Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill

I have a bone to pick with you Mr. Sheeran. Readers of my reviews for the last 7 years will know exactly what I'm talking about as I have a particular bother in the lyrics of this song. Ed mentions that he is driving at 90 down those country lanes, and I can't help but wonder why he would point out 90 specifically. Is he in a particular hurry to recreate the way that he once felt which was in fact real? I'm not particularly versed on the nature of the roads in Framlingham, Suffolk, but when the mention of the speed comes up, I can only ponder one thing: How does this speed relate to the speed limit of those country lanes?

There are of course 3 possible scenarios in here, he's either going over the speed limit, at the speed limit, or under the speed limit. I ponder the scenarios and it just baffles me in all 3 situations. If he's going over the speed limit, why would he broadcast such a fact on a pop song that he's well aware will be listened to hundreds of millions of times? Does he think his boyish charm will mean that none of those hundreds of millions of listeners will alert the proper authorities of his much needed demerits? Or heck, that the authorities themselves won't catch wind of it on their own, given Sheeran's ubiquity? If he's going the speed limit, why would he even mention it? It's a standard expectation and not something that need be broadcast. And if he did want to broadcast it, he could go better ways to do so, perhaps saying that the speed limit is 90, from which we would just assume that he's going 90 and there'd be no need for discussion on the matter. It also makes for a good form of scene building. The last hypothetical in this case seems to be the most plausible just because it's the one that can be most easily justified for being broadcast. That he is going reasonably under the speed limit is something of note. It does undermine the idea that he wants to go back to the way he felt which was real when he watched the sunset over the castle on the hill, perhaps indicating some tension in this otherwise seemingly conflict-free scenario. Though I must say that I'd be surprised if those country lanes had speed limits above 90, it just seems a tad excessive. I wish Ed would at the very least annotate the genius page and give some proper insight into this baffling lyric.

I generally like this song. Aside from the aforementioned qualm, it displays a sort of lyrical depth that I feel is otherwise missing on "÷". Well, depth is probably the wrong word, it's more a case of being engaging in a positive way. I've often had a thing for fantasizing about childhood motifs, because you can often invoke some great imagery with it, and it comes from the right place in the heart that you know it's genuine. Ed doesn't quite paint a picture here as much as he tells a story, which works fine as well. He gets it through convincingly that he would like to relive these days. I can really relate to the recollection of moments in time that were probably inconsequential at the time, but through time, the sheer vividness of one's memory can build them up to be a powerful foundation in your history. It's like how my brother and I can rattle off quotes from an educational CD-Rom game that is almost beyond Google because so few copies seem to exist, but the simple foundation recalls some of the fondest moments of my childhood.

I also like that Ed avoids directly acknowledging his success in this. Perhaps the most powerful effect the song has is that ignoring the specifics of the motifs, in a general sense, it's a song that could be sung by pretty much anyone, and with the same merit, could be empathised upon by pretty much anyone.

One thing that does hold it back a little is the production. I like the general idea behind it, and the little rattling guitar has an odd effect of reminding me of some of my favourite post-punk revivalist singles of the 2000s, but once you get to the chorus the whole thing just gets rather overblown. Even the first time I heard the song I just couldn't get over how awfully it suffered from overcompression, which seems a bit out of hand for such a high profile release in 2017. Between this and the distortion in "Supermarket Flowers", it just seems odd to have some quality control overlooked, akin to that subtitle typo I found in the 4th episode of Life Is Strange.

The good outweighs the bad though, and I would give this a 7/10 score if I were to rate on that scale, knowing full well that this may dock the song of a single vital point on its metacritic rating and send the Sheeranheads flocking to DDoS me. But I must be honest, and as Xuande would say: I'd rather the world betray me, but I won't betray the world.