English Roundabout - XTC (Album: English Settlement)

Ah, so many to choose from off English Settlement. On a different day I might have highlighted the charming whimsy of "Yacht Dance", the jerky, winding tension of "Melt the Guns", or the sunny sloganeering of "Knuckle Down". But I do think "English Roundabout" really captures what makes English Settlement such a pleasant album to listen to, and perhaps even represents the best aspects of XTC's music as a whole.

The swirling confusion that is Swindon's Magic Roundabout apparently inspired XTC's "English Roundabout"
(via Google Earth Pro).

The song starts by pulling you forward by the scruff with a short, angular guitar line, bursting in before the music settles into a nervous 5/4 groove. Before long you hear dark, high-pitched cries of "Oooh, oooh" (which more than one person I know has likened to monkey noises, oddly enough), that wouldn't sound out-of-place on some more modern indie records. And then Colin Moulding's voice strides in, bouncing on a spiraling melody, controlled and expressive by turns.

For me, the rest of the song delights through its little idiosyncrasies. Listen for the slip-slide guitar burst at 2:22 and the spiky, bouncing line at 2:26. The entire song is highly textured and layered, an one close inspection one finds all kinds of little details which enrich the music without hogging the spotlight. To be able to pull off this level of sonic craftsmanship is XTC's hallmark.



It's perhaps this dense texture which keep the track from becoming too repetitive, as it loops its constituent parts with constant frenetic energy. Much like The Tragically Hip's "Daredevil", which I looked at in my last post, "English Roundabout" leaves little room to breathe or to pause. It probably isn't an accident that the ever-ascending key changes ending the song are never resolved. Instead, we drift right into album-closer "Snowman".

So we're actually never let off the English roundabout. In this the music is a perfect complement to the lyrics; apparently inspired by the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, the song evokes sentiments of confusion, stress, and incredulity toward everyday existence. Of course, it's all inflected with the clearheaded wittiness and playful irreverence of the English pub joke:

Everyone is cursing under their breath
I'm a passenger, I feel close to death
Hopeless situation
I have no doubt
Stop the madness, English roundabout