Canadian husband and wife band April Moon return with an incessantly catchy tune - "Upbeat Lady Life". From it's opening upbeat bars and the cover picture of a country girl dreaming of a new fur coat, there are signals indicating that this is going to be a hugely enjoyable ride. It's vaguely based on Jaime's grandmother mixing aspirations against cold hard reality.
"I was born on a Saskatchewan farm
And I knew early on that I didn't belong
Well little girls can dream and in between
I became a country wife, with country wife strifes
Oh dust bowls, diggin’ holes,
Baby sleeps in dresser drawers
Me oh my, it's a pretty far cry
From an uptown lady life"
Set in the past when life seemed relatively simple, yet amazingly hard, this tale takes us through dreaming of a better life while all the time being reminded that it is an ever distant flight of fancy.
By the second verse- the dream seems ever further away
"7 strong kids helpin’ on the farm and still I had the feelin’ that something was wrong
Land just ain't no good, nothin grows quite like it should
So we all start to sweat as we run up the debt
Thinkin’ oh dear, next year, wipe away a lone tear
Me oh my, it's a pretty far cry
From an uptown lady life"
The aspirations of a better life don't seem much to ask for but the fates conspire to move them ever further out of reach
"But someday, I'm gonna have a fur coat to wear And someday,
I'm gonna walk those big wide streets and heads will turn
Well I love my family and I pray every night
And in my heart of hearts I know it ain't right
Until then I’ll dream"
The talk of walking those "big wide streets" sees the sound suddenly fill out more with the sound of a piano, it is subtle but contrasts the hick sound of the country with the more seemingly sophisticated sound of town life
The farm then fails and the songs narrator ends up in a factory life worse off than ever The song speeds up reflecting her increasing desperation and exasperation.
"Now I'm working on a shop floor then home to cook for 8 more
No time to unwind maybe gonna lose my mind"
The ongoing jauntiness of the tune plays out against the overriding sadness in the lyrics. Set on a farm in Canada, generations ago it seems far removed from our present day life but in reality are there not many people nowadays working incredibly hard dreaming of a better life equally out of reach?
There's lots to enjoy in this song and the accompanying video also perfectly catches the tone