I Trawl The Megahertz (Complete)
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- Since there wasn't any complete video of this track in RUclips, here it is, the full version of "I Trawl the Megahertz" from the album with the same name. A masterpiece by a genius called Paddy McAloon. Hope you all enjoy.
I Trawl the Megahertz
'I Trawl the Megahertz' seems to be a portrait of a woman who is trying to make sense of her life by reviewing selected momories. She is like someone with their hand on a radio dial, turning into distant stations, listening to fragments of different broadcasts. I say 'seems to' because a degree of vagueness suits my purpose and reflects the tentative way in which 'Megahertz' was written.
In 1991 I went through a period of ill health that meant I was unable to write music in my usual manner - that is, hunched over a keyboard and staring cluelessly at a computer screen. (As you are too polite to ask, the problem was eye surgery followed by shingles followed by eye surgery. And while you're down there Nurse...) I found all this frustating as I've been writing songs since 1971, and am subject to itchy, unpleasant withdrawal symptoms if I cannot work. So, unable even to read, I passed the time by listening to and tapping all kinds of T.V and radio programmes, concentrating on phone-ins, chat shows, citizen's band conversations, military encryptions - you name it, I was eavesdropping on it.
The more cynical among you are probably anticipating where all this is leading - an announcement to the effect that I have discovered a cure for insomnia. All right, so ninety percent of the stuff I recorded was boring: but isn't ninety percent of most things? What actually happened is that, almost against my will, I started to edit mentally some of the things I'd heard. Odd words from documentaries would cross-pollinate with melancholy confidences aired on late night phone-ins; phrases that originated in different time zones on different frequencies would team up to make new and oddly affecting sentences. And I would change details to protect the innocent (or guilty), to streamline the story that I could hear emerging, and to make it all more ... musical, I suppose.
It now seems obvious that this was the thwarted lyric writers' subconscious taking control: unable to write songs, it was organizing what I had collected into something that was part love song and part lament. (Have you any idea how many sad stories are floating over the airwaves after midnight?) To be frank, the finished item required a good deal of intervention and finessing (with respect, the average citizen's band exchange is not in the front line of the war against cliche) So I own up to jettisoning a lot of the source material that had been like scaffolding for the piece, and as the narrator's character became clearer. I filled in a lot of details of her story myself.
Eventually, and ironically, I came to write and shape all of 'I Trawl the Megahertz' music on a computer. In fact, I cannot think of anything else I've written that is so dependent on technology for its existence. For it is a sad fact that I am a musical ignoramus who has found dedicatd music software invaluable. Without it I simply have no means of road-testing certain ideas. (If I asked, I still wouldn't be able to play a single bar of this record, as it was all written - after the fashion of a monkey at a word processor - straight onto the score page of my computer screen.)
With this shameful admission, it is entirely appropiate that I now thank Calum Malcolm and David McGuinness who breached the gap between my virtual midi-instrument world and that of real players: thank guys for helping to translate my illiterate ideas into scores that professional musicians could read without laughing. And thanks to these musicians for their patience and skill, and to Keith Armstrong, for again finding a way to finance an ambitious recording. Finally, a word about the mysterious Yvonne Connors - the voice of 'I Trawl the Megahertz.' She was recorded between 6.15pm and 8.45pm in roon 551 of The Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington, London, on October 25th, 1999. What more do you need to know? I now cannot imagine the piece without her. So thank you Yvonne, and thank you V. and Lucy Cuthbertson who led me to you, I hope you enjoy this record which is dedicated to my brothers, Martin and Michael.
Paddy McAloon
www.ferhiga.com/prefab/psn_eng.htm#trawl
There’s no words to describe the shiver you feel the first time hearing this when you hear the full phrase ‘your daddy loves you, I said your daddy loves you very much, he just doesn’t want to live with us anymore’ that second time toward the end. It’s otherworldly
I choked up the first time I heard the second iteration of that phrase. It puts everything before it into heartbreaking context.
perfect, even for those dont lived through that experience of abandon it tackles on an human emotional baggage that goes beyond everything.
