| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |
"Drumming Song" is the seventh track and fourth single from Florence and the Machine’s debut album Lungs.
The B-side is a demo version of "Falling", a track which appears only on the deluxe edition of Lungs.
Background[]
"Drumming Song" has an instrumental collaboration of drums, organ, piano, bass, violin, viola, cello and harp. James Ford, the track's producer, is credited for the bass, drums, organ and piano contributions. Ford co-wrote the song with Crispin Hunt and the song has backing vocals by Ladonna Hartley-Peters and Victoria Alkinlola.[1]
Welch elaborated on the concept of the song:
This is about when there's that electricity between you, and a boy, and it's completely unspoken. When they're standing in front of you and you can't breathe, can't think, can't do anything properly. I'm really geeky – if I like someone, I just become incapable. I remember with my first boyfriend, walking past the window of a pub, seeing he was in there and literally throwing myself on the ground and crawling on the floor because I was so scared! I feel things quite intensely, which is probably why the music is quite intense. If I really like someone, I like someone; if I'm sad, I'm sad. I was listening to a lot of hip hop and I wanted to make something that had that kind of beat to it. To me it's the most forward-thinking music around. No one else is moving forward at such pace! Again, it's really Gothic imagery – fairy tales and Edgar Allan Poe stories. I'd read a lot of Gothic horror when I was a kid.[2]
As part of the single's promotion, the band performed the song on Jools Holland with their previous single "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)". The single was also performed at numerous festivals around the UK during 2009, including Glastonbury, Brighton, T in the Park, Bestival, Reading and Electric Picnic in the Republic of Ireland.
Official versions[]
- Album version - 3:43
- iTunes Live: London Festival / 2010 - 4:41
Lyrics[]
There's a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you're around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
There's a drumming noise inside my head
That throws me to the ground
I swear that you should hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
I ran to a tower where the church bells chime
I hoped that they would clear my mind
They left a ringing in my ear
But that drum's still beating loud and clear
Louder than sirens (louder than sirens)
Louder than bells (louder than bells)
Sweeter than heaven (sweeter than haven)
And harder than hell (and harder than hell)
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat, it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder
I run to the river and dive straight in
I pray that the water will drown out the din
But as the water fills my mouth
It couldn't wash the echoes out
But as the water fills my mouth
It couldn't wash the echoes out
I swallow the sound and it swallows me whole
'Til there's nothing left inside my soul
I'm as empty as that beating drum
But the sound has just begun
As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder
There's a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you're around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
There's a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you're around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And harder than hell
As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder
Music video[]
A music video for the song was shot in the interior of Christ Church, Spitalfields, with Florence Welch and dancers. The English Baroque church, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, interpreted the overall shapes of Gothic architecture with the language of classical architecture.
Critical reception[]
"Drumming Song" received positive feedback from critics. David Balls from Digital Spy awarded the song 4 stars out of a possible 5, he stated: "A darker and more brooding offering than 'Rabbit Heart', it's a case of drum as metaphor for love as Welch describes an unadulterated and impassioned love affair. 'Louder than sirens, louder than bells, sweeter than heaven and hotter than hell,' she wails with more enough power and passion to justify all the critical acclaim."[3]
NME named the song 48th best track of 2009, saying, "In 'Drumming Song', she [Welch] created possibly one of the most intensely passionate and physically aching love songs we've ever heard."[4]
Refrences[]
- ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Florence-The-Machine-Lungs/release/1872408
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130528043442/http://www.florenceandthemachine.net/news/0-6/florence-on-lungs-part-two
- ↑ https://www.digitalspy.com/music/single-reviews/a177333/florence-and-the-machine-drumming-song/
- ↑ https://www.nme.com/list/50-best-tracks-of-2009-1384
