The Big Music

Scott wrote "The Big Music" while living at Aldridge Road Villas, Notting Hill, West London.{{cite web|url=https://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/waterboys-discs.php?releaseid=9&releasepageid=39|title=A Pagan Place: Sleeve notes|website=The Waterboys|access-date=27 August 2020}} In a 1984 interview with New Musical Express, Scott said of the song, "It's really difficult to describe something that there's no words for. It's not about music, it's more like a religious thing. And it's a very serious song."{{cite magazine|last=Du Noyer|first=Paul|date=21 April 1984|title=Waterboys making it big|magazine=New Musical Express|page=18}} He added in a 1985 interview with the magazine, "There are numerous lines in that song that illustrate in depth what the Big Music is and what I'm meaning. I worked hard on that lyric over a considerable period of time to say exactly what I intended."{{cite magazine|last=Quantick|first=David|date=5 October 1985|title=Big sound authority|magazine=New Musical Express|page=24}}

"The Big Music" was recorded at Rockfield and Farmyard Studios during the Autumn of 1983. The song's two lead and two rhythm guitar parts were performed by Scott on his Danelectro "Bellzouki" 12-string guitar.{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Mike|title=Adventures of a Waterboy|year=2017|publisher=Jawbone|isbn=978-1911036357|page=298}} The song features Eddi Reader on backing vocals, during the early phase of her career when she was working as a session vocalist in London.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/eddi-reader-some-like-it-scots-125767.html|title=Eddi Reader: Some like it Scots|last=McNairabout|first=James|website=The Independent|date=24 January 2003|access-date=27 August 2020}}

In 2015, Scott recalled of the vision for the song's recording, "Most of the songs I did at that time I produced myself like 'The Big Music'. I had written that and I had imagined all the brass lines and backing vocals. I figured it all in my head first and then just went in the studio and made it."{{cite web|url=https://www.sodajerker.com/episode-74-mike-scott/ |title=Episode 74 - Mike Scott |last1=Barber |first1=Simon |last2=O'Connor |first2=Brian |publisher=Sodajerker |date=2015 |access-date=25 October 2021}}

The song's music video was directed by John Mills and shot at the Lake District in March 1984. Scott was later critical of the video in his autobiography, "The concept made me cringe - bigness, outdoors, mountains, awful clichés of the time, and not what my song was about. I knew it was gonna be bad but it was out of my hands, I couldn't control it. I told [Island Records] not to use the video, and miraculously it was mostly buried till the YouTube age."{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Mike|title=Adventures of a Waterboy|year=2017|publisher=Jawbone|isbn=978-1911036357|page=301}}

On its release, Charles Shaar Murray of NME considered "The Big Music" "quite an epic" and added, "Here Scott recounts an experience of being carried away with such visionary passion that he and his admirable sax player almost carry the listener right along."{{cite magazine |last=Murray |first=Charles Shaar |title=Singles |magazine=New Musical Express |date=14 April 1984 |page=19 |issn=0028-6362}} Debbi Voller of Number One described it as a "full bodied, Big Country kind of sound".{{cite magazine |last=Voller |first=Debbi |title=Singles |magazine=Number One |date=7 April 1984 |page=33}} Jerry Smith of Music Week wrote, "A big production for this slow, bluesy song with a wonderful sax line and a tortured vocal, backed up with a slow building horn section." He considered the song to be "in a similar vein" to Wah!'s 1982 hit "The Story of the Blues" and felt "with enough exposure it could be as big a hit".{{cite magazine |last=Smith |first=Jerry |title=Singles |magazine=Music Week |date=7 April 1984 |page=16 |issn=0265-1548}} Dave Henderson of Sounds praised it as "rousing stuff" and noted the "fantastically enormous sound" which he felt sounded like "at least 300 people playing on it".{{cite magazine |last=Henderson |first=Dave |title=Singles |magazine=Sounds |date=7 April 1984 |page=24 |issn=0144-5774}} The Torquay Herald Express called it "great stuff".{{cite news |last2=Anderson |first2=Peter |last1=Cox |first1=Kenneth |title=Pick of the Singles |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001329/19840407/008/0008 |newspaper=Torquay Herald Express |date=7 April 1984 |page=8 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 June 2024}}

