The end of the rainbow - Richard and Linda Thompson

[SteveFE62]

I've fallen out with virtually everybody I know over this song, including girlfriends who just didn't get it and wanted to dance instead :-) Most people just see what they want to see as bleakness and pessimism and a "message", and don't recognise the sheer beauty of the tune and playing and singing, and insight that in itself is a cause for joy and optimism.

Thank Christ for Richard Thompson, one of the few who has brought real intelligence and thought to music while still rocking.

[AmeSabishii]

This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time. How many of us actually accomplished what we dreamed of?

[cosmicrider287]

this is my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

[yukonnoka]

I used to hate this song but the more ive lived the more i realize the truth of these words.

[squeakymonkfish]

Such a lovely song, and so sad.

[johnbarry1965]

RT tells it like it is.

[johnbarry1965]

and your sister, she's no better than a whore......

[Gooseberry51]

"There's nothing at the end of the rainbow, there is nothing to grow up for anymore".. brilliant! Love RT!

[tennis11ish]

This song reflects what it was like to be born poor anytime before 1950 in England!

[Boico101]

@tennis11ish As well as after 1979.

[rocktenniscat]

@Boico101 - Oh dear! Well....just for a contrast, if you're feeling blue, go to:

"JB Lenoir I Feel So Good" Right down to the crazy tails, and bass playing by Willie Dixon. Even old Richard would be tapping his foot (KIDDING!!!....RT has a great sense of fun)  JB died tragically of a heart attack, age 38. Memorialized in a John Mayall song.

[tennis11ish]

@Samamfia - being a performance, maybe he is trying to sound like a character, hence the accent. He says his songs aren't autobiographical usually. God, what a musician!

[Nardiniism]

Great song, but I have to decompress with /watch?v=_XOY7lsBVpo

[englishrose713]

Razor blade anyone?

[nator9999]

1 person's sister is no better than a whore.

Sorry, I always wanted to leave one of these types of comments...

[Gooseberry51]

mr doom & gloom! Such a great song!

[Timmybear]

Barbara Manning does a good cover of this too.

[padraigpurseal]

God but there's a memory they really did leave some lovely songs behind and even though seperated they are still makeing great music

Thanks for reminding me 

[Tamapeaone]

An absolute gem of a song by one of the greatest contemporary composers in any genre!

[borninhel1]

suicide anyone ?

[Singerjv102]

It's the first time I've heard this and I love it

[TheLove624]

coll schön :)

[kareace123]

This song is an exquisite mix of beauty, ugliness, poignancy and even a little humour sneaked in there - a truly great and wonderfully beautiful piece

[captainleg07]

christ what a harsh world view...married to a beautiful melody and what a killer pay off...amazing

[MehefinHeulog]

just incredible

[MrPapaBill]

Taken form their brilliant 1974 album, I want to the bright lights tonight, where you'll find even better tracks than this.

[lynus111]

Im gonna have to hunt down the Calvery Cross now :D

[vintagezigg]

A beauttiful sad one.

[jlivings10]

nah..the truth and so good

[timpipe]

This would be a great Sex Pistols song.

[saladlegs]

bloody great song!

[Kaburorne]

This song makes me so depressed

[nigusberries]

what an incredible song, i ve never heard anything like it.d

it almost sounds like something floyd could have fit on darkside, but at the same time, completely original.. and deeply disturbing

[9erfandex]

nigusberries welcome to Rchard Thompson's world, it is another beautiful day in the neighborhood! God Save Rchard Thompson!

[nigusberries]

wow its like 6 months since that message

i m now a huge richard thompson fan.. and i ve even communicated withh him..

great stuff altogether

[lynus111]

@9erfandex Isnt Richard a Muslim these days?

[moscowguitarman]

@lynus111

I believe he WAS a Sufi, and Sufism is based on Islam, but he isn't any longer.

