CROWDED HOUSE - SOMETHING SO STRONG

 SOMETHING SO STRONG

CROWDED HOUSE

SONGWRITERS: NEIL MULLANE FINN & MITCHELL FROOM

COUNTRY: AUSTRALIA

ALBUM: CROWDED HOUSE

LABEL: CAPITOL RECORDS

GENRE: POP ROCK

YEAR: 1987

 

       Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn(vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later band members included Neil Finn's brother, Tim Finn, and Americans Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod. The current line-up includes Finn's sons Elroy and Liam and the American keyboard player Mitchell Froom. Neil Finn and Nick Seymour have been the sole constant members of the group since its formation.

        Originally active from 1985 to 1996, Crowded House had consistent commercial and critical success in New Zealand and Australia and international chart success in two phases, beginning with a self-titled debut album that reached number 12 on the US Album Chart in 1987 and provided the Top Ten hits "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong". Further international success came in the UK, Europe and South Africa with their third and fourth albums (Woodface and Together Alone) and the compilation album Recurring Dream, which included the hits "Fall at Your Feet", "Weather with You", "Distant Sun", "Locked Out", "Instinct" and "Not the Girl You Think You Are". Neil and Tim Finn were each awarded an OBE in June 1993 for their contributions to the music of New Zealand.

          In June 1996, Crowded House announced that it would disband. The band played several farewell concerts that year, including the "Farewell to the World" concerts in Melbourne and Sydney. On 26 March 2005, Hester died by suicide, aged 46. In 2006, the group re-formed with drummer Matt Sherrod and released two further albums (in 2007 and 2010), each of which reached number one on Australia's album chart. After several years of inactivity, it was announced a revised line-up of Crowded House would tour the UK in 2020. The new line-up features Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Mitchell Froom, and Finn's sons Liam and Elroy. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band's planned 2020 concerts were postponed.

       As of 2021, Crowded House have sold over 15 million albums worldwide. In November 2016, the band was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

           "Something So Strong" is a rock song written by Neil Finn and Mitchell Froom and performed by Crowded House for their eponymous debut album(June 1986). The track was released as the album's fifth and final single in April 1987. The single peaked at Nº 18 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, Nº 3 in New Zealand, Nº 7 in the United States Billboard Hot 100, and Nº 10 on the Canadian RPM 100.

          The track lends its title to the book, Crowded House: Something So Strong(1997), by Australian biographer Chris Bourke, which details the band's career from forming to just after their breakup in 1996. According to Bourke, "Something So Strong", was the first song written by Finn specifically for Crowded House. However while in the studio, producer, Froom, and Finn reworked parts of the song and as such, Froom is credited as a co-writer. Demos of this song have been linked to Finn's earlier band Split Enz, from the 1984 See Ya 'Round period, potentially making the timeline earlier on this track.

Love can make you weep

Can make you run for cover

Roots that spread so deep

Bring life to frozen ground

 

Something so strong

Could carry us away

Something so strong

Could carry us today

 

Turning in my sleep

Love can leave you cold

A taste of jealousy

Is like a lust for gold

 

Something so strong

Could carry us away

Something so strong

Could carry us today

 

I've been

Feeling so much older

Frame me

And hang me on the wall

I've seen

You fall into the same trap

This thing

Is happening to us all, yeah

 

Something so strong

Could carry us away

Something so strong

Could carry us today

 

Something so strong

Something so strong

Something so strong

Something, something so strong.