Song of the Day 4/5: The Housemartins, “Build”
This one’s for Nancy: A plaintive ballad about overdevelopment from mid-’80s British band the Housemartins. The group frequently addressed social issues because singer and lyricist Paul Heaton didn’t like writing love songs.
Clambering men in big bad boots
Dug up my den, dug up my roots.
Treated us like plasticine town
They build us up and knocked us down.
From Meccano* to Legoland,
Here they come with a brick in their hand,
Men with heads filled up with sand,
It’s build.
It’s build a house where we can stay,
Add a new bit everyday.
It’s build a road for us to cross,
Build us lots and lots and lots and lots and lots.
Whistling men in yellow vans
They came and drew us diagrams.
Showed us how it all worked out
And wrote it down in case of doubt.
Slow, slow, quick, quick, quick,
It’s wall to wall and brick to brick,
They work so fast it makes you sick,
It’s build…
Down with sticks and up with bricks,
In with boots and up with roots,
It’s in with suits and new recruits,
It’s build…
The Housemartins recorded only two albums before the members split up to pursue other projects. Heaton and drummer Dave Hemingway formed Beautiful South, while bassist Norman Cook performed as Beats International before re-inventing himself as Fatboy Slim.
*Meccano is a building toy sold as Erector in the U.S.
One of my favorites from that era. I’ve always taken the chorus to be a counterpoint, using the building metaphor to mean doing the internal building work we all need to do.
I don’t know if that is actually in the lyric or just something I project into it because I want it to have a little more depth.
If there is a secondary meaning, I took my cue from the video — it’s about the walls we build around ourselves. But I don’t know if that’s actually there either.
If it had been about a breakup it would have been a big hit, because it’s gorgeous. He’s got a great voice.