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"Glastonbury Song" is a song by Scottish-Irish folk rock band the Waterboys, released in July 1993 as the second single from their sixth studio album, Dream Harder (1993). It was written by Mike Scott and produced by Scott and Bill Price. The song reached No. 29 in the UK and No. 12 in Ireland.

"Glastonbury Song"
Single by the Waterboys
from the album Dream Harder
B-side	"Chalice Hill" "Burlington Bertie and Accrington Stanley" "Corn Circle Symphony"
Released	12 July 1993 (1993-07-12)[1]
Length	3:42
Label	Geffen
Songwriter(s)	Mike Scott
Producer(s)	Mike Scott Bill Price
The Waterboys singles chronology
"The Return of Pan" (1993) "Glastonbury Song" (1993) "Preparing to Fly" (1993)

Background

Scott wrote "Glastonbury Song" in 1991 at his residence in Hudson Street, Manhattan. He used a Roland FP-8 and electric piano to write the track. Scott recalled on a Sodajerker podcast in 2015, "I had just bought the Roland keyboard and it had a couple of really nice sounds on it. It had the 'breathy' one which was the voice or choral sound, and it had a string one which is also used on the song."[2]

"Glastonbury Song" was inspired by the town in Somerset, England, and the single sleeve features a photograph of Glastonbury Tor, taken by Michael Mathias. Scott told Rolling Stone in 1993, "It's almost like a place to go on a pilgrimage, a holy, sacred place. It's inspiring to be there."[3]

Scott later recalled in a 2003 interview with Valley Advocate, "It's actually one of the most commercial, radio-friendly songs musically that I've ever produced. In many countries it was successful, but in Britain, they wouldn't play it because of the chorus."[4]

Music video

The song's music video was directed by John Downer. Before a video was made for the previous single "The Return of Pan", Scott had refused to shoot videos for most of the Waterboys' singles. He considered the medium to taint the listener's relationship with a song and spoil their imagination of it by presenting imagery that was often "shallow and moronic". Scott suggested and controlled the vision for the video for "The Return of Pan", but was still left disappointed by the results as it was "a thousand miles from the intent of the song". As a result of that experience, Scott decided to give the director of "Glastonbury Song" the freedom to do as they wished.[5]

Scott received a number of ideas for the video from various directors, but he felt most were clichéd. After Geffen provided him with boxes of showreels from numerous directors, Scott opted to work with John Downer as he admired the director's video for Peter Gabriel's 1992 hit "Digging in the Dirt". Although Scott felt Downer's subsequent video treatment for "Glastonbury Song" contained a lot of clichés and misinterpretations of the song's lyrics, he agreed to go along with it and flew from the United States to England to shoot it. In his autobiography, Scott recalled how he felt "ill at ease" during the shoot and looked awkward on camera. Downer's attempts to rectify that by directing him more closely only worsened Scott's experience, making him feel like "a prisoner in my own promo: a kind of animated, patronised prop".[5]

Scott was dissatisfied with the end result, dismissing it as "cleverly filmed nonsensical tosh". He recalled in his autobiography, "Worst of all, every time the chorus came round the dry ice footage showed me portentously sticking my head, Jehovah-like, from a cloud high above Glastonbury Tor. And because viewers assume artists to be complicit in their videos, it made me look like an egotist with a messiah complex who thought I was god." Despite their attempts to change Scott's mind, Geffen ultimately accepted his wishes not to release the video. Downer "ranted bitterly" to Scott over the phone for his decision, but the video was left unreleased.[5]

The video has since surfaced on YouTube. Scott told Q in 2017, "It's only sneaked out in the YouTube age, so I did my job well. I buried it. This was my work and my song, and this video made my song look like a piece of shit."[6]

Promotion

Scott made his only live appearance on Top of the Pops with "Glastonbury Song", which was broadcast on 22 July 1993.[7] He assembled a "one-off Waterboys" for the performance, which included guitarist Chris Bruce and drummer Carla Azar.[8]

Critical reception

On its release, Liverpool Echo commented, "The song is very Mike Scott with its meditative verse, celebratory chorus and ragbag of spiritual references. The music has enough movement to make it almost rocky but with a gentle feel."[9] Richard Plunkett of the Australian newspaper The Age stated, "Scott has long been touted as one of the big hopes of rock music, and the Celtic-influenced singer-songwriter excels himself here. It takes a certain genius to make a line such as 'I just found God' work. Great stuff, and quite exceptional production."[10]

In a review of Dream Harder, Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian noted, "The new album is still Scott-as-hippie-gypsy. There's the epitomical 'Glastonbury Song': it may sound like glossy pop-rock, but the lyric reveals a Scott pining for simple, mud-caked values.[11] Stereo Review noted, "The lightness of touch, traditional instrumentation, and pantheistic-minded celebrations that have typified the Waterboys from Fisherman's Blues forward are evident in 'Glastonbury Song'."[12] CD Review wrote, "Scott still manages to provide some light melodic relief with 'Glastonbury Song' and 'Corn Circles,' recalling his more typical work and English roots."[13]

In a 2011 feature for The Guardian on his love of the Waterboys, British screenwriter, producer, and film director Richard Curtis picked "Glastonbury Song" in his Waterboys top 10 song list. He wrote, "Wonderful, energetic song about the endless search for spirituality. Sounds ghastly – is fab."[14] In a 2017 retrospective on the "best of Mike Scott", Tom Doyle of Q included "Glastonbury Song" as one of ten tracks on the list and described it as a "staccato groover with cryptic lyric that sparks with the joy of enlightenment".[6]

Track listings

Personnel

Musicians

• Mike Scott – vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboard, percussion
• Chris Bruce – lead guitar, rhythm guitar
• Scott Thunes – bass
• Carla Azar – drums
• Tawatha Agee – backing vocals on "Glastonbury Song"
• Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals on "Glastonbury Song"
• Fonzi Thornton – backing vocals on "Glastonbury Song"
• Sugar Blue – harmonica on "Karma"

Production

• Mike Scott – production (all tracks)
• Bill Price – production, recording and mixing on "Glastonbury Song" and "Karma"
• Niko Bolas – recording and mixing on "Chalice Hill", "Burlington Bertie and Accrington Stanley", "Corn Circle Symphony" and "Mister Powers"
• Mike White – additional engineering on "Chalice Hill", "Burlington Bertie and Accrington Stanley" and "Mister Powers"

Other

• Michael Mathias – photography

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[15]	48
Ireland (IRMA)[16]	12
Portugal (AFP)[17]	3
UK Singles (OCC)[18]	29

References

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