Stuck In Our Head: "The Anchor Song" - Björk

Long time readers may already be well aware of our long-standing devotion and affection for Björk, an artist whose appeal we often struggle to translate into words but holds many emotional and deeply personal connotations for us.

The bulk of Björk's finest work is arguably from her later releases, however 1993's Debut (see what she did there?) stands as evidence that there has always been brilliance in her music. The record holds a special place for us due to, amongst other reasons, giving us "The Anchor Song". A song taken from an album equally dismissed as having dated poorly and being a timeless classic, the track has always inexplicably caught us by the jugular and stirred our emotions like few other songs can.

A simple composition, the song features an unmistakeable hook reminiscent of the theme tune to the BBC adaptations of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, and has lent itself well to the many re-inventions over the years Björk likes to give to her songs (like another favourite female of ours) - the track's original saxophone orchestration has been replaced with an organ for the Post Tour, a full brass band in 2008 for the Volta Tour but most affecting for us was the use of a string quartet on 1998's Homogenic Tour. Enhancing dramatically the subtle but definitely present hint of tragedy in the song, the 1998 version seemed to really grab you and take you through the lyrics.

We idolise and adore Björk, a reverence that is perhaps enhanced further by the fact that she remains one of the very few of our favourite artists yet to have performed for us live. She still seems detached and inaccessible, which of course just makes our love for her greater! Enjoy the song, and please try the Volta version below.

Further reading
"The Anchor Song" on the Volta Tour, 2007