The Divine Comedy es un grupo de indie pop originario de Irlanda del Norte y formado en 1989. La banda está liderada por Neil Hannon, compositor, cantante, guitarrista, pianista y único miembro estable del proyecto, aunque a lo largo de los años han pasado por él una larga lista de músicos. Su música combina influencias de grupos como The Smiths y Electric Light Orchestra con la tradición crooner de Scott Walker y Jacques Brel y el pop barroco de The Beach Boys o Burt Bacharach. Asimismo, la variada instrumentación y los arreglos orquestales de sus canciones también toman como referencia la música de compositores como Ravel, Stravinsky, John Barry, Michael Nyman o Philip Glass. Las letras de Neil Hannon se caracterizan por retratar irónicamente la vida moderna y por incluir en ellas guiños a sus referentes literarios y culturales con los que aborda temáticas como el amor, el sexo o la venganza.
BECOMING MORE LIKE ALFIE
Once there was a time
When my mind lay on higher things
And once there was a time
I could find pretty words to sing
But now, well now I find
It saves time to say what you mean
I know it seems so unrefined
But it’s time to let off some steam
Oh come on!
Everybody knows that No means Yes
Just like glasses come free on the N.H.S.
But the more I look through them the more I see
I’m becoming more like Alfie
Once there was a time
When a kind word could be enough
And once there was a time
I could blindfold myself with love
But not now – now I’m resigned
To the kind of life I had reserved
For other guys less smart than I
Y’know – the kind who will always end up with the girls
And besides
Everybody knows that No means Yes
Just like glasses come free on the N.H.S.
But the more I look through them the more I see
I’m becoming more like Alfie
Oh come on!
BAD AMBASSADOR
I want to chill, I want to sit real still
I want to sleep like the dead on a bed of roses
Me and my lovely wife
We’re in the prime of life
I want to feel real, I want to free-wheel
I want to steal the show from under their noses
I want to get you off
Ain’t that enough?
I’m gonna abseil down my ivory tower
And buy myself a Jaguar
I’m a bad ambassador for that elusive place you’re searching for
I want to show you so much more
But maybe some other time
I want to play with the big boys
I want to ride with the tough guys on a Japanese motorbike
I want to hold your hand
Hey, what’s your favorite band?
I want to look like they looked
I want to shake like they shook,
I want to take what they took
I want to get you high
Don’t ask me why
It’s just something I’ve got to do
I’ll try to make it up to you
I’m a bad ambassador for that elusive place you’re searching for
I want to show you so much more
But maybe some other time
I’m not the Pope and I don’t want to be
The Archbishop of Canterbury
I’m a bad ambassador for that elusive place you’re searching for
I want to show you so much more
Yeah I could show you so much more
But I’m a bad ambassador
Well, maybe some other time
ABSENT FRIENDS
Absent friends, here’s to them
And happy days
We thought that they would never end
Here’s to absent friends
Little Jean Seberg seemed
So full of life
But in those eyes such troubled dreams
Poor little Jean
Woodbine Willie couldn’t rest until he’d
Given every bloke a final smoke before the killing
Old Woodbine Willie
Steve McQueen jumped the first one clean
But the great escape he tried to make was not to be
Maybe next time Steve
Laika flew through inky blue
‘Til Laika neared the atmosphere and Laika knew
Laika’s life was through
Oscar Wilde was a lonely child
He fought and won acceptance from the world
They smiled, they laughed, they praised
They drove poor Oscar to his grave
Absent friends, here’s to them
And happy days
We thought that they would never end
But they always end
Raise your glasses then to absent friends