"Forgive me, I am sleepwalking
I am jangling along to some song of the moment
Suffering it's sweetness
Luxuriating in it's feeble aproximation of starlight
Meanwhile there is a real world
Trains are late, doctors are breaking bad news
But I am living in a lullaby"
That's how I feel sometimes. Thanks for being able to put it into words Paddy.
This is by far one of the most beautiful musical and written pieces I have ever experienced.
Right on!
In complete agreement.
Edgelord
Totally agree with you !!! An amazing album written by a true genius. If you like this I think you may want to give 'Sound Echo Location' by Honeyroot a listen. It came out in 2005. It was a project by Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17) and Keith Lowndes . I heard about 20 seconds one day on the Classic FM channel and bought the album on the strength of that and I was not disappointed. I have over 1000 albums and this one is for me the most complete. The last track is a piano version of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' which is amazing. I also have the DVD 'Vision Echo Location' which depicts their thoughts about each song. Let me know what you think, cheers
Sam H recommended this...but it sounds like 1980s New York wank to me tbh.
"Repeat after me: Happiness is only a habit"
I have waited fourteen years to find out who the artist is since hearing it first on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction in another lifetime - always thought it was Laurie Anderson, until now - so glad of this upload .
Lucky you, I've been waiting 88 years.
I remember receiving this by "mistake" from an online supplier.
The most mind bending piece of music perhaps written......ever the dull alchemist
how'd that happen?
I just watched 22 minutes pass in 5. Thank you Sam for showing me this music. I never cried when I was a baby, but for the past 22 minutes, I might as well have been one.
I too trawl. This is fast becoming my favorite piece of music ever written. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since hearing it. I feel numb to the world, and sorry for the world, or at least those that will never understand the beauty of this epoch.
DeadtiredFastasleep just YES
shrew972 i came back to trawl. this reminds me of DMT
trawl?
@@nicnotnick trawl the megahertz
I have always loved this. Perhaps overwritten at times, but deeply, deeply moving. Extraordinary. It's a desert island disc. Paddy, you are a hero to me. Thank you for this wonderful work which will always stay with me. Always. Love it. "You are the Cherry Madonna and all of the summer is yours..." beauty beauty beauty..."nothing is ever lost"...
This is one of my favourite comments
Been listening to this for years now. Often late At night. It has a lovely cleansing feel about it and more often than not brings me to tears.
insanely inarticulate lol
haha le sudden white boi humor le edge de la half-ironic obscenity lelele give the upvotes
Is there such thing uplifting melancholy. I don't know how else to describe how I feel from this. I feel a sense of despair, but also a sense of comfort, and hope.
One of the deepest, most intense, breath keeping albums I've ever heard
this is a good piece of music. it deserves to be free from these stupid associations & irrelevant attachments.
the candymans tribe
Holy.
Shit.
It's ageing well already. A masterpiece.
I was a PS fan in the 80’s and paddy was ahead on the curve in consciousness terms back then. Like him and me and a lot of people of that generation the years have gone quickly pressing one’s self awareness and ego. Trawl speaks to me in that way, as does 49. Poetic and haunting, deeply touching, beautiful and melancholic in a way that you would only understand having come through life and had that experience. I am happy to journey with paddy thru the years and look forward to his next incarnation.
thanks sam
+Melanitta nigra I didn't know he had such a patrician taste.
+Melanitta nigra He has better musical senses than Fantany Mantangelo
+Melanitta nigra i cried
+weevlos oh my lord weev
bird nigga
This song feels like the last thing the universe will say before collapsing to be reborn.
I thought Sam said he liked ringtone music....this is one hell of a ringtone.
Twenty years old this year and still beautiful.
