Song 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty...’Can’t Shape Up’ – The Wonderstuff.
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| The Wonderstuff - HUP - their second album |
Feeling guilty is a part of being human. Life’s a complicated business and even when you do what you’re sure is the right thing you can still end up feeling for the people on the wrong end of your decision. It’s related to the ability to feel empathy towards people and so it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Equally, guilt can be a crippling emotion. It can paralyse you and prevent you from moving forward. Being able to keep a sense of proportion and a sense of reality is important. The world does not revolve around your actions. You cannot move through the world without creating ripples, deliberately or otherwise and sometimes these ripples will have an impact on others. You have to be able to forgive yourself when this inevitably happens.
I don’t feel guilty about much. Most of my stupid actions have affected me more than anyone else, which is a lucky position to be in. But I have to pick a song and so I’ve chosen this. It reminds me of the first girl I ever kissed, my first girlfriend I suppose. She was really cool, too cool for me really. I was young and young for my age. I was a bit freaked out by all these new feelings. I felt great when I saw her, felt bad when she wasn’t around and didn’t like that someone else could dictate how I felt. And rather than talk about it, which was far too mature a thing for me to do, I stopped seeing her, retreated back onto safer ground. I didn’t speak to her, write or phone. I don’t think I understood just how badly I’d behaved until years later and didn’t understand how much it must have upset her until I was dumped for the first time. I still feel bad about this and while there are more useful bits of advice I could give to my younger self, I wish I could tell him to talk about it with her and then if I wasn’t happy to behave in a decent way. So this is something I still feel guilty about. Is it too late to apologise I wonder? It seems a long time ago but for what it’s worth I am sorry. I think that in the end my timidity and cowardice cost me more than it did her. How different things might have been if I’d have grown up a bit faster. For all my cleverness I do miss the point far too often. This has turned into a confession! Bless me internet for I have sinned.
The Wonder Stuff - Can't Shape Up - Live 2010
Here’s the best version of this song that I can find. It’s not great – sorry about that. The lyrics aren’t particularly relevant, but it was a band we both loved and I certainly felt like I’d run away from someone. It is a great song, have a listen on Spotify.
The Wonder Stuff - It's yer money I'm after baby
The Wonderstuff! They were a terrific band, at least for the first three albums. Their hits are probably their worse records, their cover of ‘Dizzy’ being fairly dull and hugely overplayed at indie discos and ‘Size of a Cow’ also being a little silly. Have a listen to ‘The Eight Legged Groove Machine’ and ‘Hup’ to hear them at their best. They’re full of gloriously poppy and catchy snarky guitar songs that would have seen them become a huge band if they’d appeared 10 years later. Hup has some of their best songwriting on it, with great melodies and lyrics. Here’s ‘It’s Yer Money I’m After Baby’ and the countryesque ‘Unfaithful’ from Hup. You can hear how much they developed from the pure power-pop of ‘The Eight Legged Grove Machine’.
The Wonder Stuff - Unfaithful
The Wonderstuff, make their acquaintance or renew it!
David Millington
28th April 2011
Nottingham
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