“Since Yesterday,” Strawberry Switchblade
It is rumored that when Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall formed as a duo, they called themselves Strawberry Switchblade after a song that their friend, James Kirk of Orange Juice, may have written. This ambiguity feeds nicely into the flourishing mythos of rock music—details aren’t often exciting, but they can be when they’re not quite true. Either way, Strawberry Switchblade is a killer name, and such a great identity for a girl group.
“Since Yesterday” was included on 1985’s Strawberry Switchblade, the only album the group ever released. The single charted well in the UK, but was really the only big hit for the duo. The song starts off with heavy horns (a Sibelius sample), but quickly settles into a new wave groove with a prominent band machine playing along to Bryson and McDowall’s very young-sounding voices.
Despite the generally upbeat accompaniment, there is something off-kilter about the melodic lines. The lyrics tell of an almost static existence; yesterday is depicted with tempered fondness, but today is flat: “And as we sit here alone | Looking for a reason to go on | It’s so clear that all we have now | Are our thoughts of yesterday.” Nothing really happens in the course of the track; it is a tribute to the mundane. Stagnancy is the rule, but the lyrics do not explore this as a burden. Rather, being stuck in this state is not something to rail against, for it provides the impetus to write a pop song about relishing those moments, because, “When tomorrow comes you’ll wish | You had today.”
A couple of days ago, my sister told me to turn on BBC Radio 6 because Jim Reid, front man for The Jesus and Mary Chain, was hosting 6 Music Playlist. The programme is a forum for artists to share the music they enjoy and find inspiring. One of Reid’s picks came from a fellow Glaswegian band of the early 1980s, Strawberry Switchblade. Recalling how he used to teasingly be referred to as a “Strawberry Switchblade groupie” because he was such an avid fan, Reid proudly declared that, even after all these years, “I love their music.” Me too.
