There’s more to the Proclaimers than their megahit 500 Miles
There’s more to The Proclaimers than their biggest hit, but the Scottish siblings have no resentment toward the song that has dwarfed all the others, Jordan Zivitz writes.
No matter how long it has been since the last time you tuned in to The Proclaimers, there’s a reassuring familiarity to the sibling folk/ pop duo: the mirror image of twins Charlie and Craig Reid, spectacles welded in place; the full-throated, open-hearted harmonies; the lyrics that are proudly Scottish and profoundly universal; the joy that underpins nearly every song.
Still, those who can name only their most ubiquitous hit (and we’ll get to that) may be taken aback by the title track of their new album, Angry Cyclist. The lament for civility and understanding in the Brexit/trump era is striking for its anxiety, embodied by its central image.
“I don’t know so much in North American cities, but you go down the street in London or Edinburgh or Birmingham in the U.K. and people jostle for position in the road or on the sidewalk, and cyclists always seem to come off badly,” Charlie said in an interview shortly before the release of Angry Cyclist this month. “That concern of, ‘Where do I stand here? Who’s going to push me over next?’ It seemed like a good symbol of the way things are going politically, where people just seem to be shouting at each other rather than conversing.”
And yet The Proclaimers’ despair over “black loathing so sincere / red anger born of fear” is set against swelling strings.
The brothers sound as united as ever, and two songs after the title track opens the album, they write a clear-eyed love letter to their hometown — Streets of Edinburgh — with no incongruity. Even their most political material can sit comfortably next to their most romantic and personal.
“We always felt equally comfortable with both (types of songs),” Reid said, “and they both come from the same root. They both come from your feelings and your instinct, be it in a love story or be it in a comment on what’s going on in the world.
“I’ve never felt that there has to be a certain number of social commentary songs on an album, a certain number of songs about relationships — the songs fall as they do. It’s just that the title track on this one is, I suppose, particularly startling for people who only know 500 Miles.”
The Proclaimers’ Canadian audience has some idea of their scope, being among their strongest markets since the mid-1980s. If proof were needed, the duo will head out on a 13-date cross-country tour in September, spanning Victoria to Montreal.
“We got some good press and some record sales in Canada very early on, long before we did in the U.S.,” Reid said.
“I remember playing clubs in Toronto and Montreal in the early days. … We had a couple of cassettes thrown onto the stage, and one of them was from Barenaked Ladies. They were just getting started at the time.”
The Proclaimers’ initial success was complicated by upheavals in the siblings’ family life, leading to long absences from the spotlight. The 2007 stage musical Sunshine on Leith — named after their most enduring album, and adapted into a film in 2013 — gave new life to their early songs; more importantly, new work has come at a steady clip since 2001.
“Any sense of momentum that we’ve built up over the last few years — and I think we have — has been because we’ve had the energy of performing new material,” Reid said.
“That’s been successful in keeping us motivated.”
And yet, amid an 11-album catalogue, there’s That Song. With an exuberant lyric and melody that are equally suited to devotion and debauchery, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) is on the soundtrack of every Proclaimers fan’s life. Its generation-spanning success has come in waves since its initial 1988 release, keeping the band’s name alive during the fallow years, and it’s unthinkable that it would ever be left off the set list. Reid knows this, and harbours no resentment toward the song that has dwarfed all the others.
“It’s been nothing but good for us,” he said. “That song is way bigger than the band ever was and ever will be. It’s just taken on a life of its own. There are bands that have sold millions and millions more records than us, had far more top 10 hits, who don’t have a song that has sustained that way. So we are 100 per cent grateful and happy that it happened. Does it skew your career in people’s view of you? Yeah, but you can move on from that just by writing new songs and putting albums out, playing shows and letting people see that there’s more to you.
“By the end of the last century … our manager was saying, ‘This song is way bigger than it was when it came out.’ Every student night, every wedding, every party, people were playing this song. It’s just gone from strength to strength.
“The day we die, the obituaries will read, ‘One of the guys who sang 500 Miles,’ ” Reid said with a laugh. “And that’s fine. Better to be known for that than robbing a bank.”