The Secret He Had Missed
"The Secret He Had Missed" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Manic Street Preachers | ||||
from the album The Ultra Vivid Lament | ||||
Released | 16 July 2021 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 3:39 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) |
| |||
Producer(s) | Dave Eringa | |||
Manic Street Preachers singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Secret He Had Missed" is a song by Manic Street Preachers presented as the second single from their 14th studio album The Ultra Vivid Lament. It was released on 16 July 2021,[1] alongside an official YouTube video, directed by Kieran Evans and filmed in Tenby and Newport's Dolman Theatre.[2]
The co-singer is Sunflower Bean's Julia Cumming, in a conversation styled-lyric, although the official video features the actress Aimee-Ffion Edwards from Peaky Blinders.
Background
The song tries to capture the dynamic between Augustus John and Gwen John, Wire commented: "It's about by how opposite their lives were. Augustus John was bohemian, reckless, amazingly talented but some might say wasted his talent. Then Gwen John was much more about the interior world, living an almost nun-like existence in France with very little possessions. It just goes to show how different it can turn out between a brother and sister." Musically, Wire says that "It's probably the most Abba-influenced track on the album, the piano track especially, it all came out really naturally. It's what we would call pop in our world – that glacial kind of controlled energy that comes out in something melancholic, but uplifting."[3]
About the new collaboration Wire said that it was a "fanboy thing", sharing that "'Twenty Two in Blue' is just one of my favourite records of all time", concluding that "We were looking for something with no histrionics. We get really tired of singers just going up and down scales and showing off in the modern era. The genius of Abba is how the vocals are always so controlled, they're never over the top." He continued: "Julia can do that easily anyway. She's always really controlled and within herself. Once she got the Abba thing and the Billy Joel pianos she really enjoyed it and just breathed through it. She's an unbelievably underrated talent."[4]
Release
The song was released on 16 July 2021, available through download.
About the song, The Quietus says that "is more intricately interwoven with another, more recent Manics song. 'Dylan And Caitlin', from Resistance Is Futile, was another duet (with The Anchoress taking the female role), about the relationship between another Wales-based artistic male and female duo, Dylan Thomas and Caitlin Thomas (nee McNamara). The stories of the Johns and the Thomases are interlinked: the Thomases were both painted by Augustus John, in Caitlin's case during her early teens, during which time John raped her. Later, it was Augustus John who introduced the Thomases. Caitlin, like Gwen, lived in France for a while. While joining a long line of art-related Manics songs (from 'La Tristesse Durera' to 'Interiors' to 'Black Square'), its closest cousin musically is 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough', with an almost equally rousing chorus, and Julia Cumming's restrained vocal bearing a close similarity to that of Nina Persson. It's an interesting exercise, albeit one which is unduly humane to a rapist. And it's one the album's most Wales-specific moment, complete with references to the beach at Tenby."[5]
The Line of Best Fit argues that the song is "a quasi-aria framework with Bradfield, the latter is led by the discipline imposed by the Sean Moore and Nicky Wire's rhythm section".[6]
Personnel
Manic Street Preachers
- James Dean Bradfield – lead vocals, guitar
- Nicky Wire – bass guitar
- Sean Moore – drums
Additional musicians
- Julia Cumming – vocals
References
- ^ "Manic Street Preachers unveil new single 'The Secret He Had Missed'". 19 July 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "New Single 'The Secret He Had Missed'". 16 July 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "Manic Street Preachers share 'The Secret He Had Missed' with Sunflower Bean's Julia Cumming". 17 July 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "The Manics tell us about their new single with Sunflower Bean's Julia Cumming". NME. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "Grief Is Living: The Ultra Vivid Lament by Manic Street Preachers". The Quietus. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ "Manic Street Preachers go on a mildly experimental journey on The Ultra Vivid Lament". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- v
- t
- e
- James Dean Bradfield
- Sean Moore
- Nicky Wire
- Generation Terrorists
- Gold Against the Soul
- The Holy Bible
- Everything Must Go
- This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
- Know Your Enemy
- Lifeblood
- Send Away the Tigers
- Journal for Plague Lovers
- Postcards from a Young Man
- Rewind the Film
- Futurology
- Resistance Is Futile
- The Ultra Vivid Lament
- "Suicide Alley"
- "Motown Junk"
- "You Love Us (Heavenly Version)"
- "Stay Beautiful"
- "Love's Sweet Exile"/"Repeat"
- "You Love Us"
- "Slash 'n' Burn"
- "Motorcycle Emptiness"
- "Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless)"
- "Little Baby Nothing"
- "From Despair to Where"
- "La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)"
- "Roses in the Hospital"
- "Faster"
- "Revol"
- "She Is Suffering"
- "A Design for Life"
- "Everything Must Go"
- "Kevin Carter"
- "Australia"
- "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"
- "The Everlasting"
- "You Stole the Sun from My Heart"
- "Tsunami"
- "The Masses Against the Classes"
- "So Why So Sad"
- "Found That Soul"
- "Ocean Spray"
- "Let Robeson Sing"
- "There by the Grace of God"
- "The Love of Richard Nixon"
- "Empty Souls"
- "Underdogs"
- "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough"
- "Autumnsong"
- "Indian Summer"
- "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love"
- "Some Kind of Nothingness"
- "Postcards from a Young Man"
- "This Is the Day"
- "Show Me the Wonder"
- "Anthem for a Lost Cause"
- "Walk Me to the Bridge"
- "Futurology"
- "Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)"
- "International Blue"
- "Distant Colours"
- "Dylan & Caitlin"
- "Liverpool Revisited"
- "Hold Me Like a Heaven"
- "People Give In"
- "Orwellian"
- "The Secret He Had Missed"
- "Rosebud"
- "4st 7lb"
- "Peeled Apples"
- Everything Live
- Leaving the 20th Century
- Louder Than War
- Forever Delayed