National Express (song)

"National Express"
Single by The Divine Comedy
from the album Fin de Siècle
B-side "Going Downhill Fast", "Radioactivity", "Famous", "Overstrand"
Released 25 January 1999
Format CD
Genre Post-Britpop
Length 5:05
Label Setanta
Songwriter(s) Neil Hannon
Producer(s) Jon Jacobs
The Divine Comedy singles chronology
"The Certainty of Chance"
(1998)		 "National Express"
(1999)		 "The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count"
(1999)

"The Certainty of Chance"
(1998)		 "National Express"
(1999)		 "The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count"
(1999)

"National Express" is a song by The Divine Comedy. It was released as the third single from the album Fin de Siècle and reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart.

The song is based on Neil Hannon's observations of life from the window of a National Express coach. Some critics have criticised Hannon for "sneering" at the working classes on the track, but he has vehemently dismissed this notion, stating that the song "is pure observation, nothing made up – I’m on this bus, this is what I see."[1]

Music video

The official video for the song, directed by Matthew Kirkby, examines with some irony, the UK National Health Service from the viewpoint of a patient (portrayed by Hannon) in a psychiatric hospital who is about to undergo electroconvulsive therapy and is shown being pushed in a wheelchair by a porter who has trouble controlling the patient's behaviour. The video ends with the patient, unconscious from his treatment, starting to wake up while the porter pushes him back to his ward.

Track listing

All tracks written by Neil Hannon; except where indicated.

  • CD1 (SETCDA069)
  1. "National Express (Radio Edit)"
  2. "Going Downhill Fast"
  3. "Radioactivity" (Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Emil Schult) (Kraftwerk cover version)
  • CD2 (SETCDB069)
  1. "National Express (Full Album Version)"
  2. "Famous" (Stephen Merritt) (The Magnetic Fields cover version)
  3. "Overstrand"
  • Cassette (SETMC069)
  1. "National Express (Full Album Version)"
  2. "The Heart of Rock And Roll"

References

  1. ↑ musicOMH.com - Music - Interviews - The Divine Comedy - Neil Hannon (1999)
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