Could we please be objective cause the other POLLS are queuing up behind us - Artist Poll #94 - Belle & Sebastian - RESULTS

I've no idea what comment he's making about gender or sexuality in this song. Or really anything about what he's getting out apart from wanting a photo of Jenny.

love this song, also fell off of my ballot

I Know Where the Summer Goes is too low! Delicious melancholy.

the most obvious reading of 'photo jenny' to me is that it's from the perspective of a trans woman but it's not the clearest narrative

it's 1995, the girls are just friends

I love this one.

Didn't make my 30 but the way he sings "Get some fish and chips / La la la la la / What's on the box? 'Man about the house' with Paula Wilcox" is hard to beat.

― Alba, Thursday, 13 December 2018 14:50 (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think out of all their songs this is the B&S moment that pops into my head most frequently.

the girls are holding hands
don't be a fool
it's 1995, the girls are just friends

b&s, my favorite weirdly religious but also weirdly super gay band

glad people voted for "ease your feet into the sea" which fell off the edge of my ballot

It was my number one.

Didn't make my 30 but the way he sings "Get some fish and chips / La la la la la / What's on the box? 'Man about the house' with Paula Wilcox" is hard to beat

Agreed.

it feels a little weird that "straight to the point of boring" man stuart murdoch wrote so many songs with very queer narratives, but i guess i appreciate it?

I suppose it fits in with his self-styled ME origin story, but so much of his songwriter self is vicarious - the effete voyeur too afraid to touch the ground lives through the experiences of others.

dress up in you was my #6. the least life pursuit-y track on life pursuit.

i had it at #8. a little shocked at how low it is. i love the life pursuit, but this song kind of towers over the rest of the album.

loving the images! voted for these so far, of which the first and last two are, as they say, too low:

If You Find Yourself Caught in Love
The Blues Are Still Blue
I Fought in a War
I Know Where the Summer Goes
Beautiful
Dress Up in You

xps That's such a bland point. I guess it's a rejoinder to folk who I've heard say his whole schtick is appropriative and sinister.

I thought it was well put.

You're a star now / I am fixing people's nails

And you've suddenly made me think of Stuart Murdoch in this era as a Harvey Darger like figure with his Story of the Vivian Girls.

"Dress Up In You" is one of their most convincing character studies.

have had 2 show up, Is it wicked not to care and I know where the summer goes.
somewhat surprised by the former.

Henry Darger, I mean!

Not Harvey Danger?

i've got a boyfriend
i've got the feeling that he's seeing someone else
he always had a thing for you as well

That's what was infecting it in my brain, Vinnie!

"I am sick and I'm not well"

This lip dub brought "The Blues are Still Blue" to my attention and ensured a spot on my ballot. Wonder if the staff or the students chose the song? Laundry as a metaphor for romantic befuddlement works for me on it's own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB-1BFWWkcU

I wonder if the Darger thing does hit home in some ways. As in the music is always about the outside, yet Murdoch was always too self-aware to truly be outside anything.

Didn't manage to vote for "Photo Jenny," how could I not have? Expect i'm gonna have this feeling a lot.

i'm waking up to us this poll

so far i voted for...

i don’t love anyone
i want the world to stop
i fought in a war

I like I Fought in a War a lot but it does have one fatal flaw: the implausible concept of Stuart Murdoch having fought in a war.

so otm. also, let me say without evidence that i fought in a war led directly to the decemberists

"Photo Jenny" was my #5. I'm amazed people are confused by the subject matter! But I agree with Chinaski's reading as SM's allegory for defeating ME (going out of the house) as coming out as trans.

Just catching up. My 3 was I Don't Love Anyone. I thought that would be much, much higher.

that lip dub made me happy, thanks bendy

yes that was nice

Jonathan David is too low!!!

the one on this list so far that I most regret not voting for is I Didn't See It Coming

My overall thoughts after a deep Belle and Sebastian immersion for this poll: their faster ones are much better than their slow ones.

funny, I was thinking about that too, but my feeling ultimately leaned to the opposite

obv a lot of exceptions on both sides

actually I guess it's more complicated than that for me, maybe it's that I'm attracted to their sadder / more reflective songs, fast or slow

One question about the Photo Jenny video from 1999 Bowlie Weekender posted upthread, Isobel is playing bass, what is Stuart David doing?

Think he was already a part-time member by then, though he didn't officially leave until a year or two later

I think he's sitting down playing acoustic guitar. You can see it at about the one minute mark. XP

Ugh so annoyed w/myself for not getting a ballot in, would have voted for the majority of songs starting with I that have placed so far.

My overall thoughts after a deep Belle and Sebastian immersion for this poll: their faster ones are much better than their slow ones.

― kornrulez6969

What do you listen to more often, upbeat or slow songs?

or to put it another way, do your most favorite songs tend to be upbeat or slow?

Fast, but it depends on the band. There are plenty of slow Belle and Sebastian songs that I love but the fast ones are the ones I gravitate to most.

not a huge fan of post-'dear catastrophe waitress,' but i'm still in grieving for how low some of my (few) more-recent favorites placed! 'dress up in you,' 'i want the world to stop,' and 'didn't see it coming' are all gorgeous!

DCW didn’t rate on my albums ballot, but The Life Pursuit did.

The Bolan-esque one up there ^^^ reminded me why I find The Life Pursuit such a slog.

I've voted for Beautiful, Ease your Feet into the Sea, I didn't see it coming, and I want the world to stop, so I feel like a good boy so far. I must say I sadly missed Dress up in you.

I voted for Photo Jenny and Beautiful (which I somehow put at #5!). Wish I could have found room for Ease your Feet into the Sea and Jonathan David.