I don't know if this subject has been covered, but I would love to hear some interpretations of this song. Thoughts?

i just love it the way it is, with the bbc orchestra. gives me goosebumps and i dunno if anyone could do it as well

It is a very moving song, but what does it mean? Symbolic? Literal?

Literal, I think.

The story was that Guy's brother in law, I believe, met a man in a bar who was a tower crane driver, and was boasting about how much money he made doing this, but by the end of the night he was crying into his beer because he was so lonely. There's more to it than that, can't remember where I read it.

The first line "Gotta get out of TV", refers to Guy's sister, who was having a hard time working in the TV industry.

Ah! Thank you. I thought that it was strictly metaphorical, but it seems to be a mix of reality and symbolic from what you say. Such a beautiful song. But honestly, I think that Guy could move me just as much if he sang "row row row your boat" (>8

It's one of the fave songs I have on "Seldom seen kid" and I prefer the non-orchestra versions because I like those shinzy old mellotrones more than huge orchestras.

Interview: Mark Potter, Elbow.
(An edited version of this interview, which took place on Monday March 17th, originally appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post.)

"(NEP): I’ve not seen a lyric sheet, and I have struggled in a couple of places without one. I’m particularly curious to know more about the lyrical concept behind Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver.

(Mark Potter): Guy [Garvey, singer and lyricist] actually met a guy in a pub – there’s a theme running here, the pub seems to come into it quite a lot! – and he was a power crane driver on one of the work sites near the studio. They started talking, and Guy was saying: Oh, it must be great doing your job and being up there. The guy was saying: Yeah, I absolutely love it, I’ve got my own little toilet, and I’ve got a TV up there.
But after a few beers, it came out that this guy was very lonely. He wasn’t liked on the site, because his was the highest paid job and so he was making more money than anyone else. And at the end of the working day, by the time he’d got down from his power crane, everyone had gone. Therefore he didn’t have any friends on the site. So it’s really about that isolated sort of feeling."

You know the free download they gave away at Christmas of TCD live in Manchester? I can only listen to it on WMP and can't transfer it to i-Tunes, but I was thinking I might be able to burn it and transfer it that way, it worked with Kasabian's free download of Heroes. Has anyone tried it?

Thank you all! Sarah, I love your pic and signoff. I am just crazy about The Decemberists too! We just got tickets to their show. I am so excited. I justified the cost because (I told my husband) "Elbow will probably never play here, so we might as well see at least one awesome show"

Hey Rascalphoto, I see you're from Seattle. I'm from Portland, but live in Elbowville now. Seattle is a great place. Do you remember the Doghouse?

Oh you so,ruuuule....

Strange... You can send the email, but when you click the download link in the email you get a '404 - page not found' error.

Check out the album cover i-Tunes chose for it!!!