When I was a teenager, I didn’t try much to rebel with music at first. As a young teenager I kinda liked the music my parents were listening (a CD collection that included U2 and Bob Dylan) and I always tried to find decent music on the radio, which was harder than it seemed, since the commercial radio here in Belgium in the nineties seemed to mostly play euro-house and boysbands at that time. every rocksong, every song with real instruments even, was a pearl between the trash for me…
Later on I got more interested in ‘alternative’ music, and one of the biggest names in althernative music at the moment here in Belgium was dEUS, a then quite weird band from Antwerp. Rock’n roll and arty-fart weirdness went together with strange sounds and a lot of different musical styles that were mangled together. Their biggest hits are songs like suds and soda, roses, and theme from turnpike, which are very unlikely hits, but even now they still have 4 songs of that era in the timeless list of stubru, the alternative radio station. The first albums ‘worst case scenario’ and ‘in a bar, under the sea’ remain unique and unlike anything I’ve ever heard before or afterwards.
They still make music, but for me thy lost most of the vibe around the time of their third album, and became a more regular band afterwards. Which does not mean that their later hit ‘nothing really ends‘ is not a good candidate for the best slow ever written in Belgium.
Todays song is a title-song in disguise, for their second album ‘in a bar, under the sea’. Unlike most songs on the album it’s not experimental or weird, and neither are the lyrics completely weird and cryptic. It’s a song about escapism, running away from all life’s problems in a bar under the sea. It is alleged to be inspired by Captain Beefheart who commented after visiting an exhibition of Vincent Van Gogh, remarked that he was disappointed in the sun.
dissapointed in the sun (written by Tom Barman and Piet Jorens)
Who could tell the story better
About the things that I went through
Some were great but most were terrifying
And so spooky tooHad to get out of there, to hide away
Had to get out of there, to find my way
I troubled everything too soon
Now where I want to be is…Need I say my only wish was
To escape my earthly life
High skies were no option whereas
Diving deep in oceans wideWas the way for me, to hide away
A possibility, to leave today
I troubled everything too soon
Now where I want to be is…Under the sea, is where I’ll be
No talking ’bout the rain no more
I wonder what thunder will mean, when only in my dream
The lightning comes before the roarCircumstancial situations, now I know what people meant
Beware of the implications, God I’ve had enough of themDecided to be brave and hide away
Just picking out a wave and slide away
I troubled everything too soon
Now where I want to be is…Maybe taking it another hour then taking away the pain
I troubled everything too soon, now where I want to be is…Under the sea, is where I’ll be
No talking ’bout the rain no more
I wonder what thunder will mean, when only in my dream
The lightning comes before the roar
Under the sea, down here with me I find I’m not the only one
Who ponders what life would mean if we hadn’t been
So disappointed in the sunAnd that’s why we’re thinking,
That’s why we’re drinking in a bar under the sea
enjoy
Bram
PS: more about Belgian music can be found here, in this post about the Gorky song ‘Mia’ which some have considered the best song ever.
