Classic Songs: “Walk This World” by Heather Nova.

Tucked in between some heavy weights of music in my cd and vinyl collection sits Heather Nova’s album Oyster. I’m actually surprised to still see it there. I went through a cull many years ago and somehow it survived given I haven’t listen to it since the mid 1990s. Thinking about it now, I wondered why I kept it. It’s fair to say the album cover art is striking. Nova really gives off a real alt-rocker vibe. Though on the reverse side the biggest give away as to why I might have kept it is a track list which boasts the likes of Walk This World, Maybe an Angel, Island, Truth and Bone and Heal.  Interestingly, Nova once said, “On Oyster, I was dealing with some pretty painful stuff from the past…. The whole process of making Oyster was helping me to find some self-esteem”. That said, it’s easy to see why the aforementioned tracks all still stand as some of the best songs penned by the Bermuda native in a career now thirty years long.

I remember I was once really smitten with Heather Nova. She was dubbed the next big thing in the mid 90s. But she never really reached the heights of fame her fellow contemporaries like PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple or Tori Amos did. It is said, she instead put her head down and concentrated on her songwriting, releasing music only when it suited her. This approach ensured a long diverse career and a faithful following especially in Europe. Since then Nova has released eleven studio albums, in which she has approached every release with something new to say, while at the same time always managing to push herself as a singer songwriter. She also tours regularly playing acoustic gigs and has occasionally embarked on a full-band tour. Notably in the mid 2010s she celebrate the 25th anniversary of Oyster with a full-band tour, where she played the entire album to adoring fans. 

It’s safe to say her roots and or love for music arguably still lies in indie-pop-cello-guitar rock, which first put her on our radar in the early 90s. In recent years this is no more evident than her return to full-band rock in 2019 on Pearl, which Nova refers to her “lust for life, but also acceptance and reflection” album. It opens with the pensive The Wounds We Bled, a song which invites comparison with any number of tracks found on a Fleetwood Mac album. 

In the latter half of her career, Pearl is a reminder of those heady days of the 90s where Nova’s angelic soprano and memorable pop hooks reined supreme. It’s not to say Nova has lost any of her artistry today. But those early days of Nova’s artful rock is still music to my ears. I will be forever smitten with Nova’s penchant for rocking out especially on Walk This World.

The song itself is a brooding classic. It begins with an aching strumming electric guitar which meanders in a mid tempo range throughout. But it explodes to life no less with Nova’s exceptionally beautiful vocals. Lyrically, the song touches on themes about longing, growth and exploration: “With the light in our eyes it’s hard to see, Holding on and on ’til we believe.” Its stirring nature also leads us to believe that there is a seemingly potent sexual undertone to the song, especially for the most part in the song’s chorus: “I”m not touched but I’m aching to be, I want you to come, I want you to come, I want you to come walk this world with me.”

Anyway, it’s hard not to be impressed by the wistful lyrics of arguably Heather Nova’s best known song. It certainly still has my attention after all these years and it doesn’t let go until the very last plea by Nova to “walk this world with me”.