New song Difficult Child: hear it & read Tim's description
25 Jul 2012
Keane's new single - Sovereign Light Café - is out this week. It features a brand new B-side, Difficult Child, which you can get from iTunes here or from Island Tunes here. We asked Tim to tell us a bit more about the song, which you can preview above...
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I like the fact that the lyrics of this song are slightly schizophrenic. Or maybe 'conflicted' would be a kinder way to put it. They're very male.
A slightly geeky factette is that with the line "I thought that you'd be waiting like a soldier's queen", I was thinking of the story of Odysseus and Penelope.
We recorded a lot of this in hotel rooms on our recent US tour - mainly in Lincoln, Nebraska and Salt Lake City, Utah. I remember in Salt Lake that because the hotel room was basically our dressing room for the gig there was a lady posted to stand guard outside the room all day. By the time Tom had sung his vocal about 50 times and I had then gone in and belted out a load of weird, high-pitched backing vocals, the poor woman looked pretty traumatised. Ah the glamour...
Tim
Comments (36)
I think this song is like a lullaby.. and Tom's voice is just lovely and cute.. is so peaceful, one word: perfect! I'm from PARAGUAY and I'm so excited waiting for august 23th, only three days until they're here and I'm going crazy! hahahaha thanks for choice Paraguay, we were waiting for KEANE for a long time. I LOVE YOU TOM! I HOPE YOU READ THIS SOMEDAY AND ANSWER ME! hahahahaha and TIM! you're a BLOCKBUSTER! ;)
Tim is genious.
amazing as always!! i love it!!!!!!!! thanks for your music guys!!!!!!!!! i love you so much!!
Ill download in this moment. Thanks guys for the song, in my opinion is not the best of you (in melody) but the letter is really good, Tim, like always. I think the same, well i mean , in the same novel. LOL love and hugs from Mexico. 23 days for the best day of my life, your concert. Lorena Cantu♥
Here again, I agree with Gudrun ! I like the beginning, but the chorus...hum.......For once I won't militate for that B-side, she deserves her place, sorry. I still miss the UTIS melancholy...
Hola chicos. He estado fuera en Viena y no he podido escribir. Parece ser que Police comentaba Sting que había dos canciones que no les costaba coger el ritmo y supongo que también las repetían muchas veces. Deben ser canciones complejas Tim. Se nota que Tom ha mudurado musicalmente. Y esta canción parece toda igual pero no es así. El órgano, el ritmo casi diria country y Tim haciendo la segunda voz y con el sonido de tu piano. Es hacer simple lo complejo. Yo también la he de escuchar varias veces. Tim espero verte en Razzmatazz en Barcelona. Ojalá pueda verte de cerca firmando autógrafos. Te aprecia Marisa Barcelona. Petons.
♥♥ HERMOSA CANCION ♥♥ ...................... tom tim richard y jesse los amoo SON LOS MEJORES Y LO SERAN SIEMPREEEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the drums in the beginning and Tom´s voice, like Sabrina said, the chorus I find a bit ...eh ... boring, as a chorus normally should be the part of the song that you can´t get out of your head...
Sono veramente contenta di sentire la B-side del singolo Sovereign Light Cafe', trovo questa song Difficult Child molto dolce e allo stesso tempo ben ritmata, mi piace l'inizio con solo la batteria e poi all'improvviso arriva la potente e sorprendente voce di Tom che regala un tocco di magia al brano!!! Grazie anche a te Tim per averci spiegato cosa significa, riconosco pienamente il tuo stile in questo brano! !!Complimenti ragazzi, come sempre mi regalate tantissime emozioni, le vostre canzoni sono una più bella dell'altra! Un saluto da Sabrina da Catania, SICILY!!!
I LOVE KEANE ♥ KISSES FROM MEXICO
I don't think that behaving like a tool and stuffing things up is a particularly male trait, I think it's something we all do, male or female, part of the human condition.
I FOUND THIS SONG THE LAST MONDAY IS WONDERFUL I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT . TOM YOUR VOICE IS AMAZING LIKE NO OTHER I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD.
Tim you are in a unickly way the most talented musician and songwriter in the world! Great song, wonderful melody,amazing lyrics and beautiful bass line! You are the best!
Hi keane!!♥ I love this song!!!!♥♥♥♥ is very beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aguanteeeeeeeeeeeeee keaneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the best!!!!!♥♥ I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!melisa from Argentina!