In a review of A Pagan Place, Mike Daly of The Age noted the song "fashions a spectacular Hadrian's Wall of sound around the slow, soulful melody".{{cite news |last=Daly |first=Mike |title=More big music from Scott-land |newspaper=The Age |date=31 January 1985}} Diana Valois of The Morning Call considered it "joyfully proud, creating exhilarating and intoxicating rushes not unlike Springsteen's 'Night'".{{cite news |last=Valois |first=Diana |title=Records |newspaper=The Morning Call |date=5 January 1985}} Tom Harrison of The Province felt it "approximately describes the magnitude of the LP's eight tracks" and added "there is nothing small about the ambitions of Mike Scott".{{cite news |last=Harrison |first=Tom |title=Rock Records |newspaper=The Province |date=19 August 1984}} In a 2017 retrospective on the "best of Mike Scott", Tom Doyle of Q included "The Big Music" as one of ten tracks on the list and described it as a "yearning rocker".{{cite magazine |last=Doyle |first=Tom |date=October 2017 |title=Maverick: Mike Scott |magazine=Q |pages=86–87}}

"The Big Music" was performed as part of the earliest Waterboys concerts from February 1984, but was dropped from the set in April.{{cite web|url=https://mikescottwaterboys.com/waterboys-archive.php?type=setlist§ion=2|title=Set Lists: 1984|website=The Waterboys|access-date=27 August 2020}} In a summer 1984 interview with New Musical Express, Scott said of his reluctance to perform the song live, "We don't do that live. There's no way I can sing it. It's too big! I can't get my emotions round that in a live context. 'Big Music' describes a state of mind that doesn't apply most of the time. If I went on stage after a day full of epiphanies I could sing [it]. But if I can't turn it on I won't do it."{{cite magazine|last1=Cook|first1=Richard|last2=Anderson|first2=Peter|date=11 August 1984|title=Scott: Yet another God-like genius?|magazine=New Musical Express|page=6}}

The song returned as a regular feature to the setlist from October 1984, and the band continued to perform it throughout 1985 and 1986.{{cite web|url=https://mikescottwaterboys.com/waterboys-archive.php?type=setlist§ion=3|title=Set Lists: 1985|website=The Waterboys|access-date=27 August 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://mikescottwaterboys.com/waterboys-archive.php?type=setlist§ion=4|title=Set Lists: 1986|website=The Waterboys|access-date=27 August 2020}} A 1985 performance of the song at London's Town & Country Club featured backing vocals from Sinéad O'Connor in her first UK live appearance.{{cite book|last=Abrahams|first=Ian|title=Strange Boat: Mike Scott and the Waterboys|year=2007|publisher=S. A. F. Publishing Limited|isbn=978-0946719921|page=84}} Scott frequently performed the song on the 1995–96 tour promoting his debut solo album Bring 'Em All In.{{cite web|url=https://mikescottwaterboys.com/waterboys-archive.php?type=setlist§ion=12|title=Set Lists: 1995|website=The Waterboys|access-date=27 August 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://mikescottwaterboys.com/waterboys-archive.php?type=setlist§ion=13|title=Set Lists: 1996|website=The Waterboys|access-date=27 August 2020}}

{{tracklist

| headline = 7" single

| title1 = The Big Music

| length1 = 4:37

| title2 = The Earth Only Endures

| length2 = 5:06

}}

{{tracklist

| headline = 7" single (New Zealand)

| title1 = The Big Music

| length1 = 4:37

| title2 = All the Things She Gave Me

| length2 = 4:34

}}

{{tracklist

| headline = 7" single (UK promo)

| title1 = The Big Music (Radio Edit)

| length1 = 4:16

| title2 = The Big Music (Full Length Version)

| length2 = 4:37

}}

{{tracklist

| headline = 12" single

| title1 = The Big Music

| length1 = 4:37

| title2 = Bury My Heart

| length2 = 6:23

| title3 = The Earth Only Endures

| length3 = 5:06

}}

{{tracklist

| headline = 12" single (European release #2)

| title1 = The Big Music

| length1 = 4:37

| title2 = A Pagan Place

| length2 = 5:09

| title3 = The Earth Only Endures

| length3 = 5:06

}}

The Waterboys

• Mike Scott – vocals, guitar
• Eddi Reader – backing vocals
• Karl Wallinger – piano
• Anthony Thistlethwaite – saxophone, bass
• Roddy Lorimer – trumpet
• Kevin Wilkinson – drums

Production

• Mike Scott – producer (all tracks)
• Ted Sharp – engineer on "The Big Music"
• Steven W. Tayler – engineer on "The Big Music" and "The Earth Only Endures"
• Jim Preen – engineer on "Bury My Heart"

{{Reflist}}

{{The Waterboys}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Music, The}}

Category:The Waterboys songs

Category:1984 songs

Category:1984 singles

Category:Songs written by Mike Scott (musician)

Category:Song recordings produced by Mike Scott (musician)

Category:Ensign Records singles

Category:Island Records singles