Change

Album: Euphoric Heartbreak (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Change" features a spoken-word performance from lead vocalist James Allan's mother. She takes the role of a woman driving to collect her son from prison on his release day, with the part of the apprehensive son sung by James. The singer's mum was nervous about her performance, but it was James who found himself out of his depth during the sunrise recording in her Glasgow high-rise flat. "I thought we were just gonna play the characters, and that'd be it, and it would be fine, "he explained to NME. "Part of the thing that I'm saying to her is that I don't know if I can change, but I'll try and change for you. But I guess there's a lot of things I'm not that proud of in my own life. So when I was saying, 'I'm gonna change for you' I wasn't talking about prison, I was talking about that other stuff. And I didn't see that coming… That's the hardest song on the record, I think, for me."
  • Allan recalled to the Sunday Mail that despite her nerves, his mum couldn't help mothering those around her: "She was quite bossy and was telling Flood how to produce. 'Son, you're no' doing that right' she was saying to him. And she'd tell me to swap lyrics around, saying: 'That bit doesn't fit with that bit, James.'"
  • The song features a sample of Maria Callas singing "Castra Diva," which is an aria from Vincenzo Bellini's opera, Norma, that speaks of a fierce maternal love.

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