Listened to this song (and Steeltown) many, many times on auto-return on my Walkman back while grieving in 1986. I even made a little grassy section in my backyard because of the lyrics here. Great version here. So tight.
Just a Shadow is not just poetry, not just a song, not just poetry set to music. It is so intensely personal and transformative, like not other songs. I miss Stuart every day. Amazingly, I look to BC for comfort and energy, think "Inwards" and think "Dive Into Me"
Absolutely. Inwards and Dive Into Me are great hidden gems. Two songs with great bass and strong meaning. They could have been huge hits in the United States. You nailed it on the head.
This song saved me from ruin in grade 12. Steeltown is, simply, the most significant album I've ever heard (among thousands) and today, more than 20 years later, I weep uncontrollably at this sad song and remembering Stuart's magic that I had the fortune to witness many times. Stuart, I wish I could have told you.
I wish you were still here Stuart. I was much too young to meet you back in the 80's. Much too young know you and understand the things you went through. But, I know that if you really knew how much your music helped to save my life I think you might still be around. You are missed by so many world around the world. You are loved and never lost, gone but never forgotten. Cheers my dear friend. We'll meet someday :-). Thanks 4 all the beautiful music from a beautiful soul :-).
This song is not complicated. It is about things undone. It is about ambitions not fulfilled. It is about strife. It is about youth wasted. Stuart was a genius and he had a band with him that were the best in the world. It really is crazy to debate how much Stuart mattered. When I was 16 The Crossing opened a world to me. "I looked at backs that pushed the wall for years, stabbed by too many knives and too much fear". No one writes poetry like this.
como las industrias discográficas han pasado por alto esta obra de arte , hoy día no hay tal calidad de música , voz y sentimientos , por eso hoy los sigo escuchando , gracias Stuart y banda por su música .
My favourite song by any singer ever and one of the all time great bands. Great words and very poignant. So very sad and tragic what happened to Stuart at such a young age. Greatly missed. There is a lack of truly great original artists in all fields of art these days
Brings back memories of a brilliant gig at Bristol Hippodrome. Big Country were superb live and the late, great Stuart Adamson, was and still is one of my all-time musical heroes. God Bless You Stuart
In 1983 I was 16, school (HTL in Austria) demanded the last of me, it was just before Christmas and I had the blues... I was sitting in front of the record player and had the headphones on... This feeling of being understood flowed through my body...I still feel it today... Thank you for so much
Met Stuart, Bruce and Tony after their gig in Livingston. Must've been about 1985 ish. Still have their autographs and treasure the photo of Stuart and myself. Met Bruce in PC world in Edinburgh too. Really nice guy and brilliant guitarist too. Thank you for all the beautiful songs Stuart. Hope you're at peace now ❤
Big country was then amazing..music still lives in the aftermath still amazing thanks to the boys..don't rest in peace Stuart inspire from above..hope to see you in the next chapter stuart... say hi to my brother he plays harp..✌
I had the amazing luck and privilege of seeing Stuart and the boys in 83 at Roseland. I was a loyal fan for the next few albums but admit that I lost touch after Peace in our time. Hated the production and the Peter Wolf influence. (Although now I do like some of the tunes) Got back in touch many years later when I saw they went really uncommercial, underground and put out some great records like Buffalo skinners. I was devastated when I heard of Stuart's passing.
I the have this on vhs. Must rig it up and see if the tape still works. Thing is, I'm actually in tears reading the comments. Big Country with Stuart were simply amazing. Bruce Watson is just an awesome guitarist, Tony a brilliant bassist and Mark a fantastic drummer. Together they made up the phenomenal Big Country. But Stuart's lyrics were something else. So I sit and listen to this amazing band who kept me sane in what was a tragic time of my life. Love you guys and R.I.P Stuart Adamson, the greatest Scottish poet since Rabbie Burns.❤
One of the best bands I have seen live, only two better Bowie and The Jam in their pomp, lost touch with them I didn't have money to buy every album back then but have listened to everything since especially in Covid Times. I was living in Argentina when Stuart passed and only found out in the last 12 to 18 months what happened. This song is just part of his magical legacy. Stay Alive.
I think I was at this concert in 1986.....this is one of their best songs - other favorites of mine are: LOOK AWAY, CHANCE, ONE GREAT THING, WHERE the ROSE IS SOWN, PORROHMAN, The Storm and CLOSE ACTION and PEACE IN OUR TIME.....R.I.P. STUART ADAMSOM
If you're ever feeling low, put this on at full volume have a few beers and then put Porrohman on..........you will be transported to a different plain! Never forgotten Stu.
