Four songs received exactly the same score (so effectively 5th=) but we have separated them based on the number of votes they received from our writers. This is the first of today’s entries.
This is the only song of those that received the same score that was voted number one by one of our writers. A gem from one of the great songwriters of the last 50 years, and long an AUK favourite, this is the third track on Hello Cruel World that is often cited as Peters’ best. Graeme Tait voted this his favourite song with a perfect interpretation of its meaning “Based around Federico Garcia Lorca’s concept that a dark spirit can seize an artist and thus subconsciously produce the most powerful and elemental creation, the thrall of the spirit, or ‘duende’, is that which controls not only the performer but also the audience as they are pulled temporarily into another world. Here, Peters draws on the duality between the listener’s love of the artist and that of his creation, with the willingness to be burnt by the flame rather than face the inevitable ignominy of being just another face in the crowd”. Rick Bayles described it thus: ‘The Matador’ is simply great storytelling. I listen to this song and I can clearly see both the matador and the infatuated female fan. I can feel the intense passion of the bullfight and the sense of being trapped in a ritual that, perhaps, doesn’t make as much sense as it once did, and then you realise it’s also a song about human relationships and their own complex patterns and rituals”. In an earlier article, Rick quoted Rodney Crowell who said the song “moved me so greatly, I cried from the soles of my feet”.
Peters has produced an exceptional body of work, and lyrically has covered as many subjects as you can throw a stick at – initially her songs were offered to other artists, with her powerful female survival anthem Independence Day the first to bring her to listeners’ attention, as recorded, highly successfully, by Martina McBride in 1993. This was at least three years before Peters released her own version on her debut album. She can sing virtually any style and occasionally uses the power of her voice for effect. The Matador shows her softer side, almost whispered in places, but quietly passionate in others.
