Country Life

"No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
Samuel Johnson (1777)

Marshall Hain's beautiful song "Back To The Green" is an ode to escaping from the chaotic bustle of the big city to the peaceful green spaces of the countryside. Personally I've always thought the countryside was a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. Growing up in London made me the sort of person who has an existential crisis if I live too far from a tube station, and if I'd wanted a "country" experience I could always get that in the city anyway – from the spectacular vistas of Hampstead Heath to the herds of deer roaming Richmond Park, peacocks in Holland Park, boating on The Serpentine, or lazy summer Sundays watching a cricket match on Barnes Common. Besides, the problem with the country is the people that live there: Tories, rich arseholes from the city, and Daily Mail-reading reactionaries who look at you funny if you aren't from "around here" or look different (believe me, I was an art student in Kent and know what it's like to walk into a little country pub with a friend who had blue hair.)

But even this council-estate-raised city boy recognizes the subconscious attraction of the pastoral idyll; escaping the city's cacophonous nightmare of traffic and other people's cell-phone conversations for a picture-postcard village where the bells of an old stone church ring out through warm summer air, willow tress hang lazily over glistening streams, and rosy-cheeked children fly kites over sun-dappled green hills. Such fantasies are the warm baths of city-dweller imaginations.

Julian Marshall and Kit Hain are only known for the one song, the 1978 hit "Dancing In The City" which came from their debut album "Free Ride." The single's sensual synth-drummy groove isn't much like the the rest of the record which is mostly clean and modern adult pop in the jazzy mold of Steely Dan with the middle-class English smartness of a 10cc. Unfortunately the album was a flop and is now out of print which is a shame as it's rather good. The final track "Back To The Green" is a gorgeous ballad that ebbs and flows in an appropriately dreamy mood, languidly drifting along before building to a symphonic crescendo of strings and brass. Kit Hain has a lovely, clear-as-a-bell voice that makes me think of her as a well-spoken young lady who probably played netball at school (a thought I find vaguely erotic which I'm sure all the English boys reading this will understand.) It makes the idea of moving to the country quite a warmly appealing prospect - for a few moments anyway.

Download: Back to The Green - Marshall Hain (mp3)
Poster from "Pleasure Trips by Underground" (book)