It's just a shadow of the people we should be Like a garden in the forest that the world will never see You have no thought of answers only questions to be filled And it feels like Hell.. These words have never lost the impact...nor the haunting. With Peace, for Stuart .
BC was a criminally underappreciated band. While U2, (and I do love them too) went through the stratosphere, stuart and BC, inmho, the better and more talented band, didn't chase fame and just made music. RIP, Stuart. I wish you knew how much you meant to me and countless others. I miss you constantly.
I love this band so much. I hate that there is hardly anyone around me that feels the same way I do about them. I'm not going to bash the bands from their time that made it but I do feel like they were cheated. Meanwhile they play live all the way across the ocean and will never come here. Damn Stuart I miss you.
now this is pure class talk about facing full on the the abuse that one suffered. I think that this song says so much to all for every one the should bring it out on a single chart so we can renecognise the magic this band brought to every nation {THE SEER} him self James ballantyne Peace Love Goodwill to all men
Like many others, some of the lyrics in the first few albums were lifelines for me. I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce in SF a few years back. What a gent. Wanted to ask him about Stuart but couldn't. When he and his band played some BC songs that nite, (FOURGOODMEN) the ghost of Stuart was there.
This song may perhaps be their greatest. Maybe I'm overstating the case, but the slow and haunting beginning only gives way at the end, when the band tips their hand at the inner turmoil that brings about the subject matter, and Stuart gives vent to the tragedy the song describes. It was Big Country, not U2 or any of their contemporaries who should have shot through the stratosphere, and this is coming from someone to whom The Joshua Tree is a take-with-you-on-a-deserted-island kind of album.
I've watched every live version of this beautiful song and this version is by far the best. The tempo and timing was beyond perfect and not too fast and much better than the studio version. This is one of the most underated songs and watched videos on You-Tube with only 8,741 views. What a shame.
@sfumato1002 you are not alone, mate :-) Big Country weren't as commercially popular because they didn't sell out, they didn't write commercial crap. They made the music their way. Big Country IS one of the best bands ever, don't be ashamed to say it! Stay Alive :-)
I have to pick up on the 'metal head' comment. Good stuff. And I totally concur. I listen to a very wide variety of music, but mostly reall hard stuff (metal, but less constraining than that label) and BC totally blew my world away in 1984 when I first heard them. I had no benchmark. Inwards and Porrohman knocked me over.
Can any song better this? The Steeltown album's final track and did these boys know how to finish an album... It all seemed fine for you, till the struggle of ambition turned in violence upon you... Stuart Adamson: the definition of class.
agreed, Just a Shadow could be among their best. Along with Chance, Inwards, Fragile Thing, 13 Valleys, Leap of Faith, Alone, Ships, Grace, the list is long... I remember 1983/1984 well, and The Crossing was a landmark. Boy was superb as well. In NA, there was this weird U2 versus BC thing (no one thought the Alarm was destined for greatness) and I remember thinking: U2 will be huge, but BC I will love forever. I love U2, but they never had BC's connection to the average person.
This band is comparable to simple minds and u2..Big country should have been much more popular...or maybe my taste in music is just weird. I am starting to think my taste in music is weird because although now days billions like shakira and lady gaga...i find them mediocre at best. i feel so alone. But its good to see some views in this video even if there is only 49 comments...at least i am not completely alone in saying Big Country is one of the best bands ever.
it's kind of hard to choose a favorite when a band has at least twenty 'greatest songs ever'-- wish i could find a live video of 'the sailor' on you tube here...got one to post?
@lotusmaglite It is funny but i get the feeling that if they had gone huge it may have been too much for Stuart and infact the great man may have cut out sooner than he did. He was never in it for the fame, rather a love for the melodey and the word...and for that he will ALWAYS be the best around. I have many happy memories of seeing them live and they will always be the ones in my head saying "stay alive" :)
This music translates well the feeling of how to recognize a life based on a lie, or for the more simple: it is to live in a fantasy, Fabiula. But whatever the play, the reality however slow it may be, is always stronger than it once was.
@lotusmaglite Agreed. It's one of the bst songs ever that no one has heard. At least here in this crazy, poltitically fucked up place called America. :-(
Don't worry about that, Sir. My doctor said I have 'tremor'. I think it's something to do with my alcoholism, myself, but maybe I should seek a second opinion?
