The Starting Line

Album: Strangeland (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Tim Rice-Oxley started this song in the back of the band's touring bus on a boiling hot day in Boston in the summer of 2010. He explained: "It was right after the show, and I was first on the bus so I cracked open a cold beer and picked up the guitar, and this spilled out straight away. That's my idea of heaven. We were in Lincoln, Nebraska a couple of days later and everyone had gone off to get some rest in the hotel. The tour bus was parked up outside for the day so I thought I would go on there and be able record the piano and vocal for the demo without disturbing anyone. Anyway I was singing away merrily when I felt the bus pull away and before I knew it I was heading out of town - I ended up doing most of the demo outside a Walgreens in the back-end of nowhere. I'm not sure the bus driver ever realised I was on board."
  • Lyrically, the song considers the ease with which the idealistic youth can turn a bad situation around. "Forget the ghosts that make you old before your time," exhorts vocalist Tom Chaplin. "I like the idea of having to almost make a physical effort to get back on track sometimes," explained Rice-Oxley, "if you get really low or things just aren't going right. It's a very sympathetic song, and I think it a good articulation of the human sympathy that is a big part of what ties the album together."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.