Euphoria, Take My Hand

Album: Euphoric Heartbreak (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is the lead single from the Glasgow rock band Glasvegas's second album, Euphoric Heartbreak. It was recorded in Los Angeles under producer Flood (Smashing Pumpkins, U2). The official record title contains three forward and three backward slashes, which frontman James Allan claims represent, "the ascent, the crest of a wave, and then the crash."
  • The song was inspired by an experience when James Allan and his guitarist cousin Rab Allan were in Santa Monica staying at the beach house. James recalled to the Sunday Mail: "One night when we were looking out over the sea, the sun looked so bright reflecting off the water it was like fireworks. It seemed to dance with the music in my head."
  • James described "Euphoria" to the NME as a song about choices, "and opposites. The crossroads, man, it's the choices. Vincent Van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows. The past, man, and the choices you have."

    Van Gogh's famous Wheatfield with Crows painting shows a large field of wheat against a dark forbidding sky, with crows circle menacingly overhead. The observer is faced with the indecision of three separate paths in the foreground.
  • The Euphoric Heartbreak album sleeve features an image of Marilyn Monroe shot during the filming of her last movie, the never-finished screwball comedy Something's Got To Give. Photographer George Barris took the shot on a Santa Monica beach close to where Glasvegas wrote the album. In a freaky moment of serendipity, James Allan had expressed his fondness for the picture before he found out where it had been taken. The sleeve is meant to show him looking out from the house towards Marilyn on the beach.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Francesca Battistelli

Francesca BattistelliSongwriter Interviews

The 2011 Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards isn't your typical gospel diva, and she thinks that's a good thing.

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New Words

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New WordsSong Writing

Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.

Taylor Dayne

Taylor DayneSongwriter Interviews

Taylor talks about "The Machine" - the hits, the videos and Clive Davis.

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

Charlie Benante of Anthrax

Charlie Benante of AnthraxSongwriter Interviews

The drummer for Anthrax is also a key songwriter. He explains how the group puts their songs together and tells the stories behind some of their classics.