St. Andrews

Album: Street Gospels (2007)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this upbeat breakup tune, reggae rockers Bedouin Soundclash evoke the jubilant feeling of a New Orleans second-line parade, where revelers follow the procession of a brass band - only the setting is relocated to Kensington Market, a neighborhood in the group's native Toronto, Canada. The song takes it name from a church and street in the area.

    "'St. Andrews' was about living in Kensington Market in Toronto at a time in my life when I was at the end of a relationship," lead singer Jay Malinowski told Songfacts in 2022. "I had the idea generally of it being a celebratory... almost New Orleans second-line vibe to it. And the video has that involved in it - a celebratory aspect to the passing of an era in my life."
  • This opens with a spoken-word verse by Vern Buckley aka Vernon Maytone of the Jamaican reggae duo The Maytones. Bedouin Soundclash covered the group's 1978 tune "Money Worries" on their previous album, Sounding A Mosaic, which also included Buckley as a guest performer.
  • This features guest vocals from Wade McNeil, the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire.
  • Chaos ensues in the mostly black-and-white music video when Malinowski takes a break from performing at the pub to flirt with a girl who's already taken. When her jealous boyfriend confronts the singer, Malinowski throws a punch and incites an all-out brawl with the rest of the crowd. The frenzy leads to him getting knocked out and having a colorful dream about his own funeral procession.
  • Street Gospels is Bedouin Soundclash's third album. Like their previous release, Sounding A Mosaic, it was produced by Darryl Jenifer, the bass guitarist for the hardcore punk band Bad Brains, and the rap-rock group The White Mandigos.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Subversive Songs Used To Sell

Subversive Songs Used To SellSong Writing

Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

90s Metal

90s MetalFact or Fiction

Test your metal - Priest, Maiden, and Beavis and Butt-head show up in this one.

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.