Divine Comedy는 Neil Hannon이 주축으로 1990년부터 활동한 그룹으로 orchestral pop, chamber pop으로 통상 분류되는 그룹입니다. 뭐, 쟝르때문에 아시겠지만, 오케스트레이션이 많이 들어가는 음악을 들려주고, 하논의 저음이 매력적인 그룹이네요.

위의 곡은 2006년에 발표된 Victory for the Comic Muse라는 음반에 실린 곡인데, 가사가 클리셰냐 여러가지 레퍼런스를 많이 담고 있는 곡이기도 합니다. 예를들어, 앞쪽에 나오는 Noel은 Noel Coward를 가리킨다던가 하는 식으로요. 가사가 영국 상류사회 여성과 시대변화 그리고 물질주의에 대해서 이야기를 하고 있네요.

Back in the day you had been part of the smart set
You'd holidayed with kings, dined out with starlets
From London to New York, Cap Ferrat to Capri
In perfume by Chanel and clothes by Givenchy
You sipped camparis with David and Peter
At Noel's parties by Lake Geneva
Scaling the dizzy heights of high society
Armed only with a cheque-book and a family tree

[Chorus]
You chased the sun around the Cote d'Azur
Until the light of youth became obscured
And left you on your own and in the shade
An English lady of a certain age
And if a nice young man would buy you a drink
You'd say with a conspiratorial wink
"You wouldn't think that I was seventy"
And he'd say,"no, you couldn't be!"

You had to marry someone very very rich
So that you might be kept in the style to which
You had all of your life been accustomed to
But that the socialists had taxed away from you
You gave him children, a girl and a boy
To keep your sanity a nanny was employed
And when the time came they were sent away
Well that was simply what you did in those days

[Chorus]

Your son's in stocks and bonds and lives back in Surrey
Flies down once in a while and leaves in a hurry
Your daughter never finished her finishing school
Married a strange young man of whom you don't approve
Your husband's hollow heart gave out one Christmas Day
He left the villa to his mistress in Marseilles
And so you come here to escape your little flat
Hoping someone will fill your glass and let you chat about how

[Chorus]