THE BEST BEFORE DATE - 1983 - This is the Day by The The

You could pick any song off The The's first album Soul Mining and you'd realise instantly this was one 1980's album that ended up defining its decade. Neurotic, nerdy and psychologically self preoccupied. The second track This is the Day was originally released as a single. It didn't get anywhere near the top 40, its highest placing was 71. Yet neither did Soul Mining fully reach what it promised on release, peaking at 27. But its reputation has somewhat grown as the years pass. 

There is something in Matt Johnson's DNA as a songwriter and performer that you can find a bit too much to accommodate. The lyrics do dig deep, are often not cheerful nor optimistic and can be self lacerating, It can feel a bit poetically over wrought and uncomfortable. Also the production here is massive, it just relentlessly pounds your ears with that flat unfeeling drum sound, much adapted and thieved by samplers in later decades.

But after the somewhat relentless self pity of the opening track I've Been Waiting For Tomorrow All My Life there comes This Is The Day. A beautifully simple song about someone waking up one morning. After weeks of doom and gloom, the depressive thoughts and negativity, the feeling of everything in your life going wrong, its all suddenly vanished. The world today seems different, more positive. This is the day when things fall into place.  And as the song progresses the optimism opens out as the accordion bellows forth its jaunty tune. He knows this will not last, it usually doesn't, but for now enjoy it, ride its waves for as long as it lasts. As a song it has an antecedent in Perfect Day by Lou Reed, and a later song by Elbow - One Day Like This, is rather indebted to its spirit too. Its a small scale classic from an often overlooked writer.

Lyrics - This Is The Day by Matt Johnson

Well you didn't wake up this morning 'cause you didn't go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red
The calendar on your wall was ticking the days off
You've been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you've changed
All the money in the world couldn't buy back those days

You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day, your life will surely change
This is the day, when things fall into place

You could have done anything, if you wanted
And all your friends and family think that you're lucky
But the side of you they'll never see
Is when you're left alone with your memories
That hold your life together, like glue

You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day, your life will surely change
This is the day, when things fall into place

This is the day (This is the day)
Your life will surely change
This is the day (This is the day)
Your life will surely change