Song 21: Spanish Sahara

Spanish Sahara - Foals

Kids, eh? Don't you just hate it when you realise that the people making brilliant music are the generation beneath you.

Well, maybe not a whole generation, but put it this way, I know someone younger than me who taught Yannis Philippakis from Foals.

I also know someone who conducted the orchestra who played on a re-recorded version of 'Spanish Sahara'. Nevertheless, I wouldn't say I followed Foals particularly closely. 'Mathletics', from their first album, I found enjoyable but a bit of a turn-off. This clever, angular art-rock is not always for me. Not enough words. Not enough woe.

So when Foals were headlining the second stage at a festival, I didn't go. I thought about it, I'd already heard a couple of songs from their second album, including 'Spanish Sahara' and I quite liked it, but whoever the main headliner was that night just about got my vote. To be honest, it was Latitude and the teenagers (there with their equally annoying parents) who were Foals fans were really getting on my tits, pushing past in their big groups with their ridiculous hair and designer wellies, being all "Oh my god, Charlie, did you say Bombay last night, they were like, amazing" - stop being so excited and having so much fun, ya little tykes.

But as I was drifting back after the main event, I saw that the Second Stage was still going and we moved near it - it was spilling over with people and the sound was clear.

'Spanish Sahara' started and as it progressed I suddenly understand more about this music than I'd done before. And I understand a little more about the kids who loved this music. Now, of course, a huge crowd looked at from the outside is a lot more impressive and unified than if you're in the heart of it. There were probably plenty of people in the tent who were having a shit time and didn't feel part of anything, but from the outside I saw this swaying mass of humanity, moved beyond words and in love with the music, with its quiet start, with its repetition, with the singer's surprising gentle falsetto, with its swelling and eventual explosion.

Even from the outside, at the end of a gig I hadn't been part of, it was utterly wonderful.

'Spanish Sahara' was in NME's Top 20 tracks of the decade, which seemed a bit excessive, but I suppose it's as close as it gets to a British companion to 'My Girls'. These kids, they're reared on both rock and dance music, and they're harnessing the best of both worlds, not in the awkward way of Noel Gallagher doing a Chemical Brothers collaboration - it's ecstatic but desolate at the same time. It's a big adult song which can be loved by teenagers, of course it can. As soon as I get over my age hang-up, the better. Hell, I was listening to Queen and Genesis when i was their age - boring music for middle-aged people - these kids they've just got better taste than me then, better taste than me now.

I'm just watching the video for 'Spanish Sahara' - in it, Yannis Phillipakis has a big old beard which makes him look like Adam Buxton and about ten years older than me, so that's made me feel better (or worse). Foals have got new stuff coming out pretty shortly, and I hope they haven't got boring yet and started making music for people my age. Anyway, I'llpay them a little more respect this time.