"Drumming Song" is a song by the English

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Florence and the Machine Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and ...

. The song was released on

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

on 13 September 2009 in the UK as the fourth single from the band's first album ''Lungs''. The song was the band's second consecutive single to be A-listed on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. It was the band's fourth single to enter the top 75 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at #54 during its week of physical release. The B-side is a demo version of "Falling" a track which appears only on the deluxe edition of ''Lungs''. Though not as commercially successful as their other singles, "Drumming Song" is a favourite amongst fans at Florence and the Machine live performances. The single was nominated for "Best Music Video" (alongside

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

and

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

) at the

Q Awards The Q Awards were the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine '' Q''. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards became one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards. Locations for the awards ceremony included Abbey Road Studios ...

, which took place on 25 October 2009.

Background

"Drumming Song" has an instrumental collaboration of drums, organ, piano, bass, violin, viola, cello and harp. James Ford, the track's producer, is credited for the bass, drums, organ and piano contributions. Ford co-wrote the song with

Crispin Hunt Longpigs were an English indie rock band who rose to fame on the fringe of Britpop in the 1990s, comprising Crispin Hunt (vocals), Richard Hawley (guitar), Simon Stafford (bass guitar) and former Cabaret Voltaire member Dee Boyle (drums) who w ...

and the song has backing vocals by Ladonna Hartley-Peters and Victoria Alkinlola. Welch elaborated on the concept of the song:

This is about when there's that electricity between you, and a boy, and it's completely unspoken. When they're standing in front of you and you can't breathe, can't think, can't do anything properly. I'm really geeky – if I like someone, I just become incapable. I remember with my first boyfriend, walking past the window of a pub, seeing he was in there and literally throwing myself on the ground and crawling on the floor because I was so scared! I feel things quite intensely, which is probably why the music is quite intense. If I really like someone, I like someone; if I'm sad, I'm sad. I was listening to a lot of hip hop and I wanted to make something that had that kind of beat to it. To me it's the most forward-thinking music around. No one else is moving forward at such pace! Again, it's really
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
imagery – fairy tales and
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
stories. I'd read a lot of Gothic horror when I was a kid.

As part of the single's promotion, the band performed the song on

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...

with their previous single "

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" is a song by English indie rock band Florence and the Machine from their debut studio album ''Lungs'' (2009). It was released as the album's third single on 21 June 2009, by Island and Moshi Moshi Records. The s ...

". The single was also performed at numerous festivals around the UK during 2009, including

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festival relocated to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset. The event was organ ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

Electric Picnic Electric Picnic is an annual arts-and-music festival which has been staged since 2004 at Stradbally Hall in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland. It is organised by Pod Concerts and Festival Republic, who purchased the majority shareholding in ...

in the Republic of Ireland. A music video for the song was shot in the interior of

Christ Church, Spitalfields Christ Church Spitalfields is an Anglican church built between 1714 and 1729 to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. On Commercial Street in the East End and in today's Central London it is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, on its western bord ...

, with Florence Welch and dancers. The

English Baroque English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroque ...

church, designed by

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principa ...

, interpreted the overall shapes of

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

with the language of

classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...

. The song also appears on the soundtrack of ''

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

'', the video game published by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

Critical reception

"Drumming Song" received positive feedback from critics. David Balls from

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

awarded the song 4 stars out of a possible 5, he stated: "A darker and more brooding offering than 'Rabbit Heart', it's a case of drum as metaphor for love as Welch describes an unadulterated and impassioned love affair. 'Louder than sirens, louder than bells, sweeter than heaven and hotter than hell,' she wails with more enough power and passion to justify all the critical acclaim." ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' named the song 48th best track of 2009, saying, "In 'Drumming Song', she elchcreated possibly one of the most intensely passionate and physically aching love songs we've ever heard."

Formats and track listings

;UK CD single #"Drumming Song" – 3:45 #"Falling" (demo) – 3:48 #"Dog Days Are Over" (acoustic) – 3:58 ;UK 7" vinyl single #"Drumming Song" – 3:45 #"My Boy Builds Coffins" (acoustic) ;Digital download #"Drumming Song" – 3:43 #"Drumming Song" (acoustic) – 3:51 #"Drumming Song" (Boy 8-Bit Remix) – 6:31 #"Drumming Song" (Jack Beats Remix) – 5:04 #"Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" (acoustic) – 3:52

Chart performance(s)

"Drumming Song" was the fourth single released by Florence and the Machine, and following the success of "

Kiss with a Fist "Kiss with a Fist" is the debut single by indie rock band Florence and the Machine, taken from their debut studio album ''Lungs'' (2009). The single was released through Moshi Moshi Records on 9 June 2008 in the UK and was then released four ...

" and "

", the single managed to enter the

, reaching at a peak of #54.

References

{{authority control 2009 singles Florence and the Machine songs Songs written by Florence Welch Songs written by Isabella Summers Songs written by Crispin Hunt 2009 songs