Brilliant song from a brilliant band. Is it me or is this video out if sync ?? Anyway still a good video. R I P Stuart - you'll never know what a following you have since your passing
Stuart’s guitar is a Jimmy Moon custom Telecaster design. If you look closely “Stuart” is written in mother of pearl on the headstock. There were two, the black one is in America in a Hard Rock Cafe and not sure what happened to the burgundy one. Stuart sure could make them sing. ❤️ He is missed! 🎸🕊
Listened to this song (and Steeltown) many, many times on auto-return on my Walkman back while grieving in 1986. I even made a little grassy section in my backyard because of the lyrics here. Great version here. So tight.
Just a Shadow is not just poetry, not just a song, not just poetry set to music. It is so intensely personal and transformative, like not other songs. I miss Stuart every day. Amazingly, I look to BC for comfort and energy, think "Inwards" and think "Dive Into Me"
yes i'm agree with you, i like this too much ... great all, vocals, music, ... all ...
Absolutely. Inwards and Dive Into Me are great hidden gems. Two songs with great bass and strong meaning. They could have been huge hits in the United States. You nailed it on the head.
As a metal head I officially give my expert seal of approval to Big Country. Tragic about Stuart, saddens me daily. The guys are amazing.
11 yrs later. The twin guitar that Stuart and Bruce done , Thin lizzy were doing it and thought this is great
Sept 2021 and this still hits me with the goosebumps everytime
This song saved me from ruin in grade 12. Steeltown is, simply, the most significant album I've ever heard (among thousands) and today, more than 20 years later, I weep uncontrollably at this sad song and remembering Stuart's magic that I had the fortune to witness many times. Stuart, I wish I could have told you.
Most underrated band of the last 35 years.
Happy 66th Birthday Stuart, wherever you are. Hope you're at peace Big Man. ❤
I wish you were still here Stuart. I was much too young to meet you back in the 80's. Much too young know you and understand the things you went through. But, I know that if you really knew how much your music helped to save my life I think you might still be around. You are missed by so many world around the world. You are loved and never lost, gone but never forgotten. Cheers my dear friend. We'll meet someday :-). Thanks 4 all the beautiful music from a beautiful soul :-).
Christ, I'm filling up here! They got me through a very bad time too. Was gutted when I heard he'd gone too.
beautiful guitar great song ...once again his sincerity is overqualified for the music industry
This song is not complicated. It is about things undone. It is about ambitions not fulfilled. It is about strife. It is about youth wasted. Stuart was a genius and he had a band with him that were the best in the world. It really is crazy to debate how much Stuart mattered. When I was 16 The Crossing opened a world to me. "I looked at backs that pushed the wall for years, stabbed by too many knives and too much fear". No one writes poetry like this.
como las industrias discográficas han pasado por alto esta obra de arte , hoy día no hay tal calidad de música , voz y sentimientos , por eso hoy los sigo escuchando , gracias Stuart y banda por su música .
My favourite song by any singer ever and one of the all time great bands. Great words and very poignant. So very sad and tragic what happened to Stuart at such a young age. Greatly missed. There is a lack of truly great original artists in all fields of art these days
Why do I always come here when I can't sleep? 😁
Brings back memories of a brilliant gig at Bristol Hippodrome. Big Country were superb live and the late, great Stuart Adamson, was and still is one of my all-time musical heroes.
God Bless You Stuart
Thinking about you today Stuart. 19 years, where did it go? Miss you so much. Thanks for the joy your music brought to many people. 😢
In 1983 I was 16, school (HTL in Austria) demanded the last of me, it was just before Christmas and I had the blues...
I was sitting in front of the record player and had the headphones on...
This feeling of being understood flowed through my body...I still feel it today...
Thank you for so much
Met Stuart, Bruce and Tony after their gig in Livingston. Must've been about 1985 ish. Still have their autographs and treasure the photo of Stuart and myself. Met Bruce in PC world in Edinburgh too. Really nice guy and brilliant guitarist too. Thank you for all the beautiful songs Stuart. Hope you're at peace now ❤
Big country was then amazing..music still lives in the aftermath still amazing thanks to the boys..don't rest in peace Stuart inspire from above..hope to see you in the next chapter stuart... say hi to my brother he plays harp..✌
I had the amazing luck and privilege of seeing Stuart and the boys in 83 at Roseland. I was a loyal fan for the next few albums but admit that I lost touch after Peace in our time. Hated the production and the Peter Wolf influence. (Although now I do like some of the tunes)
Got back in touch many years later when I saw they went really uncommercial, underground and put out some great records like Buffalo skinners. I was devastated when I heard of Stuart's passing.
absolutely sends chills down my spine...
That's the frisson effect ☺️
My brother Alberto bought many of Big Country's albums & ep's on vinyl.
