Razzmatazz

“It’s the most bitter song we’ve ever done,” Jarvis told Melody Maker at the time of this song’s release, February 1993. Sixteen years later, and it’s safe to say that it's still true. “Razzmatazz” contains some of his most savage bon mots, starting with the killer first line. The trouble with your brother, he’s always sleeping – with your mother. From there, the song hardly ever relents, as Jarvis reflects on an ex-girlfriend who scorned him for lacking a certain lively sense of flash, and her subsequent fall into depression and frustration. What saves it from being too bitter is the music, another confident 1993 slice of swirling, booming melody from the band. And there’s enough desperation in Jarvis’ voice to convey empathy, even at the song’s nastiest peaks. “However harsh I am about the people in ‘Razzmatazz,” he continued in that interview, “I’m not writing from above their level. I’ve got a lot of experience of being as sad as them, if not more so.”

Watch the video here.