Theres beautiful shit from 2000 years ago. Timeless is timeless
I've been listening to Paddy since Swoon came out,this is ethereal music which can touch your heart,thank you Mr.McAloon!
This truly is a memorable, multi-faceted piece of music. I find it moves in many directions yet moves in a smooth flow. What I also find is that new words appear the more you listen to it, like hidden rooms in a huge castle which you discover as you explore it. My only regret is not discovering it until a few years after it came out in 2003 despite being a big Prefab Sprout fan I really love this track & album. a masterpiece written by a truly talented individual. Paddy McAloon, true genius!
really makes you think...
well it actually does, beyond the meme statement there
So sad, so beautiful, so ultimately uplifting.
“From an acorn of interest, I will cultivate whole forests of affection”
When I am ever feeling melancholic I listened to this piece of music and it so beautifully compliments my mood...
It's mind boggling that this album is actually difficult to get hold of when it's one of the most beautiful albums ever created. It's even more poignant when you learn that he wrote it at a time when he had gone blind (if I've understood the back-story correctly).
Words can not express how this song makes me feel. It sounds cliche but i'm thinking of a way to describe these emotions and i just can't. It's all gonna be alright.
I know what you mean.
actually this is just the title track off the album.
Sam was really choked up by this.
type to make a grown niqqa cry
really brings me to tears...
TheEnixSquared lmao what a pussy
Nvm i just cried
what's going on big guy?
You just tripped my wife.
right now i cry, but it feels really good, it's cleansing...
Again and again. I can't get over this
any severe beasts tho
the thing that I most appreciate of this piece is that is made up by two distinctive melodies that crisscross each other during the all song. Bravo!
I'm very frustrated! I'm been listening Paddy for a quite long time now..but my poor english can't help me to catch the real sens of this wonderfull lyrics.. Paddy is really a genius.. and I only can appreciate his voice and his melodies. My favorite band..my favorite singer..really magic!
I see you 👁👁
yes
mde never dies; mde sometimes cries
Pretension can be beautiful, as we all know. but deny.
Breath taking track. Rarely do you get this kind of heart rending music.
this is just amazing:
always loved Paddy words and mood.
Thanks Paddy.
так звучить гаряче світло що заливає приміщення у весняний день, так звучать уривки снів що хаотично виринають в думках, так звучить теплий вітер гуляючий горами. приємно.
Beautiful. Hypnotic. Healing. Wonderful. I give thanks. 🙏🙏🙏🎙🎙🎙
Sam you made me a fan of this, thanks this is great
Paddy is an angel on earth
a beautiful piece of music from a wonderful album - I've spent many an hour immersed in its richness :-)
Hannah Peel doesn't know this, but she brought me here.
Funnily enough, now that I am listening on RUclips, I am picturing her reciting the words.
I loved the Jordan: The Comeback and songs tour I caught in Oxford, England, in either '89 or '90. He's a master musician for sure. As they say, "He's a modern day Shakespeare."
Re-released on the 01 Feb 2019, this time as a Prefab Sprout album.
Amazon £9.99
A great piece of music! A masterpiece i heard so manny times in my road trips!
I need to buy this!
Thank you very much.. really a beautiful song....
Paddy is a genius in every sense and on all levels.
"....Still, my eyes are fixed upon
the place I last saw you,
your signal urgent but breaking,
before you became cotton in a blizzard,
a plane coming down behind enemy lines...."
------------> what a paragraph, my God!....
First time of hearing it today and already I like it, even the American narration.
Absolutely awesome
Love it love it
Just listen to the words and the haunting music
So good and light's years ahead
AMAZING! as he always is!
this is incredible!
God gave you nothing, and he took it all away.
An awesome song by an awesome musician.
Absolutely gorgeous. My fav album so far of the 21st century
Brings me to tears every time. So fucking great.
+Joseph Strasser The chills as well.
thanks sam you are very great comedian and I am not an altrighter. This songs makes me wanna bring peace to world and excel toward great future to humanity.7
Jyoti Tewari what's altright, some kind of indie bookstore?
