| Bell X1 – Amsterdam Says Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Bell X1 have written many beautiful songs but this is my favourite because I can relate to it so personally. There is a melancholic sense of disillusion, rejection and inferiority in the song that is perfect. I lived in the Netherlands as an expat for three years and at the end I felt like this. You admire the place, you marvel at the way it works in spite of itself, you even start to fall in love with it a little. It smiles at you, lets you in a little, but it doesn't want you to stay, not really. Foreigners come and go, they are part of the fabric of the place but they can never really be a part of it. You will never be good enough. Amsterdam doesn't love you in return. For it you are a "hotel". And so your roots will only grow so long. I suspect Noonan was in love with a Dutch girl too, which would have amplified the feelings about NL, as it's unusual for a Dutch girl to choose a non-Dutch partner and relationships can be tough. I expect his relationship with the girl paralleled that of his relationship with the city. |
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