The Big Sleep

Album: Two Suns (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song features the legendary reclusive Scott Walker, formerly of The Walker Brothers.
  • After returning to her home in Brighton from New York to finish work on Two Suns, Natasha Khan (aka Bat For Lashes), penned this theatrical treatise on death. She told The Sun April 10, 2009 that the song reflected, in some way, the finish of her time in New York with her boyfriend. Khan explained: "It's like a drag queen's last ever performance but when I listened to it more subconsciously, I was seeing it as the death of all the drama and illusion in my relationship. I wanted to get over it, move back to Brighton, sort myself out. I wrote the song on piano, very classical. I started singing the low part and I thought, 'I'm just ripping off Scott Walker, this is rubbish'. So David (Kosten, her producer) and I got hold of his manager's email. I said, 'Would Scott be up for singing blah blah?' Scott wrote back asking for the song and some notes about the character he'd be. Even though he's shy and reclusive, he agreed. He was so gracious and such a sweetheart."
  • Khan told Mojo magazine April 2009 about Scott Walker's contribution: "He sang very softly for me, which is the first time he's done that in years. I felt he was very gracious in wanting to do it right. He wrote back to me saying, 'I really hope you're happy with it.' It's this sort of faceless voice in the dark, which gives it a bit of weird edginess."

Comments: 1

  • Ivy from Springfield, NeThat was creepy . . . 6/10
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