The River - Tom Chaplin

Welcome to The Wave!
This is the place where you’ll find lots of new and exciting things being revealed over the coming months. First up I was very lucky to work with veteran photographer Derek Hudson to create a beautiful set of images that accompany each of the songs on the record. You can find these below. As time goes on I’ll be introducing you to the lyrics and giving you insights into how and why each song was written.
tc x

Start Exploring

Still Waiting

"If there is a narrative of going from dark to light through the course of my record, then Still Waiting is firmly rooted in the darkest place"

Tom chats about Still Waiting Hear Tom discussing the song's artwork

Still Waiting
Buried in the rubble
There’s a boy in trouble
Reaching for a piece of the sky
Clawing at the wreckage
Sending out a message
Dying to get back to the light
Lost in time
Long forgotten
Hung forever
On the line
Still waiting behind
Still waiting
Forever left to wonder why
Still waiting
In truth I know that really I’m
Still out there
Still waiting
A wandering ghost for evermore
Still out there
Still waiting
I feel like I’ve been here before
I had never reckoned
Ever coming second
Stretching to get over the line
But I’m all in pieces
Sick as all my secrets
Still now how they weigh on my mind
Lost in time
Long forgotten
Hung forever
On the line
Still waiting behind
Phantoms in the shadows howl
To devils on the edge of town
Passing through the city walls
Dancing down the hollow halls
Vultures in the inky haze
Circle where my body lays
I’ve got to get a message out
Pull me from the wreckage now

Hardened Heart

"In January of 2015 I hit an all-time low point in my life"

Tom discusses the Hardened Heart artwork Listen to Tom talk about Hardened Heart

It’s such a beautiful world
So why do I feel so down?
I should be heading for somewhere
Instead of spinning around round round
I’m flying outta control
Headlong into the ground
And all the people that love me
They never know if I’m up down or round
Everything I’ve got
I’m gonna lose the lot
How I wish that I was not
Hurting everyone I know
Bringing everybody down so low
Stuck along a road of sadness
With nowhere to go
But it’s a beautiful world
And so I’m joining the crowd
It’s way too hard on my own
I really need a way out out out
Taking what I’ve got
Happy with my lot
Now I know that I am not
Hurting everyone I know
Bringing everybody down so low
Stuck along a road of sadness
With nowhere to go
Here’s hoping that the signs are real
And tomorrow with a spring in my heel
Somewhere on the road of sadness lies a better deal
Oh I know that my hardened heart is beating still
I drove it to the point of madness just to feel
Something real
Something real

The River

"The River is a song about the perils of nostalgia, about new-found confidence and moving on"

Tom chats about The River Listen to Tom discuss the song's artwork

I’m walking down the empty streets we used to know
With all those teenage dreams of conquering the world
In between the boats along the quay
Same old river staring back at me
She’s watching everybody come and go
Carried here then washed away given to the flow
But every time I go back there
I feel I’m winding up nowhere
Why keep asking it to deliver
When those days are way down the river
It’s gotta be time that I move on
The good old days they are long gone
Let it carry me into the future
Out of the background
Into the foreground
Giving it all to the river
So meet me somewhere new on some bright afternoon
When you have shed the skin that holds me back from you
Oh everything you want was long ago
Carried off and washed away given to the flow
The river rolls on rolls on
Forever rolls on rolls on

Worthless Words

"I knew I was on borrowed time but still couldn’t seem to help myself"

Listen to Tom discussing the song's artwork Tom chats about Worthless Words

The undercurrent is stronger today
This time it’s different I’ll keep it at bay
Who am I kidding I dial the number anyway
I feel it for a moment, yeah for a moment
I’m a pretender to a glorious throne
By 10.07 as I’m driving it home
I’m flying high but completely on my own
I feel it for it a moment
I’m sorry, so sorry
I’m sorry now now now
Gave my faithful heart
Over to rack and ruin
Cracked and crushed somewhere
Another star-crossed has been
Lost a world away
These worthless words I say
Like sorry
Three days later I’m fighting for breath
Death sees me look out over the edge
A soft sweet whisper says “careful where you tread”
I hear it for a moment
I’m sorry
I’m sorry now, now now now
So sorry

I Remember You

'I wanted the song to be like a Jungian dream’

Hear Tom talking about I Remember You Learn more about the I Remember You artwork

I, I remember you
You are really me
Standing in the sea
Watching as the waves
End your happy days
Many moons ago
And longer than you know
Yeah if I close my eyes
I can see you fighting in the tide
And it’s so hard to let the memory die
So I just wanna know if you’re alright
And so, I build a big machine
It’s cleverer than I, I could ever dream
I get inside and I’m
Travelling through time
Stepping out the door
I find I’m by the shore
I don’t believe my eyes
But somehow you are standing at my side
It’s good to know that you are still alive
Cos I remember you
You are really me
Drowning in the sea
Swallowed by the rush of the rising tide
Tethered to a rock
Picking at a lock
All the while the fire inside you dies
So what else can I do
But remember you

Bring The Rain

"Bring The Rain is about rejuvenation and hope"

Tom chats about the song Hear Tom discuss the Bring The Rain artwork

Is this the end
Or the calm before the storm?
Is this the wind we used to fly on?
It spins the dust
Where once it whistled through the corn
The barren ground as hard as iron
But I can sense a change is coming
A sudden stillness in the air
I can see the back clouds brewing
Dark descending everywhere
So bring the rain
Flood the skies
Till the earth
Is fit to burst
Springing into life
There’s a place
Where a desert orchid grows
Divines the water from the fire
A proud reminder of a never ending hope
A symbol of the heart’s desire
And I can hear a church bell ringing
Somewhere in a far off town
Somewhere there’s a songbird singing
All that’s gone must come around
So bring the rain
Flood the skies
Till the earth
Is fit to burst
Springing into life
Thunderclouds
Fill the skies
Till the earth
Is fit to burst
Springing into life
Spring spring spring it’s springing
Spring spring a new beginning
Teeming in the rolling rivers
Rivers running rife
Spring spring spring it’s springing
Spring spring a new beginning
Till the earth
Is fit to burst
And springing into life

