The Emigration Playlist - 64 years of songs: 100% Endurance - Yard Act (2022)

Well, I'm almost through a fifth of my 64 songs now, and here's another that you may not know, though the album from which it came did chart highly. But know it you should, as it's a wonderful song. As it had to be to beat I love you by Fontaines DC by a short head to claim the top spot for 2022.

Press play on the link below and listen. The video is brilliant too. 

100% Endurance is one of the few that is on this list because of its poetic lyrics and their meaning. The lyrics are at the bottom of this post.

Yard Act? Post-punk. From Leeds (always a good sign). Formed in 2019 just in time to run straight into Covid and its dreadful effect on live music venues, but they produced a corker of a first album (The Overload) in 2022 and got nominated for a Mercury Prize with it. They're one of those talk-sing bands, making narrative-heavy songs rich in texture and character, reflecting on life, class, and all that.  100% Endurance is a brilliant expression of well, how else to put it, the meaning of life, made all the more powerful in its direct, straightforward delivery. The effect of the words for me are elevated because of the way the sentiments are treated as so ordinary, presented in this video by recognisable, straightforward, working class characters. This is performance poetry at its best, recognisable and honest, given pace by a steady beat, a bass that meanders around, and a some floating synth chords that add a gentle but strange otherworldly mood. As the track develops, a twinkling, distorted guitar joins in. There's a singalong, easy listening vibe to it all that sits beautifully with the extraordinary lyrics. 

It's a recent song, so I can't write about years of history with it. But when I finished my MA in Psychotherapy, one of the tutors at my college ran a kind of 'wash up' session for my group where we reflected on our experience after three years and how we were all feeling. He invited us to bring a song in to share if we wanted. Not everyone did that, but of course, I did. I played 100% Endurance and the video, realising of course, as I have done since I was about 12, though never seeming to remember, that not everybody has music in their lives as I do. Me being me, I wasn't prepared to bring something impressive or performative - it had to mean something important. Most of the group stared at the song, unfamiliar with it. The tutor tapped his foot in a 'down with the kids' way, even though I was 15 years older than him. And then we moved on. But for me the song needed to be there because it speaks about my philosophy of life - a philosophy that can sometimes feel hard to remember when I feel crushed by prejudice and which this song helps me rediscover. The song is about how I do my job too - my take on psychotherapy and how I work with my clients, what I want for my clients, and it's all in here: 

It's all so pointless, ah
But it's not though is it?
It's really real and when you feel it
You can really feel it
Grab somebody that you love
Grab anyone who needs to hear it
And shake 'em by the shoulders
Scream in their face

Death is coming for us all, but not today
Today you're living it, hey, you're really feeling it
Give it everything you've got knowing that you can't take it with you
And all you ever needed to exist has always been within you
Gimme some of that good stuff, that human spirit
Cut it with a hundred percent endurance

****

100% Endurance - Yard Act

I was woken by a bang
And I could already taste the pain
The sudden fear that grips and shapes you
When you face the truth
Whose sofa was this?
Where were my shoes?
What did we do last night?
I don't remember leaving Nathan's house

Ah yeah, how could I forget
Why my pants were soaking wet?
When we'd been pissing ourselves
Laughing at the news
Did you see it too?
It was incredible
They played it on a loop, we couldn't believe it
Basically, they'd discovered

That there were others just like us
Other beings, other creatures
Other planets with other species
Who had other gods that they believed in, and they
Interviewed all of them
And everyone of them, not one
Could give any hint of a clue
What they were doing here either

It's all so pointless, it is
And that's beautiful, l find it humbling, sincerely
And when you're gone
It brings me peace of mind to know
That this'll all just carry on
With someone else (someone else)
With something new (something new)
No need to be blue

Everything has already happened, time is an illusion

It's hippy bullshit but it's true
Come on, come on, come on, come on, yeah

Now we're off to meet them
So pack your weapons
Don't want them thinking they can pull
A fast one on us, now do we Graeme?
"It's alright I've fought more wars than I've had hot dinners"
Sure you have, but the key to peace lies within us
And we'd already have achieved it
If everyone was as enlightened as me

It's hippy bullshit, but it's true
Watch me explode

It's all so pointless, ah
But it's not though is it?
It's really real and when you feel it
You can really feel it
Grab somebody that you love
Grab anyone who needs to hear it
And shake 'em by the shoulders
Scream in their face

Death is coming for us all, but not today
Today you're living it, hey, you're really feeling it
Give it everything you've got knowing that you can't take it with you
And all you ever needed to exist has always been within you
Gimme some of that good stuff, that human spirit
Cut it with a hundred percent endurance

It's all so pointless, sure is
And when you're gone
It makes me stronger knowing
That this will all just carry on
With someone else (Someone else)
Something new (Something new)
It's not like there's going to be nothing is it?

*****

[Yard Act later did another version, with Elton John. They sent him the track and asked him if he'd like to do something with them. His reply, apparently, to their astonishment, was "Abso-fucking-lutely". So there's that version out there too. It's well meant, but it misses the mark - swelling strings and grandiosity. Don't bother with it.] 

Readying myself for emigration, I am putting together the soundtrack of a whole life spent in England. You can read more about why I am doing this here: https://kierkegaardslunch.blogspot.com/2026/08/mourning-england-in-song-part-1.html