The Province.
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