Glad there's another fan of Hyde out there who doesn't find it necessary to share his nihilistic shitbubble of a worldview.
@@nothingsusual his worldview isn't nihilistic lol
"bring peace to world"
One might even say world peace
never heard anything like this...unique
You keep thinking Paddy is going to come in singing at the beginning of each section on I Trawl The Megahertz. Like some wispy b-side.
wouldn't that be amazing...
the most benign phrases from this keep giving me pink belly
Fantastic.
fabulous music!
Weird but engaging. Love Paddy.
I never cared for the album as a whole, but if ever there were a third-stream 'standard' outside of "Rhapsody in Blue" then, by God, this would be it.
My family thinks this sucks, but I really like it.
disavow your family. they are twats.
3edgy4me
*I GAVE SAM HYDE DIRTY BACKSHOTS TO THIS MASTERPIECE*
i like how sam called jazz blibbity bloop and contrived but cried to this lolol
Love this more than most Paddy's work - remember most best works occur when the maestro is DEAF - love this - makes me think (for once) howay the lads xxx
Just found out about this, what a beautiful song
Patrick Joseph MacAloon Irish genius.
Geordie.
I like this very much
wonderful music, genius
wow this is amazing
never failed me yet ;)
@shrew972: Jesus' blood? (Gavin Bryars)
Every year i listen to this, it's a different song altogether.
extraordinary
I think this may be the perfect album to decide whether or not it is worth for me to discuss music with someone. As in: if they don't like this, why even bother?
Yes!
John Thelin Don't give up on me if i am yet to understand,love Sprout and even now want to learn,i know and sense this is a way.
John Thelin For me, finding out that a person harbours blinkered and pompous attitudes on music - such as yours - is enough for me to decide the same thing.
If you don't get it, I can only offer my condolences.
John Thelin I'm here because I enjoy the music but I find your opinion to be obnoxious and downright cringeworthy - regardless of our shared taste. You're no different to a teenage girl who loves 1D and belittles those who don't... although she has adolescence as an excuse. What's yours?
So so good.
Extraordinary
Listened as Mr. Hyde suggested.
This is something I've been waiting to listen to for a long time.
I've listened to this album dozens of times in recent years. It often strikes me as excessive and over-worked in many ways... and yet, and yet. There's something decidedly magical about the whole work, not just the headline track. By comparison the PFS material sounds rather dated - even the more recent stuff - and far less original. I wish he'd continue producing material this inspired.
I'd have to disagree. Paddy's Prefab music sound more like standards with each passing year, to these ears at least. Cheers!
Agradecido . Obra maestra.
So this is what broke the mass shooter?
amazing
Mommy, is this what people used to call 'beauty' before it disapeared?
I always think of the Uma Thurman narration from Kill Bill when I listen to this
Andromeda Heights : We'll go there some day!!
+Jim Hannigan is that the location? I had a similar thought :)
:)
Really a class album!!
sounds like heaven. invite only?
Andromeda Heights : Top shelf songwriting, regrettable production, making Jordan the last great Sprout classic.
@@TheFpCassini fully agree jordan is so much deeper complete work to andromeda............. jordan the comeback a brilliant piece off songwriting
thanks VICE. left-leaning media does more to distribute alternative/trolling culture more than trolling culture ever could. Every time MSM cries and bitches about something they think belongs in a gulag, I will go and check it out. Thanks again VICE.
Sam Hyde loves this so much he just forced Ted on fishtank season 3 to read through it I recogniced it as soon as he read the first 3 words in the confessional
Good suggestion sam
reminds me of spirited away
One of the only good anime
listened to the whole thing, thanks for this sam. you're a real fucking gay boii
dude's gayer than most
who the fuck is sam hyde
A man who committed many terrorist attacks and mass shootings. I can't believe he gets away with it.
Sipping mountain dew and tipping my fedora to this tonight