Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx and Louis Gordon Broken furniture

On this track John sings "One day we can swim away"...well I know what day it is..it's a Monday!!

(listen closely to the outro of the track,he clearly repeats Monday,Monday,Monday,Monday!! )

Hey! It's sunday night and I've just finished my weekend shift

I hope you get a lie-in tomorrow then!

Broken Furniture is a fantastic song. I must play it...

You can also hear it as 'Day One' 'Day One'.

Maybe a fresh start, after swimming away.

And here's me thinking this was an advert for a carpentry course...

I always thought it had something to do with a shortage of ice cream.

"I live in an apartment with no Walls"

I don't what it is about the song Broken Furniture but it always reminds me of homeless people.

Peter

I always associate this track with a dark period when I had bought a new house, but still owned the previous one. TWO mortgages. Nightmare.
I kept having to go back to the previous one to fix it up for sale (the tenant had buggered off, and wrecked various things, also left a piano behind, that wouldn't fit through the door.. no idea how it got in.. strange)
It was always cold and empty.

"I thought I left here years ago"..
(Actually, I had..)

I'd go with that.

My interpretation is that the 'broken furniture' is a metaphor for those little fragments of untied loose ends that follow us around. Memories, ghosts of past lovers - they have no respect for walls...
And of course those of other people that previously lived in the apartments

When we leave something/someone behind it is only ever in the physical sense. In terms of imprints, time periods, memories etc they always come with us.
Hence "I never want you to find this place"...

Sounds like those 'Invisible Women' again..

I'd agree with you on that Martin.

I love this track - definately one of John's most haunting and intriguing songs, with a nice, subtle take on "This City" in the music.

In a highbrow moment, I've been reading Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' (and cos it's Christmassy!!). The desciption of where Scrooge lives reminded me of 'Broken Furniture' because it was previously owned by his old business partner, Marley, and conjures up images not too disimilar to the song lyrics
Cheers

Last night I had the urge to read though the lyric's on Luca's lyric website after reading this thread.

There were a few lines that I could easily relate to in my own personnel life. ( Don't worry I don't have broken furniture LOL)

It's still a cleverly writtern, thought provoking song with lots feeling and one of my favourites from C & B

Peter

Not specific to this song but a thought in general about song lyrics.
I just finished reading John Peel's (semi) autobiography and there is a part where he is talking to John Lennon (they were friends).
Lennon said to Peel that he had to get the papers to read the reviews. Peel said to Lennon: 'you read them?' and Lennon replied, 'yes, I want to find out what our songs are about.'

That's one of the things I like about John's lyrics (John Foxx, not John Lennon), that they can mean whatever they mean to the individual listener. Regardless of what John was trying to convey, the lyrics will mean different things to different listeners. Lyrics in bog standard chart material songs, which are generally about relationships in one way or another, don't allow that freedom of interpretation. They all tend to be on the lines of somebody leaving somebody and the first somebody wishing the other one would come back and cak like that. I'm not saying John's never written a 'love' song (the title track of In Mysterious Ways is one of my favourite love songs) but things like Dislocation and the subject of this thread, Broken Furniture, allow the listener's imagination a free reign. This is probably the reason I'm still listening to John 27 years after buying Metamatic.

As a matter of interest, I do live in a house with broken furniture as one of the springs in my 20+ year old sofa snapped the other day. But at least my house has walls!

Ô¿Ô

There's something comforting and familiar about Broken Furniture too of course, like old favourite jumpers.
The sofa may be kna*cked and the cupboard doors hanging off but you just want them to stay because they have become like old friends.
And, if you're anything like me, there's not always time and money to get new ones anyway.

We all throw away far too much.

Also for me it's like an old pair of shoes. They're at there comfiest just as they're on there last legs.

I've struggled a bit some of John's lyrics especially on Metamatic but since Metal Beat was released and I thought John gave a good insight into his lyrics and I have a much clearer understanding. For me that what makes John so interesting.

I agree with you about Harmonia about "pop" and chart songs.


Peter

Yes, songs need a depth of imagery and self interpretation to keep them interesting. With most chart songs we've heard them before their written.

Early in the new year we will be getting another three piece suit, as our familiar one will be going after 22 years.