Great Songs! :)
Absolutely love Difficult Child!
Tim you are mistaken, the guard woman just witenessed how you guys are very talented and devoted professionals. Surely, after this, she decorated the whole song and became more a fan of Keane. Congratulations for more a great work.
"Story of Odysseus and Penelope" >>>Keane is culture too ;) And "Ah the glamour..." >>>Laughters I ♥ you, guys! Kisses from Brazil
Ame la cancion es simplemente genial y me ha inspirado mucho a escribir la letra es majestuosa en verdad, justo la inspiracion perfecta que necesitaba =D
I already loved this b-side, but knowing that it was (partly) recorded here in Salt Lake makes me love it even more! It's awesome that the b-side for SLC was recorded in SLC! :) Thanks, Tim! Come back soon, boys!
je vous souhaite que cette nouvelle chanson connaise le même succès que les seize autres qui composent STRANGELAND
SALUT TIM°° comment ne pas faire une chanson merveilleuse quand on a commme source d' inspiration une des plus belle histoire de la mythologie grecque( ULYSE ET PENELOPE ) )ton esprit crèateur est constament en èbulition**jamais tu n'arrêtera de nous suprendre BRAVO !!et MERCI !pour ce joli texte ** de plus interprèté par TOMY c'est encore gènial
Difficult Child is a lovely song :)
Have you been living in my house? The whole of the Strangeland album reflects aspects of the trauma I experienced a few months ago..... so listening to you and Tom 'belt' a song out would have been a pleasure not a trauma at all....
I love this song, and the lyrics! Timmy, you're amazing! Greetings from Chile
Thank you for having explained the meaning of "Difficult child", which I find a pure beauty. I have to say that I felt it as a "transparent" song, the melody almost like a lullaby, as someone also said before me...but yes, it does make all the sense. It's lovely of you to give us the chance to "enter" a bit more "deeply" in the "World of Keane's Music", mainly the meaning of the lyrics, which are so rich in all terms and which I absolutely adore. Thank you so much once again*
Wow, I like it. It's got a Springsteen "Nebraska" feel, recorded in Nebraska. Everything just fell right into place. It turned out great.
Terrific song! I have to say, I love hearing the bass guitar so clearly. Great job, guys! Cheers! ...Sherry W., Michigan, USA. @sambawoman .
This song is very special, I liked Tim's comments, very weird but interesting. Beijos, Regina.
Thanks a bunch Tim. I had a feeling that line was about Odysseus and Penelope as I had to study that Myth in school. I was left with that image of her waiting for him to return, even when she thinks he's dead. If only everyone were that loyal. Anyways, I am really liking the song you all did a great job, especially Jesse with the mixing. Thanks again.
Tim - I am working my way through the Strangeland cd and we got to Neon River the other day and my 10 year old son turned around to me and said " that Tim is a genius" He made my day as my daughter loves that Justin Bieber guy (don't know where I went wrong!) Oh well it takes every kind of people to make this world go round.
I really love this song and am so pleased you explained the meaning behind it as it did make me wonder, as all of your songs do!! ;) Your lyrics can be a bit of a worry sometimes, I never like to think that all might not be well in the Keane rose garden! I think it's great that you always explain them. You're a marvel Mr Rice-Oxley!
Dear Tim, I'm absolutely grateful for your explanation! Difficult (or conficted he he) Child is one of my favourite songs in the Strangeland era, both lyrical and melodically. I can easily imagine an acoustic version as a beautiful lullaby melody. You cannot figure out the long discussion that some friends and I held about the meaning of 'soldier's queen' (and not queen's soldier) while translating it into Spanish. I even searched on Google for some famous historical queens and soldiers, but never thought about a myth! A very accurate metaphor indeed. And, I have to tell you, I'd had been pleased to hear Tom and you repeating more than 50 times your vocals. Lots of love from Argentina ♥♥♥♥ ps: Would you please consider to upload explanations for the songs of the bonus track?
This song is really wonderful and the lyrics are (again) very moving. It's a brilliant idea to let it see the light of the day by releasing it! Well done again, guys, I love it a lot! Lots of love from Germany! :)
They´re very Macho!!!!! to be right. (very male, lmaof, buahhh) but, hey thanks for a slight touch of the surface of thoughts as I was worried what´s that about. Thanks for this.
slightly schizophrenic!! and cute, really cute XD thanks Mr. Amazing Tim, it's brilliant!
