Roving Jewel

Album: Butterfly House (2010)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was kick-started by vocalist James Skelly mistaking his brother Ian's demo lyric for "I used to call 'at' the Roving Jewel" rather than "I used to call 'her' the Roving Jewel." The misunderstanding changed James's train of thought and, within minutes, he'd come up with a totally new narrative for the song. "It's about this fella who was trying to write the ultimate piece of literature about his life," explained James to Spinner UK.
    "He goes to this place to write it but ends up going insane trying to write, so decides to give up art in the end because he realises he can't write about a life if he's not living one. It's like The Shining or something. Sometimes you just have to put whatever it is down and live your life."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!

Intentionally Atrocious

Intentionally AtrociousSong Writing

A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal.

Church Lyrics

Church LyricsMusic Quiz

Here is the church, here is the steeple - see if you can identify these lyrics that reference church.

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?

Which Restaurants Are Most Mentioned In Song Lyrics?Song Writing

Katy Perry mentions McDonald's, Beyoncé calls out Red Lobster, and Supertramp shouts out Taco Bell - we found the 10 restaurants most often mentioned in songs.

Corey Hart

Corey HartSongwriter Interviews

The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.