About
Released on Rudebox in October 2006, Burslem Normals is a reflective mid-tempo piece named after graffiti from Williams’s birthplace in Stoke-on-Trent. On a sonically spare, wistful bed, he sketches a portrait of youth culture shifting from subcultural variety to narrow labels. Written by Williams with Kelvin Andrews and Danny Spencer, and produced by Andrews and Spencer, it sits as one of the album’s most contemplative cuts.
The track was developed with Andrews and Spencer during the sessions, with production emphasising simple keys, low-register vocal and subtle electronic textures. Its title nods to local lore in Burslem, while its collaborators, long-time club producers, keep the arrangement uncluttered to foreground the lyric.
Lyrically, Williams weighs nostalgia against adulthood, asking whether former ideals survive into the present, and turning everyday memories into a broader meditation on identity. Lines about old crews and growing older place the song among his most autobiographical pieces on the record.
It is about an ideal of youth… Back then, we had so much choice. And the Burslem Normals was a piece of graffiti from the town I was born in.Robbie Williams
A short film, Goodbye to the Normals, directed by George K. and Jim Field Smith, accompanied the era and circulated to fan-club members, underlining the song’s themes of running away and growing up. Though rarely performed live, Burslem Normals has been noted by fans as an understated counterweight to the album’s dance-leaning material, reinforcing the album as a document of memory as much as reinvention.
Lyrics
They have defaced the marks
you left upon the wall
The writing's now not there at all
Can you stand what you stood for
Are you more normal than before
Goodbye to the Normals
Goodbye to the Normals
In your place there's just chavs
The kids aren't alright
they know they're born today
Reaching out to feel the sun
At the time it seemed like fun
I was there when you got done
There for two weeks by the surf
We used to know what we were worth
Before the Normals fell to earth
Goodbye to the Normals
Goodbye to the Normals
Whatever happened to
the mere mortals crew
The fine young casuals
blew a fuse and
All the Burslem lads know
that they're all Dads
It meant so much to me,
it makes me sad
In your wake there's nowt left
Credits
-
Vocalist
Robbie Williams -
Songwriter
Robbie Williams, Kelvin Andrews, Danny Spencer