"Cricket Wife" initial commentary

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geowayne
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"Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#1 Post by geowayne »

For those of you who are interested, I've taken my first crack at interpreting this complex, challenging new PSB song. You can read what I have to say about it on my "Commentary" website, specifically at http://www.geowayne.com/newDesign/other/cricketwife.htm. SPOILER ALERT! If you'd rather not read anything about it before you've received your copy and can hear it for yourself, then please DON'T click on that link!

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Drico One
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#2 Post by Drico One »

Very plausible.

Certainly a more believable take than Theresa May recounting the story of her doomed premiership. Still, at least it's better than Legacy.

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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#3 Post by y3potential »

Drico One wrote: Thu 06 May 2021, 8:55 pm Very plausible.

Certainly a more believable take than Theresa May recounting the story of her doomed premiership. Still, at least it's better than Legacy.

Drico.

..but is it better than Winner?
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#4 Post by TallThinMan »

What is the other track on the CD?
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#5 Post by leesmapman »

West End girls - lockdown version

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jules
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#6 Post by jules »

Not better than Legacy but different.

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Patrick Bateman
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#7 Post by Patrick Bateman »

geowayne is the John Arlott of PSB commentary.

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Ghost within this house
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#8 Post by Ghost within this house »

Geowayne is the CMJ of PSB commentary, with occasional Arlottesque flourishes.

I think it's a very plausible reading of the lyrics. Interesting that Neil eschewed the opportunity to use the common phrase 'cricket widow' - referring to a wife whose husband is so immersed in cricket that she may as well be widowed.

His avoidance of this phrase is evidence of the sentimentality of where the protagoniste's thoughts come to rest, on the cherished memory of her cricket wife days - the thwack of leather upon willow...

Do I sense a sort of English Pastoral / elegium pro Britannia coming from the boys?

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PS. My wife is just such a widow...
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Dog
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#9 Post by Dog »

geowayne wrote:For those of you who are interested, I've taken my first crack at interpreting this complex, challenging new PSB song. You can read what I have to say about it on my "Commentary" website, specifically at http://www.geowayne.com/newDesign/other/cricketwife.htm. SPOILER ALERT! If you'd rather not read anything about it before you've received your copy and can hear it for yourself, then please DON'T click on that link!
Makes great sense Wayne, thanks for posting.

A couple of thoughts. There’s a lot of blurring of time here: Present tense is future past / This is then and then is now / And that was that and is forever. This could be about dementia, but also the notion also explored in Leaving that the dead remain alive in memory and thoughts.

If Neil is playing with time in order to write meaningfully about death and memory, it then makes sense for his mother (assuming it is about her) to be able to fly in her imagination to collect his father from the past. So she’s not young again, but rather looking down and observing a memory. “Not such a bad innings” is a metaphor for his death... “Her soul demands him... They’re off together.” The romantic idea that she had died but then came back for him so they could be together forever in death and in memory.
Woof.

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Dog
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#10 Post by Dog »

Memory of the future is another example of where Neil plays with time in a similar way.
Woof.

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Gabby
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#11 Post by Gabby »

Wayne's interpretation, if correct, makes this one of most devastatingly sad songs the Boys have ever done, in this listeners opinion.

Not a bad thing I might add, but I nearly cried just reading his interpretation. I haven't even heard it yet.

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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#12 Post by SkeletonTiger »

I’m amazed. “And where am I?” God. Perfection. I know opinions are mixed but I love orchestral music and I love this song. The woodwinds add an intense sense of urgency. I’m not disappointed at all!!

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geowayne
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#13 Post by geowayne »

Dog wrote: Thu 06 May 2021, 11:29 pmIf Neil is playing with time in order to write meaningfully about death and memory, it then makes sense for his mother (assuming it is about her) to be able to fly in her imagination to collect his father from the past. So she’s not young again, but rather looking down and observing a memory. “Not such a bad innings” is a metaphor for his death... “Her soul demands him... They’re off together.” The romantic idea that she had died but then came back for him so they could be together forever in death and in memory.
That's a really good alternate interpretation! I'll make note of it in my commentary on my website. I'm crediting you there as "Dog," but if you want me to cite you by a different name and/or add you to my Thank You page, please send me a private message here so that I'll know for sure that it's really you contacting me about it. Thanks so much!

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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#14 Post by Andie »

My order from the OS is on its way, but I've read your commentary & also read the lyrics on another thread. Reading the lyrics, it immediately made me think of dementia.
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Re: "Cricket Wife" initial commentary

#15 Post by tottenhammattspurs »

It’s sounds like something Divine Comedy would do.
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