8. Shake It Out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbN0nX61rIs Morrissey would be proud of this couplet - "I've been a fool and I've been blind, I can never leave the past behind." What was so fantastic about 'Ceremonials' was the confidence the record had, there was no filler, no repeating past glories Florence took a different path, she started writing torch songs that Edith Piaf have killed to sing. So what have we got here? Well it's definitely about the pain that comes with fame, but there's none of the utter misery that came with Nirvana's 'In Utero' which was literally the sound of a band at the end of its tether. This song follows the 'Keep calm and carry on' motif. This is the sound of an artist who has made her living from articulating that life isn't always sweet, and with the attendant pressures that fame brings, she just shrugs it off, knowing she's been dealt an opportunity to do what she's always wanted to. And her rendition of it on the X-Factor provided one of the weirdest prime time TV moments ever seek it out.
Ed Nash
Contributor
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash
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