S$# 038 Big Country | In A Big Country

In A Big Country was one of my favourite songs of 1983. It was the Scottish quartet's third single from their debut album, The Crossing, and their only big hit on this side of the Atlantic. [Actually I was in the UK all that summer, so I heard it a lot on radio there, and that's where I bought the 45.]

What really impressed me about the song was the guitars sounding like bagpipes (courtesy of a MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect (according to Wikipedia ) or the MXR plus E-bow (according to a post on Harmony Central)) by axemen Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson. The rhythm section of Mark Brzezicki on drums and Tony Butler on bass provides a really solid foundation to the track too. It was also interesting that the group had a song title that sounded like the band name.

The song seems to be an anthem about perseverance:

So take that look off of your face, it doesn't fit you
Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded
Pull up your head off the floor—come up screaming
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted
I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered

I'm not expecting to grow flowers in a desert
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun in wintertime

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover's voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

The lyrics now have a more poignant feel, considering front man Adamson, battling years of alcoholism, committed suicide in Hawaii in 2001.

In A Big Country is available on The Crossing and and several Big Country compilations.