Song of the Day — September 22
Damien Rice — “The Blower’s Daughter”
Damien Rice — “The Blower’s Daughter”
22.September.2020
Damien Rice
“The Blower’s Daughter”
2001
Dublin born Damien Rice began his career with rock band Juniper.
After signing with Polygram Records, the band floundered and was unable to realize any success. Deciding to pack it in, Rice moved to Tuscany to pick up farming for a spell before returning to Ireland.
His return to Ireland was just long enough to plot out his own busking tour of Europe. “The Blower’s Daughter” was born on that tour.
The song became Rice’s first top-40 hit, and its success prompted a return to the studio. Partnering with producer David Arnold, he began recording his debut album. Enlisting the help of guitarist Mark Kelly, New York drummer Tom Osander aka Tomo, Paris pianist Jean Meunier, vocalist Lisa Hannigan and cellist Vyvienne Long, Rice produced his debut solo album, O, in 2002.
“The Blower’s Daughter” is embedded as the third track of Rice’s debut album, O, an atmospheric, haunting, and hurting album of love — the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The song is also an integral part of the 2004 film Closer, written by Patrick Marber (based on his play), directed by Mike Nichols and starring:
Jude Law
Julia Roberts
Clive Owen
Natalie Portman
Closer is about betrayal, deceit, and hurt. In other words, all things that circle the orbit of love.
The haunting loneliness that accompanies a love that isn’t reciprocated is as central to Closer as it is to the sound and theme of “The Blower’s Daughter.” If you’ve ever loved someone who you know can’t, or won’t, return your love, then you not only hear the pain in Rice’s voice, but you also feel it.
The Blower’s Daughter
And so it is just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is the shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes
And so it is just like you said it should be
We’ll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is the colder water
The Blower’s daughter
The pupil in denial
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes off you
I can’t take my eyes
Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to leave it all behind?
I can’t take my mind off you
I can’t take my mind off you
I can’t take my mind off you
I can’t take my mind off you
I can’t take my mind off you
I can’t take my mind
My mind, my mind
’Til I find somebody new
What is a “blower”?
A blower could refer to a glassblower or a player of woodwinds. Although unsubstantiated, some consider that the song is about the daughter of Rice’s clarinet teacher (the “blower”).
It could also be referring to a communications device. Before the UK had telephones, they had a “speaking tube.” This tube had whistles at both ends, and to call the person on the other end, you would remove the stopper and blow into the tube, which would whistle for your party — a “blower.” By the time the telephone made its way across the Atlantic, many in Britain continued calling it a ‘blower.’”
Damien Rice has never spoken much about his songs, and “The Blower’s Daughter” has raised many eyebrows about what it means. Like some of the best pop songs, it has a different meaning for anyone who listens.
For me, “The Blower’s Daughter” is about hurt. The hurt of the heart. That’s a kind of pain that will dull with time but never escapes. You can replace the person, but you can’t replace the love:
I can’t take my mind off you
I can’t take my mind
My mind, my mind
’Til I find somebody new
“The Blower’s Daughter” became a hit again in 2014 for Rice when The Voice contestant Matt McAndrew covered it. McAndrew’s performance of the song took it to #40 on the Hot 100.
O revealed audiences to Damien Rice’s exposed nerve, open-hearted approach to songwriting, and the album would achieve widespread acclaim. It produced a minor hit with the song “Cannonball” and selling 500,000 copies in the United States.
Rice explained his goal in recording O wasn’t about documenting hurt but “to forget about everybody else and make the next record that we’re making just for ourselves again, because there’s something about being in a space where you’re not thinking of other people. You’re just in a moment creating music and emotion and in a space with people you feel comfortable with. And that for me is the essence of what it is that we’ve done and what it is we do.”
John Meagher of The Irish Independent described O as “one of the great Irish cultural success stories of the decade.”
Nineteen years on, “The Blower’s Daughter” reveals itself to be what only the best love’s of your life are …timeless, never forgotten.