Jimmy Nail 'Big River'

Chart Peak: 18

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Jimmy follows last year's hugely successful 'Crocodile Shoes' project with this new single 'Big River' on 16th October 1995... He says "It's about me, about my life, about my life, it's the most personal song I've ever written."

As this is the first time Mr Nail has cropped up on here, it's probably worth throwing in some backstory for any non-British readers. Jimmy Nail (b. James Aloysius Bradford) is an actor from the North-East of England who first rose to fame in the popular-with-people-who-were-old-enough-to-be-allowed-to-watch-it TV series Auf Wiedersehen Pet. Whilst he didn't get the theme tune gig on that occasion, he soon launched a parallel pop career with some success, including a Number One single with 'Ain't No Doubt' (see Now 22). The Crocodile Shoes referred to in the sleevenote was a popular series and album in which he combined his two careers by playing a (British) country singer, and on the soundtrack he collaborated with local heroes like Paddy McAloon and Mark Knopfler.

Since Nail conceived and scripted the series, it's not surprising that he used the opportunity to pursue the country direction in his solo career: this track has no connection to the Johnny Cash song of the same title but he'd surely have been aware of the coincidence. The setting is purely British though, the big river of the title being the Tyne: Knopfler's back on guitars here and there's some of the sense of place that's intermittently part of his own music. It's a lament for the shipping and other industries that seemingly collapsed in the region during Nail's own lifetime and it's obviously heartfelt, but in places he's less eloquent than he seems to think and over the course of six minutes the song comes over as a little too self-consciously monumental. As for the singing, it suggests that his later album title Ten Great Songs And An OK Voice was a little over-generous. All of which said, I can't bring myself to be too disparaging about a record so well-intentioned.

Also appearing on: Now 5, 22, 30
Available on: The Nail File: the Best of Jimmy Nail