We Carry On

Album: Third (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Multi instrumentalist Geoff Barrow told the Metro how this Krautrock sounding track resurrected their recording sessions. "Even for the second album I thought DJing was dead as an art form, It ended up turning into a strange thing about technique over any kind of emotional content. I know that sounds really weird when you're talking about rubbing a record but, you know, you've gotta write what you want. When we wrote We Carry On it didn't sound like us - after that we thought there were loads of places we could go. We turned the computer off and started it up again with a different release, a freedom that a lot of the bands we're into have, and they're not all very commercial."
  • When Portishead debuted this song at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England in December 2007, it was titled "Peaches."

Comments: 1

  • Edward Pearce from Ashford, Kent, EnglandThird was my favourite album of 2008. This song and "The Rip" would both be in my Top 10 tracks of the year.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."