There’s something about Jarvis Cocker‘s voice; it’s always fun to hear him tell a story in a Pulp song, and this storytelling has reached a new level as the band appeared with the BBC Radio Orchestra for Radio 2’s Piano Room. The two groups of performers came together for two Pulp songs and a great story-telling song: ABBA’s “The Day Before You Came.”
First appearing as a bonus track on a 1982 singles collection, the song tells the story of the mundane activities undertaken by the singer before meeting for some sort of romantic encounter. The song’s central loop helps represent the banality of the activities the singer is listing.
Having a full orchestra to spread out over and embellish the music, Pulp goes for it. The drama is ratcheted up and the melancholy only grows with the orchestra’s repetitive lines throughout the song. In many ways, it’s a quintessential Pulp song… not written by Pulp.
The band’s appearance with the orchestra also featured “Hymn of the North,” from their most recent album and the classic “Something Changed.”
