Tag: Song of the Week

Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Pentonville Prison

“I was riding home one night on my motorbike. I was in North London. I was on Caledonian Road. I was outside Pentonville Prison. Next thing I knew was I was flying through the air and going straight to the windscreen of a car. This is called Pentonville Prison.” – Damian Lewis

Damian Lewis performing “Pentonville Prison” at St John’s Church in Kingston, UK

Damian Lewis’ second album, Sweet Chaos, is finally here, and with it comes one of the songs fans have been waiting years to hear officially: Pentonville Prison. After making its live debut as “Fate” at Union Chapel in 2023 and becoming a regular highlight of Damian’s concerts, the song has finally found its home on the album.

You can stream or buy Sweet Chaos here. If you want to hear Pentonville Prison and the rest of the album performed live, Damian heads out on his UK tour this October. Tour dates and tickets are available here. And before we dive into the remarkable true story behind the song, if you missed any of our previous Song of the Week features, you can catch up with them all here.

Now, Pentonville is an actual prison on Caledonian Road in Barnsbury, North London. But don’t worry—the track isn’t about Damian doing time there. Instead, it’s inspired by a motorbike accident he had right outside the prison many years ago. Continue reading “Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Pentonville Prison”

Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Soho Tango

“This one is about meeting someone for the very first time and chatting her up on the streets of Soho and thinking I’d closed the deal and she got in the taxi and went home.” – Damian Lewis

We are getting very close now.

With Damian’s new single “Sweet Chaos” finally here and the album with the same title coming in June, the excitement is building. We’re in that waiting period— in the very best way.

So while we wait for the album to drop, we’re continuing our “Song of the Week” series, going back to the songs Damian has written and the stories behind them. And this week’s song takes us to Soho… because, after all, it takes two to tango 🙂

What sounds like a playful Soho story turns out to be the first chapter of a love story. And before I get to unpacking this song for you, if you missed the previous “Song of the Week” posts, you can catch up with them here.

I love the playful storytelling in Damian’s songs, and Soho Tango is no exception. Boy meets girl, boy flirts with girl, boy does not get the girl… 🙂

Two in the morning
Smokin’ on a Soho street
You told jokes, and I was laughin’
I asked if I could kiss you, please

But you said “no”
And you were gone
“I ain’t kissin’ you”
I said, “Why?”
But you had flown
You said, “‘Cause I ain’t in love with you” Continue reading “Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Soho Tango”

Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Zaragoza

“The lush blues sound of ‘Zaragoza’ perfectly blends his whisky-parched vocal with the excellent band surrounding him.” – Clash Music

Damian Lewis at Hoxton Hall, March 2023

Over the past months, our Song of the Week series has been taking us deep into the stories behind Mission Creep — one song at a time. If you’ve missed any of the earlier posts, you can catch up with the full series here. And now, as we wait (not so patiently…) for Damian’s album number two later this year, it feels like the perfect moment to return to the beginning of his musical journey. .

Zaragoza is where it all starts: back in the busking days, on the road, in the middle of a storm.

Continue reading “Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Zaragoza”

Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Wanna Grow Old in Paris

This is called ‘Wanna Grow Old in Paris’…

Who doesn’t, right?

– Damian Lewis at Hoxton Hall

Indeed.

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Paris last summer — a city that effortlessly lives up to its reputation as one of the most beautiful and romantic places in the world. As my T-shirt proudly declared at the time, “Paris is always a good idea.”

And truly, it is.

I felt incredibly lucky to revisit Notre Dame, to be dazzled once again by the Impressionist masterpieces at the Musée d’Orsay, to wander (and happily get lost) along the side streets of the Latin Quarter, and to enjoy a drink — or two — at the legendary Café de Flore.

source: Damianista

All of this brings me to today’s choice for Damian Lewis’ “Song of the Week”: Wanna Grow Old in Paris. Because really—who wouldn’t? And you can always catch up with all Song of the Week posts here.

Here’s what Damian had to say about the song when he dropped it as the first single from his EP, which came out just after the Paris Olympics last year. Continue reading “Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Wanna Grow Old in Paris”

Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: She Comes

The record’s musical and emotional centerpiece, though, is She Comes, a gorgeous blend of folk and jazz in which Damian sings of a spirit inhabiting the living world – she comes as a blackbird, she comes as a fox, she sits at the window, she sings from a rock – over washes of rolling, Nick Drake-style piano.

– Paul Kirkley, Weekend Magazine

photo: Emma Giacalone https://www.instagram.com/emgiaca/?hl=af

Our Song of the Week series has been getting wonderful feedback from fans, and it has been a joy to see so many people revisiting the songs from Mission Creep along with us. In these posts, we take a closer look at one track at a time — diving into the lyrics, the performances, and the personal stories behind the songs. Many of the tracks on Damian Lewis’ debut album are deeply personal, and part of the fun is trying to piece together the experiences and emotions that may have inspired them. If you’ve missed any of the earlier entries in the series, you can catch up with all the previous Song of the Week posts here.

This week, we dive deep into “She Comes,” the first song Damian wrote for his debut album Mission Creep. The post is not only about the song itself but also about how Damian began his journey as a songwriter.

Continue reading “Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: She Comes”