Happiness

Album: Peace At Last (1996)
Charted: 88
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Songfacts®:

  • The lead single from The Blue Nile's third album Peace At Last, "Happiness" opens with the line, "Now that I've found peace at last. Tell me Jesus, will it last?," one of several references to God or Jesus on the disc. Frontman Paul Buchanan explained to Mojo magazine July 1996: "I see those as an adult readdressing the God or the Jesus that he was familiar with as a child - which, for me, was a combination of a little plastic statue I had in my room and my understanding of my relationship with that God, who was like an elder brother - back when you still believe in the unconditional nature of that love."
  • The Blue Nile took their time between albums: Following their 1984 debut, A Walk Across The Rooftops, they didn't release their next album, Hats, until 1989, and then their third, Peace At Last, didn't appear until 1996. The Glasgow three-piece built a solid (and very patient) following in the UK, and in the early '90s, they seemed poised to make an impact in America; Rickie Lee Jones dueted with them, and Buchanan dated the actress Rosanna Arquette. But the media-shy group wasn't able to grow their small cult following there into anything substantial, in part because they were so stingy with album releases.

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