The lyric that inspired Björk
Icelandic avant-garde aficionado Björk isn’t necessarily the most well-known for her lyrics. She’s far more celebrated for her weird and winding vocals that swing high and low at will, for her boundary-pushing, genre-bending soundscapes that pair techno with trip-hop, and for her strange accompanying visual artistry that has seen her don swan dresses and shimmering costumes. But just because her wider artistry often overshadows her talent with a pen, doesn’t mean it’s not there.
“And if you complain once more, you’ll meet an army of me,” she sings defiantly on ‘Army of Me’. “We live on a mountain, right at the top, this beautiful view from the top of the mountain, every morning I walk towards the edge and throw little things off,” she writes on ‘Hyperballad’. “There’s definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behaviour,” she affirms on ‘Human Behaviour’. From the big hits to lesser-known album tracks, Björk’s catalogue is filled with examples of her writing talents.
Her lyrics traverse vivid natural imagery and more simple statements about the world and herself. And though they’re often hidden amidst strange soundscapes and baffling vocal heights, they’re always just as carefully thought out and captivating as her sonic and visual choices. And like all great lyricists, Björk is inspired by the writings of her peers and predecessors.
There is one lyric, in particular, that Björk seems to have found particularly inspiring. The Icelandic artist took part in a campaign by HMV called ‘My Inspiration’, a poster series that overlaid images of artists with quotes or lyrics that had influenced them. Björk picked out a line penned by Paddy McAloon, founder of Prefab Sprout.
The lyric comes from the band’s 1986 track ‘Goodbye Lucille Number 1’, a soft, new wave-inspired song that aims to talk a fictional character called Johnny through a breakup. “There is a time for tears,” McAloon promises in the opening verse, “You won’t make it any better, you might well make it worse.” The song is, largely, a straightforward break-up track, but there was one lyric that captivated Björk.
Towards the end of the song, McAloon gets a little more philosophical, “Life’s not complete until your heart’s skipped a beat, and you’ll never make it up or turn back the clock.” The line seems to suggest that risk is an essential part of living, that to feel real love, you have to understand that your heart may miss a beat, the clock will run on, and it may still end in heartbreak.
Johnny can’t turn back the time and relieve himself of this heartbreak, but that doesn’t matter. His feelings of heartache are an essential part of life, and all he can do now is move on with the time he still has. The line is fairly straightforward and simple, it’s not flowery or full of metaphors and complex imagery, but it doesn’t need to be.
The lyric thrives in its meaning and how universal it is. We’ve all wished we could take back the time wasted on an ex or longed to take back the love that might now seem undeserved. But accepting that discomfort and seizing the time that still remains is one of the most important lessons in life. Paddy McAloon knew that, and Björk did, too.
It might not be the most complex or beautiful lyric ever written, but those are rarely the most effective pieces of songwriting anyway. The message of McAloon’s words clearly had a real impact on Björk.
