KNUCKLE TOO FAR

First released 1993

A song about life on the road, Tim claims to have had enough lyrics and observations to have written this track several times over.

The track was originally called Bruise Jam on first promo pressings of the album, but was changed to reflect the song's refrain.

Larry told Radio 1 about the song in September 1993 : "This song's history is kind of the, it's been a wallflower in its early days. It was a jam we did and recorded in a practice and we never played it again and it kind of got lost for about nine months and then one day it just surfaced again on a practice tape and someone heard it and thought that it sounded perfect as it was and it was going to go on the album as that and we found it very difficult to capture the original essence of it. One night in the studio, we decided to have another go at it and I couldn't hear Tim and Tim couldn't hear me in the monitors and we tried to do this rendition when we were playing off each other and as a result of not been able to hear each other, we ended up with this curious kind of miscommunication."

"We tried to get it right on subsequent takes but when we got it right, it sounded worse than the first take so we decided to leave it how it was. I think the version that is on the album is about the second time we ever played it."

WHERE TO GET

Laid LP (514943-1), CAS (514943-4), CD (514943-2)

Laid reissue CD (548 787-2)

Album Version : The Gathering Sound boxset USB stick

LYRICS

Slow down, my brother, your life is passing fast

Will you remember all these scenes that you've passed

So long, so long

Speeding past sunset, blurring from town to town

Faces I forget, hotels all look the same

Worn down the knuckle too far

Worn down the knuckle too far

So long, so long

Lost all your colours, now life's in black and white

Stills from a movie, this life's a trick of the light

Worn down the knuckle too far

Worn down the knuckle too far

Too far

City of strangers, you seem so tired to me

Don't think I'll stay here, you don't seem friendly

I'll keep on moving, searching for peace of mind

Rivers unwinding maybe I'll find it this time

So long, so long, so long, so long

So long, so long

Live from my suitcase, my life's within my hands

Sleep in a strange bed, hometown's a foreign land

Worn, down, the knuckle, too far