I attended this show along with Nancy Rieken & Gregory Provincial.
& Edward Rivera, my 1st guitarist from Broken Glass met Stu in Texas.
I the have this on vhs. Must rig it up and see if the tape still works. Thing is, I'm actually in tears reading the comments. Big Country with Stuart were simply amazing. Bruce Watson is just an awesome guitarist, Tony a brilliant bassist and Mark a fantastic drummer. Together they made up the phenomenal Big Country. But Stuart's lyrics were something else. So I sit and listen to this amazing band who kept me sane in what was a tragic time of my life. Love you guys and R.I.P Stuart Adamson, the greatest Scottish poet since Rabbie Burns.❤
One of the best bands I have seen live, only two better Bowie and The Jam in their pomp, lost touch with them I didn't have money to buy every album back then but have listened to everything since especially in Covid Times. I was living in Argentina when Stuart passed and only found out in the last 12 to 18 months what happened. This song is just part of his magical legacy. Stay Alive.
I met Stuart at Knockhill race track when Big Country sponsored a Moto GP rider in 1984/85. Absolute gent. Love Big Country's music. R.I.P Stuart.
I think I was at this concert in 1986.....this is one of their best songs - other favorites of mine are: LOOK AWAY, CHANCE, ONE GREAT THING, WHERE the ROSE IS SOWN, PORROHMAN, The Storm and CLOSE ACTION and PEACE IN OUR TIME.....R.I.P. STUART ADAMSOM
If you're ever feeling low, put this on at full volume have a few beers and then put Porrohman on..........you will be transported to a different plain! Never forgotten Stu.
Beyond words. God bless you Stuart.
It's just a shadow of the people we should be
Like a garden in the forest that the world will never see
You have no thought of answers only questions to be filled
And it feels like Hell..
These words have never lost the
impact...nor the haunting.
With Peace, for Stuart
.
I just feckin LOVE this song ❤
THANKS FOR ALL THOSE GREST SONGS STUART RIP
This song is amazing!
I was at this very show with my buddy Billy back when I was just 19.
Holy crap.
Happy Birthday Stuart wherever you are. See ya at yer bench 🌹
Still the best version of this song on UA-cam
Great Band...I saw them Live in Glasgow Barrowlands 1991 superb!!
Stuart, you still inspire from beyond. ❤️🌹
Stuart Adamson ti adoro, tu sarai per sempre accanto a me.
Amazing live band. RIP Stuart
BC was a criminally underappreciated band. While U2, (and I do love them too) went through the stratosphere, stuart and BC, inmho, the better and more talented band, didn't chase fame and just made music.
RIP, Stuart. I wish you knew how much you meant to me and countless others. I miss you constantly.
Thinking about you Stuart. Can't believe it's 18 years. See ya at the bench xx💔
I love this band so much. I hate that there is hardly anyone around me that feels the same way I do about them. I'm not going to bash the bands from their time that made it but I do feel like they were cheated. Meanwhile they play live all the way across the ocean and will never come here. Damn Stuart I miss you.
still A-S-T-O-N-I-S-H-I-N-G
Your name will never die, Stuart Adamson
now this is pure class talk about facing full on the the abuse that one suffered. I think that this song says so much to all for every one the should bring it out on a single chart so we can renecognise the magic this band brought to every nation {THE SEER} him self James ballantyne Peace Love Goodwill to all men
Like many others, some of the lyrics in the first few albums were lifelines for me.
I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce in SF a few years back. What a gent. Wanted to ask him about Stuart but couldn't. When he and his band played some BC songs that nite, (FOURGOODMEN) the ghost of Stuart was there.
I always wished I was able to see them live but never got to my area in the USA at that time. One of the greatest bands ever.
This song may perhaps be their greatest. Maybe I'm overstating the case, but the slow and haunting beginning only gives way at the end, when the band tips their hand at the inner turmoil that brings about the subject matter, and Stuart gives vent to the tragedy the song describes.
It was Big Country, not U2 or any of their contemporaries who should have shot through the stratosphere, and this is coming from someone to whom The Joshua Tree is a take-with-you-on-a-deserted-island kind of album.
Im 37 now but I loved Stuart Adamson. May he rest in peace.
LOVE THIS SONG
I've watched every live version of this beautiful song and this version is by far the best. The tempo and timing was beyond perfect and not too fast and much better than the studio version.
This is one of the most underated songs and watched videos on You-Tube with only 8,741 views. What a shame.
I agree 100%. My favourite live version. Think my VHS tape is worn at this track. ☺️
PURE PERFECTION!
