Tuesday, March 12, 2019

#23. "In a Big Country" - Big Country (1983)

How about them bagpipe guitars? 

As a young teen I secretly wished "In a Big Country" by Big Country was the Canadian national anthem (Big Country hails from Scotland).

The descriptive lyrics conjured up iconic images of Canada coast to coast:

"in a big country dreams stay with you"
"mountainsides"
"seeing the sun in winter time"

Although the story line in the video is hard to follow (what exactly is happening anyway?), the symbolism only solidified my sentiment, featuring clips of all sorts of outdoor rural adventures: all-terrain vehicles, jet skies and scenic landscapes. 

As for the tune itself, it's a driving tour de force of old Celtic meets new wave starring a unique bagpipe-emulating guitar and fantastic drumming.   

Lyrically, I think "In a Big Country" is a song about getting back up when you get knocked down and it still gives me chills.

1 comment:

  1. The song reminds me of the SCTV episode "what fits into Russia" see blog for meaning of video https://lepresidio.blogspot.com/2019/03/in-big-country-video-review.html

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