WILL YOU SEE ME IN THE END?

Continuing with my rainy day Monday playlist theme, I find myself warming up by a semi-crackling log fire, listening to another low-key favourite track from the 00s that feels like the pop music equivalent of a snifter of brandy. Keane's "Hamburg Song" (2006) has always held a soft spot in my heart, as it conveys a rare atmosphere of reflective sadness that feels humble, genuine, and exquisitely vulnerable. It begins with the sound of a plaintive pump organ, instantly grounding its sincere emotional intention with an almost old-fashioned hymnal quality, before the first words are sung by the band's frontman, Tom Chaplin.

I don't want to be adored
Don't want to be first in line
Or make myself heard
I'd like to bring a little light
To shine a light on your life
To make you feel loved

The song was intended to reflect tensions between childhood friends and band members Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley as they toured Hamburg, Germany, following the success of their first album Hopes and Fears. I can well imagine there was some much needed catharsis for both of them in expressing complex feelings through song, especially when ego clashes are common, as the stakes of fame and fortune rise with increasing success.

Of course, I couldn't care less about their internal squabbles, but whatever their conflict represented at the time, it produced a song of precious value that captures an "end of day" feeling, when it's time to put past concerns to bed.

And on that note (or notes), goodnight!