THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

289-Elbow-One Day Like This.

2008-Number 35 single. It later peaked at Number 4 in 2012.
Best Bit-At 3.29- ‘Cause Holy cow I love your eyes,’ is possibly not the greatest of chat up lines.

‘Elbow’ were formed in Bury, Greater Manchester, England in 1997, but the original five band members had already been playing together for many years prior to that. In 1990 Guy Garvey (lead vocals) who was then 16 years old met Mark Potter, (guitar) at ‘Bury College’ where Potter invited Garvey to join his student band which also included Richard Jupp, (drums) and Pete Turner, (bass) they were soon joined by Potter’s brother Craig, (keyboards) and played their first gig in 1990 as ‘Mr Soft,’ which was later shortened to ‘Soft.’ In 2016 Jupp left the band, and Alex Reeves took over the drumming and percussion duties.

In 1997 the band changed their name to ‘Elbow,’ The name was inspired by a line from the 1986 BBC television drama ‘The Singing Detective’ in which the character Philip Marlow describes the word elbow as the loveliest word in the English language. Elbow have released nine studio Albums between 2001-2021, with their debut Album ‘Asleep in the Back’ receiving a ‘Mercury Music Prize’ nomination, and their fourth Album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid,’ winning the ‘Mercury Music Prize’ in 2008. They have also issued 35 singles between 2001-2021, with eight of those reaching the UK top 40.

‘One Day Like This’ was the second single released from Elbow’s fourth studio Album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ from 2008. On it’s release the song reached Number 35 in the UK, but after Elbow performed it at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012, the song saw a resurgence in sales, and this time reached a new peak of Number 4.

‘One Day Like This’ was written by Guy Garvey, and produced by Craig Potter. Garvey has said that the line ‘One day like this a year would see me right,’ had been a lyric he had thought of as a teenager, and written in his diary, with the intention of using it sometime when the right song came along. Garvie has also stated that he wrote the song the day he woke up to a beautiful morning,’After being with someone and waking up with them for the first time.’ When the band first recorded the song, and added the strings, they thought it sounded like ‘Hey Jude,’ by the Beatles, (see also best songs 6) they also thought the song was similar to ‘Loaded,’ by Primal Scream. (see also best songs 724) Garvie said that he felt it was the ‘generous’ thing to do, to give those associations to the listener.

‘What made me behave that way? Using words I never say. I can only think it must be love, oh, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day.’