by D.Chazan

Created on: November 26, 2011   Last Updated: April 26, 2012

Elbow's single "One Day Like This" comes from their 2008 album "The Seldom Seen Kid" and was the second song from this record to be released as a single.

On the surface, this song seems like a typical rock love song. The melody here is very simple and one that catches the ear, making it easily memorable to the listener.  But there are also some interesting instrumentals here. The acoustic guitar and violins behind the chorus that give this a very bright and light feeling to the song, with almost a Caribbean feel to it. This is especially true when the instruments fade into the background on one verse and we hear the percussionist bring in some staccato accompaniment that sounds very much like a steel drum.

It is interesting to note that one can hear a similar set of chords in the chorus of this song, which will remind the listeners of the ending of a famous Beatles' song. If you give it a try, you'll find you can sing the ending "nah-nah" part from "Hey, Jude" in perfect harmony behind the final strains of this song's lines "So throw those curtains wide/ One day like this would see me right".

This brings us to the lyrics, which are deceptively simple. They describe the feeling of afterglow when the singer wakes up next to someone he cares about. From the words, one can easily assume that this was after a night love making love. But closer investigation shows that this is a bit of a surprise to the narrator, when it says:

"What made me behave that way?
Using words I never say
I can only think it must be love"

While this would make the listener think that the song is about a steady relationship, there are hints that this could be something a bit less permanent. This comes through in the lyrics where it says:

"If you think I'll wink, I did
Laugh politely at repeats"

This seems to say that the person who would laugh isn't totally comfortable in this situation. The lyrics go on later to say:

"And only now I see you like
Yeah, lying with me half awake
Stumbling over what to say"

Here again, we see that the writer is showing that there's some awkwardness between these two people who have spent the night together. But whatever is between these two people, it is obvious that there was a great deal of passion here. This is especially evident when in the early part of the song the lyrics say:

"Oh, kiss me like the final meal
Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight"

Here we can see that the narrator is indicating that there is no small possibility that these two may never

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