I*m melting away...
Legend
Perfection 👌
thank you for sharing this song and video...well done
That day again. Thinking of you Stuart. Hope you found your Eiledon. ❤
The most underrated band ever. Their music sounds better 25 years later.
@sfumato1002 you are not alone, mate :-) Big Country weren't as commercially popular because they didn't sell out, they didn't write commercial crap. They made the music their way. Big Country IS one of the best bands ever, don't be ashamed to say it! Stay Alive :-)
One of the BEST BANDS EVER! 😁
I have to pick up on the 'metal head' comment. Good stuff. And I totally concur. I listen to a very wide variety of music, but mostly reall hard stuff (metal, but less constraining than that label) and BC totally blew my world away in 1984 when I first heard them. I had no benchmark. Inwards and Porrohman knocked me over.
Can any song better this? The Steeltown album's final track and did these boys know how to finish an album...
It all seemed fine for you, till the struggle of ambition turned in violence upon you...
Stuart Adamson: the definition of class.
Absolutely ❤
A beautiful Lament
Thank you BC!
agreed, Just a Shadow could be among their best. Along with Chance, Inwards, Fragile Thing, 13 Valleys, Leap of Faith, Alone, Ships, Grace, the list is long... I remember 1983/1984 well, and The Crossing was a landmark. Boy was superb as well. In NA, there was this weird U2 versus BC thing (no one thought the Alarm was destined for greatness) and I remember thinking: U2 will be huge, but BC I will love forever. I love U2, but they never had BC's connection to the average person.
Thank you for the upload!!!
❤️ U Stuart
A great songwriter
I wonder how many people could say these lyrics apply to them ? More than you 'd imagine I reckon.
1986. first time i saw them (in holland). and quit a few times after that. stuart is be missed. cheers, mate.
My favorite song .Greetings from Japan日本
i love this band but even i have not always appreciated certain tracks this is ine along with one great thing powerful music
This band is comparable to simple minds and u2..Big country should have been much more popular...or maybe my taste in music is just weird. I am starting to think my taste in music is weird because although now days billions like shakira and lady gaga...i find them mediocre at best. i feel so alone. But its good to see some views in this video even if there is only 49 comments...at least i am not completely alone in saying Big Country is one of the best bands ever.
it's kind of hard to choose a favorite when a band has at least twenty 'greatest songs ever'-- wish i could find a live video of 'the sailor' on you tube here...got one to post?
@lotusmaglite It is funny but i get the feeling that if they had gone huge it may have been too much for Stuart and infact the great man may have cut out sooner than he did. He was never in it for the fame, rather a love for the melodey and the word...and for that he will ALWAYS be the best around. I have many happy memories of seeing them live and they will always be the ones in my head saying "stay alive" :)
This music translates well the feeling of how to recognize a life based on a lie, or for the more simple: it is to live in a fantasy, Fabiula. But whatever the play, the reality however slow it may be, is always stronger than it once was.
wow - it's even better live...
never got to see them :(
@lotusmaglite for me all you say holds true cept it isn't just there best song imo its the best song ever )
Great track)
Two words !!!! SHIT HOT !!!!!!!!!
deeply moving.
💖💖💖
They speak to me like no other band
@lotusmaglite Agreed. It's one of the bst songs ever that no one has heard. At least here in this crazy, poltitically fucked up place called America. :-(
apologies about he typos guys heavey nite in dublin, up the revolution Praise the chord
With the ones to fill it to , feels like hell
Don't worry about that, Sir. My doctor said I have 'tremor'. I think it's something to do with my alcoholism, myself, but maybe I should seek a second opinion?
Two words !!!! SHIT HOT 111111
Brilliant song from a brilliant band. Is it me or is this video out if sync ?? Anyway still a good video. R I P Stuart - you'll never know what a following you have since your passing
That Telecaster is so awesome. Not as awesome as this song though.
Stuart’s guitar is a Jimmy Moon custom Telecaster design. If you look closely “Stuart” is written in mother of pearl on the headstock. There were two, the black one is in America in a Hard Rock Cafe and not sure what happened to the burgundy one. Stuart sure could make them sing. ❤️ He is missed! 🎸🕊
@@lisaknell1809 still prefer the two Yammies. The SG2000's are simply stunning guitars 😀
I think the burgundy 1 is in a museum in dunfermline. Stand to be corrected.
I cant remember typing this at all crazy I need your doc Number lol
who is Isabellle87 THE SEER HIM SELF WANTS TO KNOW YOU >>>
But i like it lol