Iceblink Luck by Cocteau Twins

Album: Heaven Or Las Vegas (1990)

Charted: 38

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An uncharacteristically upbeat Cocteau Twins song, "Iceblink Luck" finds lead singer Elizabeth Fraser in a joyful mood. The lyrics are characteristically muddled (is it a "walnut safe" or a "wall, not safe"?), but there seem to be some references to motherhood: in 1989 she and her bandmate Robin Guthrie had a daughter, Lucy Belle.
The title never appears in the lyric. An iceblink is a reflection of light off of large masses of ice, which can cause optical illusions in the sky.
"Iceblink Luck" was the first Cocteau Twins single released in the United States, and their first to break the UK Singles Chart's Top 40. The song was much more accessible for the masses than the Twins' previous work, with Elizabeth Fraser exerting considerably more restraint over her voice and backing music far more hooky than the dream-smoke-sound that the band had previously surrounded itself with.

Writing in Q in 1990, Martin Aston said it "proves how easily the Cocteaus have drifted closer to the mainstream without compromising an iota of what makes them so special."
The band released a music video or the song. Directed by Howard Greenhalgh, it's a vaguely psychedelic clip with odd-angled shots, haze, and blurred light trails, creating a suitably surreal visual platform for a band frequently labeled "dream pop."
Fans of the Cocteau Twins have been singing about the "magic of cherry cola" for years, but the lyric is actually "the march of Jericho" ("that will burn this whole madhouse down"). There are many towns and cities called Jericho throughout the world, but one of the most famous is located in the Palestinian territories near the Jordan River. In the Bible's Book of Joshua (6:1-27), the Israelites are preparing to invade the city by marching around its walls and blowing trumpets as per God's command. On the seventh day, the blasts send the barriers tumbling and the army invades, burning the city to the ground. We don't know if the Cocteau Twins had the biblical tale in mind when they wrote the song, but the lyric lines up with the chapter's fiery conclusion.

Comments: 2

Gez from EdinburghPearly-Dewdrops Drops reached UK top 40 in 1984
Don Mike from Los AngelesLiz never wrote lyrics to fit into typical lines and stanzas, so the second (and the final) verse always seemed more drawn out to me, reading as “You, yourself, and your father don’t know so, but in your own ways you’re really both bone setters. Thank you for mending me, babies.”

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