100 favourite songs: #88: "If I Give You A Smile" - Whistler

One from the tail end of high school, and incontrovertibly a summer song — a lot of my earlier comments about Beth Orton are applicable here, too — and a song which, in retrospect, set the tone for a lot that was to come afterwards for me. It’s a harmonica-tinged folk-infused yearn, clear-eyed and sun-dappled, and it may have been the song which first showed me just how effectively wistful it was possible for a song to be without the slightest hint of bombast or melodrama, either musically or lyrically — its tale of a relationship seemingly near its end is keenly observed and initially has an air of resignation (“when we’re scared we’ve made compromises we can’t continue to make, and you’ve just about fooled me and I’ve just about fooled you…”) but, gradually, builds to an end that is hopeful and even almost rousing without anything seeming to have actually changed…everything about it is just perfectly balanced.