Telomere

Album: Curve Of The Earth (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • The first single from Curve Of The Earth, this was premiered by Mystery Jets during the November 30, 2015 episode of Steve Lamacq's BBC 6Music radio show.
  • A telomere is a region of DNA at the end of a chromosome. It protects the end of the chromosome from deteriorating or fusing with other chromosomes. Mystery Jets vocalist Blaine Harrison came up with the idea for the song after reading Patti Smith's book, Just Kids. He explained to NME: "There's this great line in there where she said 'the victories and the plights of your ancestors live through you in your blood.'. I started thinking about ancestry and I wonder if, all the people who've come before you in your bloodline, if part of them does live on in your essence."

    "Telomeres are the things that keep your DNA together. I think, in essence, what [the song is] about is that there's something in your blood that will never die, that's bigger than human life. It's some way coded into your DNA strands."
  • The chorus came five years before the verse. Harrison Blaine told the BBC: "That's not unusual. These musical ideas often appear as fragments and don't find their counterparts until months, or even years, later."

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