SMILINGNUTMEG

<p class="ql-align-center"><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/6kGR54MZcwwLllz8ywZwGVndyr-iFpk2PxZ5qNxAKcx9B6djrK2ocx8IpfBmW2ObyBdNsvhGHuDG2IoiSf3t97HddERQF9hIArttVkA1XjXIR85gEjOn_7Nr28kTksVtjMIXfTWtmZcJ5HUOPdgyaFI" height="73" width="574"></strong></p><p class="ql-align-center"><strong style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1</strong><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">JOURNEY UNDER</strong><strong style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><em>&nbsp;</em></strong><strong style="color: rgb(241, 194, 50);"><em>SUN</em></strong><strong style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><em>&nbsp;- BLUE SKIES</em></strong></p><p class="ql-align-center"><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em>ROUND FOUR</em></strong></p><p>This phrase is the key to the whole song. She sings it twice. Love And Affection flips on its head the notion that steadfast friends are more important than romantic involvement. Here the friendships feel like dalliances compared to the fusion of souls that she seeks.</p><p>Lover is a loaded word at the best of times. Joan Armatrading supersaturates it with meaning. She drops her voice on the word ‘but’. She saves that aged-over-oak, mellow depth for talk of lovers. That ‘but’ marks the start of a vocal descent into a world of tobacco and charcoal and treacle.</p>