Hold On To Our Love

"Hold On To Our Love is a pleading love letter"

Tom chats about the song's artwork Hear Tom's thoughts on Hold On To Our Love

Baby we’ve been talking
All so insincere
Just to fill the gap
And maybe we’re sleepwalking
Down a road of fear
Straight into a trap
Time has come between us
Scratched a hole and let the darkness in
A shadow in between us
It’s slowly taking over everything
So we’ve gotta hold on to our love
Drag our bones from the dust
We have gotta hope we’re strong enough
Whatever the world throws at us
We have gotta hold on to our love
So baby let’s go walking
Walking hand in hand
Down the road of fear
Well now’s the time for talking
The time to understand
How we wound up here
Don’t let the world defeat us
Tear the future from the hands of time
Two battle hardened dreamers
Setting out across the cold black night
Yeah we’ve gotta hold on to our love
Drag our bones from the dust
We have gotta hope we’re strong enough
Whatever the world throws at us
We have gotta hold on to our love

Quicksand

"Musically, we wanted the song to tread that fine line between joy and despair, while making the chorus heartfelt and uplifting"

Listen to Tom talk about Quicksand Listen to Tom talk about the Quicksand artwork

You’ll be knocked out
Come around
Shot down
Shatter on the stony ground
Yeah take it from me
It’s how it’ll be
Your dreams will come true
Fall through
Screw you
Batter you to black and blue
Yeah take it from me
It’s how it’ll be
Love’s gonna leave you broken
Time’s gonna work you over
You get up, you get up
You keep rolling on
Life’s gonna bring you glory
But there’s another side to the story
You get up and suck it up
You keep rolling on
But if you crash land
In the quicksand
I will pick you up
I’ll pull you out
And if the world shakes
Your brittle heart breaks
We will patch it up
We’ll work it out
La la la la la la
We will patch it up
We’ll work it out
You’ll be on track
On the rack
Bounce back
Wheeling down a bumpy road
Yeah take it from me
That’s how it’ll be
Through the good times
The sad times
Oh off you go
But take it from me
Whatever you need
Love’s gonna leave you broken
Time’s gonna work you over
You get up, you get up
You keep rolling on

Solid Gold

"Solid Gold is the second of the album’s love letters"

Hear Tom discussing the track's artwork Tom chats about Solid Gold

LISTEN TO SOLID GOLD FT. JONES NOW

You gave me solid gold
But to my touch, it felt cold
You gave me something real
I saw sorcery, I saw alchemy
God I was lonely
Stuck in my own skin
In spite of my pride
I finally let you in
And now I see it now I’m certain
I see you with my eyes opened
Trusting that our love
Our love is enough
Solid gold and perfect to the touch
Our love was torn apart
A victim of my raging heart
But you gathered it all up
There at the bitter end
Piecing it back again
God I would always
Wind up such a mess
Took me so long to
Find out I was blessed
Yes
And now I see it now I’m certain
I see you with my eyes opened
Trusting that our love
Our love is enough
Solid gold and perfect to the touch
You’ll never be lonely
Never be lonely not again
I’m letting you in and now
You’ll never be lonely
Never be lonely not again
No, no, no

See It So Clear

Tom discusses the song Listen to Tom chat about the artwork

There’s a photograph
In celluloid
Some little boy
A sweet sad paragraph
I wrote in the
School magazine
And if I close my eyes
Then it all comes back to me
Under sunny skies
When I was seventeen
But all these solid certainties
They had sadness underneath
And all these happy memories
They have spaces in between
Oh I see it now
See it now
Look back and see
From shadows
The loneliness
Reaching for me
I will give it a home
So it’s never alone
It was buried so deep but
I see it now
See it now
Look back and see
From shadows
The loneliness
Reaching for me
I will give it a home
So it’s never alone
Now there’s nothing to fear
I see it so clear
Online video
Low quality
I’m watching me
Why I’ll never know
What’s dead and gone
Keeps holding on
I try to shut my mind
But it still comes back to me
Under different skies
Now I’m 33
When all life’s solid certainties
Have been shaken to the core
No defeats, no victories
I won’t fight it anymore

The Wave

"THE WAVE FELT LIKE IT WOULD BE A PERFECT WAY TO CLOSE THE RECORD"

Tom tells us about The Wave Listen to Tom discuss The Wave artwork

Flotsam and jetsam
Always
At the mercy of the ocean
Drawn on the trade winds
Gathered up
And swallowed by the motion
High hopes and young dreams
Unrequited love
Misplaced devotion
Time will sweep these things aaway
And I’ll be carried by the wave
Carried by the wave
Carried by the wave
My soul surrendered to the undertow
Driven by the tide
I’m heading for the shore
These lonely scattered pieces heading home
Caught on the high wire
Quarry for the demons down below
Held in slow motion
Frozen by the thought of letting go
Time will sweep these things away
And I’ll be carried by the wave
Carried by the wave
Carried by the wave
My soul surrendered to the undertow
Driven by the tide
I’m heading for the shore
These lonely scattered pieces heading home
Like it was before
Joined forever more
These lonely scattered pieces heading home
Heading home
Heading home