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“Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there’s nothing worth working for?” – ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’
‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ is a song to honour life’s simple yet potentially destructive pleasures. The song screams dissatisfaction at the everyday, prompting the listener to instead “make it happen.” This lyric in particular is one of the wonders of the track, if not the entire Definitely, Maybe record, as it epitomises deep discontent towards a way of life. It’s easy to empathise with the frustration in trying to find a job, especially whilst feeling like it’s pointless anyway because it’s not what you want to do. This lyric is the working class sticking up two fingers to an austere Tory government, either now or during their political domination in the latter part of the last century. It must be said that this, as a short-term thought, is normal to think after a half-hearted and ultimately unsuccessful job hunt, but I’ve seen when this inadvertently becomes a mantra of sorts; life won’t get much better, especially if already all you need are cigarettes and alcohol.