Sheddio Sessions - Start Again - Teenage Fanclub Cover [Video]
On this installment of the Sheddio Sessions, I take a crack at a gorgeous Teenage Fanbcub number called 'Start Again'.
Full video of the song is at the end of the post.
I have been an enormous fan of the Scottish band, Teenage Fanclub since their breakout album Bandwagonesque was released in 1991. There has rarely been a time that the Fannies were not a regular part of my listening rotation. Of late, they have been spinning on my turntable even more than usual after I had the pleasure of seeing the band on back to back nights in Detroit and Chicago.
This is a band built on simple songs, crystalline, jangly guitar work, and gorgeous vocal harmonies. Somehow, these boys from the Bellshill neighborhood of Scotland manage to meld these seemingly simple ingredients into a gorgeous sonic stew that never fails to delight both on record and in person.
‘Start Again’, the track I chose for today’s session, first appeared on their marvelous Songs From Northern Britain LP. It relays the story of a fractured relationship that is hoping to see one last genuine effort at love and success. It is a hopeful, but cautious tune that encapsulates so much of what I love about Teenage Fanclub.
As I struggled through a very deep and dark two year period of depression and grief I was often buoyed by this tune. Eventually, as I started to work fervently and regularly on my mental health recovery, I saw this song as an anthem to myself. It was a way of saying that I could begin again with my own soul and the way that I saw and spoke to myself.
We are always our own harshest critics, and I am harsher and more unrelenting than any critic has ever been in history when I critique myself. Finally, after decades of work and constant struggle, I am slowly finding a way to be kinder and calmer to myself. It still requires an intense amount of effort, but if I forget this song is a guidepost for me.
I always feel calmed by playing music. This song, calms me in a very specific and fundamentally meaningful way. I’m grateful to the song and to the boys in Teenage Fanclub for that gift.
So, here is my solo acoustic version of the gorgeous Fannies classic, ‘Start Again’. I hope it soothes your souls much as it soothes mine.
Cheers,
Matty C
One Soft Click should your next version of these live performances .
I, too, have loved Teenage Fanclub since '91. Their album Thirteen helped get me through the darkest period of my life in '93 and '94–a period of time when I often had to keep away from my eighth-floor window in San Francisco-which is why that's my favorite of theirs, despite it being most everyone else's least favorite. Songs of Northern Britain is a wonderful record. Your rendition of "Start Again" is lovely, and I can hear the emotion you put into it, and see it on your face. Everything you wrote and said in the beginning of the video resonates with me, every word of it. Thank you.