"La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)" is a song by Welsh rock band

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...

. It was released in July 1993 by record label Columbia as the second single from their second studio album ''

Gold Against the Soul ''Gold Against the Soul'' is the second studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 21 June 1993 by record label Columbia. Noted for its lyrics reflecting melancholia, ''Gold Against the Soul'' integr ...

''. It reached number 22 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 ...

Content and composition

The song's title is taken from the reported last words of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

, "La tristesse durera toujours", quoted in a letter from his younger brother

Theo Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

to their sister Elisabeth, using her nickname ''Lies''. The letter was translated by Robert Harrison, who states that the phrase means "The sadness will last forever". The song lyrics are written from the perspective of a war veteran, containing the line "wheeled out once a year, a cenotaph souvenir" and tracking the bathetic progress of the former soldier's war medal: "It sells at market stalls/Parades Milan catwalks".

Richey Edwards Richard James Edwards (born 22 December 1967 – disappeared 1 February 1995), also known as Richey James or Richey Manic, was a Welsh musician who was the lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. He w ...

told ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' newspaper, "It's a beautiful image when the war veterans turn out at the Cenotaph, ..and everyone pretends to care ... but then they're shuffled off again and forgotten." According to

Nicky Wire Nicholas Allen Jones (born 20 January 1969), known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician and songwriter, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band, Manic Street Preachers. Prior to the group, Wire s ...

, he wrote much of the song and came up with its title, whilst Edwards contributed the "scream to a sigh" refrain. Wire has stated that his objective in writing the song was "to write about war heroes in a sympathetic way", an aim which he described as "non-trendy". According to Martin Power in his book ''Manic Street Preachers'', the band "sounded at sixes and sevens" in the rest of the album, "Yet, as with ''Generation Terrorists'', they had again produced one genuine classic in the form of 'La Tristessa Durera (Scream to a Sigh)'." In allusion to the style of the song, Rob Jovanovic detailed that the song "followed the

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

template" with a "quiet opening verse that explodes into a loud guitar-driven chorus". According to Sean Moore the track's drum part was the result of an attempt to copy a song by hip-hop group

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

James Dean Bradfield James Dean Bradfield (born 21 February 1969) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He is known for being the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. Biography Early life B ...

also cited

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's song " Car Jamming" as an influence. Edwards, unusually, played rhythm guitar on the track. Edwards was credited for rhythm guitar on all of the tracks released during his tenure with the band, but almost never actually performed the parts he was credited for due to his self-acknowledged lack of talent with the instrument. This would be only one of two tracks he would perform on, the other being a partial recording on '' Everything Must Gos "No Surface All Feeling". The B-side, "

Patrick Bateman Patrick Bateman is a fictional character created by novelist Bret Easton Ellis. He is the villain protagonist and narrator of Ellis' 1991 novel '' American Psycho'' and is portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2000 film adaptation.Guardian Unlimi ...

", is a "tribute" to the ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman, a serial killer and Manhattan investment banker. Alison Kelly of ''The Observer'' notes that while "some countr ...

'' character.

Release

"La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)" was released as a single on 19 July 1993 by record label Columbia. It reached number 22 in the

on 31 July. In the US, a promotional version was released as "Scream to a Sigh (La Tristesse Durera)". The song made an appearance in edited form on ''

Forever Delayed ''Forever Delayed'' is a greatest hits album and DVD by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released in 2002 by record label Epic. The album included three singles which had never appeared on earlier albums (" Motown Junk", " ...

'' (28 October 2002), the Manics' greatest hits album. The remastered album version appeared on the ''

National Treasures – The Complete Singles ''National Treasures – The Complete Singles'' is a compilation album by the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 31 October 2011. It is the band's third compilation album, after '' Forever Delayed: Manic Street Preac ...

'', compilation.

Accolades

"La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)" was included in Robert Dimery's ''1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die''.

Track listings

CD 12-inch Cassette

Charts

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh), La 1993 singles 1993 songs Columbia Records singles Manic Street Preachers songs British soft rock songs Grunge songs Song recordings produced by Dave Eringa Songs written by James Dean Bradfield Songs written by Nicky Wire Songs written by Richey Edwards Songs written by Sean Moore (musician)