By LINNÉA ENGLANDER
Have we enough to keep it together?Or do we just keep on pretending (and hope our luck is never ending)...
These lines are from one of my favourite songs Can’t Stand Me Now which detailed the breakdown of the two chaotic front men in the Libertines. They describe the bad situation they were in at that time, which included drugs and the disturbance between the two of them. When you listen to this song and know a little bit about the history of the band you can really feel the hate but also the love that they had for each other.
Nowadays when you hear the name Pete Doherty, you often associate him with drugs and the supermodel Kate Moss. Okay, he has a really big drug problem and he is in an on and of relationship with Kate but the story does not end there.
He is, in my perspective, one of the best writers and musicians in our time. When I heard the song Music When the Light Go Out for the first time I thought that it sounded really weird. I had never heard anything like it. I did not think it sounded good, but in a strange way I liked it. The lyrics were a little bit hard to understand, and I did not really get the point of it. But after listening to it a few times I was in love with the song. I started listening more to the music and after one or two weeks, I was totally possessed of the mysterious lyrics and tunes, and I wanted to know everything about them.
After a long research on every odd and fake page on the internet I got a slight understanding of who they were. Nowadays, when I know almost everything about them, I can really say that the internet is sometimes full of rubbish. Anyway, the information about them made me feel even more interested and after reading through almost every song lyrics I really liked them. You can not write down their whole life story in one single page because it is just so much. But here is a shorter version: Pete and Carl Barat met through Pete’s sister when Carl was studying drama and Pete English literature. After a while they moved in together and then formed a band named The Libertines. Pete explains that a libertine like a person who is free and enjoying life in every sense (just compare to the movie The Libertine).They made a big success in the UK and even in the US. In 2004 the band split up. Pete was kicked out because of his drug abuse the tabloids told us, but I know that it was a little bit more complicated than that.
I can not say which album I prefer most, but the debut Up the Bracket with its wonderful song: The Good Old Days is one of my favourites. The lines:
It's not about, tenements and needlesand all the evils in their eyesand the backs of their mindsDaisy chains and school yard gamesAnd a list of things we said we'd do tomorrowA list of things we said we'd do tomorrow
just make me feel like screaming! I construe that the lyrics are about that you should not care what other people think and say about you because life is more than that.
I especially like the line: a list of things we said we’d do tomorrow because sometimes it really feels like you want to set about doing things, but you just sit and dream of it.
The second album, the self-titled the Libertines with it’s What Became Of the Likely Lads? and the lines What became of the dreams we had?, and What Became of Forever? which tells the story about the cruel breakdown of the deep and sensitive friendship between Pete and Carl and the following collapse of the band, it is really moving and sad.
After reading the book Pete Doherty talking, I must say that I like the first album most, because he tells about the hard times when they recorded the second album, and that they needed security just for being in the same room. So I think the first album, which certainly included some drugs and fights is still more real and sincere than the second, because the whole band was about to split up when they recorded it.
I can go on and on telling you about how great they were, but in some peoples’ eyes they were nothing more that a pair of naive teenagers who wanted a bit of fame and money. Yes, they were young and naive and they wanted money. But who is blaming them? They loved music and poetry and wanted people to hear their work. Which artists do not? And of course they needed money. And where the drugs came in, I do not know. But after reading a lot about them I can just say that it was not Pete who started doing drugs, it was Carl. Even if that is not important I just want to clear that out, since everybody blames Pete for the break-up.
I do not think I will ever feel burned out of them because they have meant so much to me. Even if I feel angrier reading the news everyday about Pete destroying his life with drugs, I know that he is a really kind person who does not want to hurt anybody. He is a poet and a great songwriter and sometimes it feels like that is the price you have to pay.
I will follow Pete through his bad and good times and I will never forget him. For me a Libertines reunion would be almost as good as a Beatles reunion. I think that Carl’s new band Dirty Pretty Things and Pete’s band Babyshambles are really good, but I rather see them together. It is just like splitting up Simon and Garfunkel; both individuals are great alone, for example Art Garfunkel doing Bright Eyes, but, I do not think it could compete with a Simon and Garfunkels song like Bridge over Trouble Water or Sounds Of Silence. Pete’s and Carl’s chemistry are just made to work, even if they have a hard time showing it. I think the drugs are an important player in the game.
In fact, Pete and Carl had a little reunion this year. Pete was playing with his band on a concert and in the middle of the libertine’s song What a Waster, Carl appeared on the stage and they played old Libertines songs, even Babyshambles songs. Pete’s line before Carl came in was: Ladies and gents w/out further ado, I've been waiting for this moment - Mr Carlos Barat! and then after a while he added: nah just kidding, what you expected for 25 quid? So the audience was really shocked when Carl appeared. But I do not know if this reunion is really going to last very long because Babyshambles has just released a new record. But I think there is still hope. In an interview Pete says: I am a libertine and I will always be a libertine, I have got it written on my arm.
P.S. if you want to se the fabulous reunion just enter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is58uFO-rGc , it gives me goose pimples every time! D.S.