[IndigoJo]

@moscowguitarman He is, last I heard, still a Muslim. He left the "sufi" group that attracted him to Islam (now known as the Murabitun) in the 1970s, but that doesn't mean he left Islam.

[zingmatter]

I once heard this on the radio 25 years ago and I've been searching for it ever since. Glad to have finally found it again.

[snicky58]

@zingmatter Glad to know it didn't drive you right to the medicine cabinet all those years ago. ;-)

[ianwilson2007]

beautiful

[mudhens4ever]

Well, that's a real pick-me-up before bed.

[bigreed43]

This song is beautiful and dark. It is also absurdly true. I wish someone would post the lyrics.

[MehefinHeulog]

I feel for you, you little horror

Safe at your mother's breast

No lucky break for you around the corner

'Cause your father is a bully

And he thinks that you're a pest

And your sister she's no better than a whore.

Life seems so rosy in the cradle,

But I'll be a friend I'll tell you what's in store

There's nothing at the end of the rainbow.

There's nothing to grow up for anymore

[MehefinHeulog]

Tycoons and barrow boys will rob you

And throw you on the side

And all because they love themselves sincerely

And the man holds a bread knife

Up to you throat is four feet wide

And he's anxious just to show you what it's for.

Your mother works so hard to make you happy

But take a look outside the nursery door

There's nothing at the end of the rainbow.

There's nothing to grow up for anymore

[MehefinHeulog]

And all the sad and empty faces

That pass you on the street

All running in their sleep, all in a dream

Every loving handshake

Is just another man to beat

How your heart aches just to cut him to the core

Life seems so rosy in the cradle,

But I'll be a friend I'll tell you what's in store

There's nothing at the end of the rainbow.

There's nothing to grow up for anymore

[Gooseberry51]

At that time one of my favorite tracks. A wonderful dark version of The Crow and the Cradle.. Love his work!

[stephtull]

this definitely richard thompson

[frndandlovr]

Well, this is neither Richard nor Linda Thompson. So, who is it?

[edgyandnordic]

It is Richard Thompson, from their first album as a couple - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1974). Linda doesn't contribute to all tracks on the album. Great album, great song. Bleak enough to make Leonard Cohen sound uptempo.

[OneBigRetard]

Ha ha, so you got rid of the album!? What a douche, most would just move tot the next track. Man, it's a song, a piece of art. Get over yourself.

[gefriolsaeme]

Have you ever examined the society we live in?

[NickOLarse999]

Life isn't sweet all the time, so why not sing about the bad stuff too. That's the blues.

[FredGumbo1]

He's using the idea of an innocent child as a device to emphasise the depth of despair that humans can sink to. He's not suggesting you play the track to your kid, it's very a sad song, very well written. He's good at both the highs and the lows of life - cracking song.

[bigreed43]

His observation in this song is correct. Don,t you ever wonder why some people seem miserable in their life and seem to want to make everybody miserable? These people were once babies pure of heart but, something outside the nursery door made them miserable. Serial killers, child molesters, heartless murdering gang members were all once that baby. There was something terrible waiting at the end of the rainbow for them.

[vegetablemagnetism]

Has Thompson ever said what inspired this song? His then-wife Linda said hearing it for the first time almost had her pinned to the wall, just after the birth of their daughter. It seems an incredibly dark tome to new fatherhood. Not a great portent to what may already have been a doomed marriage, I would say.

[TomRAFC]

yes, he talks about it in the documentary "solitary man" which is on youtube somewhere. adore this song

[Hardwyck]

To be precise it's at the beginning of part 4 of "A Solitary Life". Well worth listening to.

[valdestana]

wonderful -one of the best songs and was great live too.

[captainleg07]

Great, great, great song.

[davek729]

A brilliant and bleakly beautiful song. Thanks! I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is just an amazing album.

[joshua65]

Richard Thompson is genius.

[vuxajoro]

prachtig hoor, tomastommie:P