To see the lyrics, click on the name of the version you are interested in (on the left).

It was played in 2001 and not since, although Duke Special covered it with a few Divine Comedy musicians (but not Neil Hannon) in 2006.

It’s one of the first songs Neil Hannon wrote for the Regeneration album, but at first, it was to be called ‘Dance To The Music Of Time’.

The song deals with one of Hannon’s favourite theme: the passing of time. He said [1] it was about frustration and not having the time of doing all you want to do. But it’s also about composition and the difficulty of writing all the songs he would like to write. As such, it sets the tune of the album and explains the shift in The Divine Comedy’s music.

The song is built on a double metaphor: pubs and music. At the end, Neil Hannon joins them in a pun on the word bar. Among the references to music, you can find Carmen, a French opera by Bizet based on a story by Prosper Mérimée. It’s said to be the most famous opera in the world!

[1] New Comer, 2001