HAMLET



performed on:

Even as OLIVES & SUCH was roundly panned, it was impossible not to notice the delicate beauty of this track, an incredibly potent and sincere love song recorded through a vocoder, with distant synths and the album's only electric guitar, not to mention its only lyrics, sung in an extraordinary duet by Nick and Janet. For a time, it was said by some fans that this was the only reason to buy OLIVES & SUCH. They took this back when the maxi-single for "Us" featured an even better acoustic version. Many were appalled that this did not become a single, to say nothing of its omission from HERD POLITICS; it was pulled out with regularity during the acoustic sets on the Diplomacy Tour and, a bit less frequently, in the 2001 gigs as well.

Another (very beautiful) version of "Hamlet" was recorded by Nick and Janet alone on the LOVE tape, released as a b-side to "Rose" in 2005.


a long time ago you were walking
up on the telephone wire
I spotted you and you threw me for a loop
all my plans changed overnight

years of culture
years of knowledge
years of wisdom
couldn't explain

I've read Hamlet, I've read the bible
Moby Dick, Koran, and Dickens
Slaughterhouse-5 and the Catcher in the Rye
but I never found anything like this

years later came my turn to touch you
it was like a torch
burning my hand and I couldn't move it
couldn't turn away, never

I've read Hamlet, I've read the bible
Moby Dick, Koran, and Dickens
Slaughterhouse-5 and the Catcher in the Rye
but I never found anything like you