Day After Day #237: In a Big Country

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

In a Big Country (1983)

Sometimes a new song comes out and it just hits like a breath of fresh air. That was the case with Big Country's "In a Big Country," released in 1983. While a lot of attention was given to the fact that the Scottish band managed to work their name into a song, there was no denying that "In a Big Country" was a jubilant and anthemic ode to resilience.

After a brief stint as a five-piece, Stuart Adamson (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards) put together the core version of Big Country in 1981 with Bruce Watson (guitar), Tony Butler (bass, vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums). Butler and Brzezicki were already familiar faces thanks to their work on Pete Townshend's two solo albums, Empty Glass and All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes. The band worked with producer Steve Lillywhite (in demand for his work on the early U2 albums) and recorded its debut The Crossing. 

The band had a top 10 hit with "Fields of Fire" in the U.K., but didn't make an impact in the U.S. until "In a Big Country" was released here in the fall of 1983. Powered by the twin guitar attack of Adamson and Watson, the song literally jumped out of the radio. The guitarists used a pitch transposer to make their instruments sound like bagpipes, befitting a Scottish band singing about their big country. 

Adamson's fiery vocals and Brzezicki's pounding drums added to the majestic power of the song.

"I've never seen you look like this without a reason/Another promise fallen through/Another season passes by you/In never took the smile away from anybody's face/And that's a desperate way to look/For someone who is still a child/In a big country dreams stay with you/Like a lover's voice fires the mountainside/Stay alive."

The song's optimism is infectious as it gallops along.

"I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered/But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered/I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert/But I can live and breathe/And see the sun in wintertime/In a big country dreams stay with you/Like a lover's voice fires the mountainside/Stay alive."

The bagpipe effect was memorable, and reminiscent of AC/DC's classic "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n' Roll)."

The song's video was also a big hit on MTV, featuring the band hunting treasure through the English countryside. "In a Big Country" hit #3 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart and #17 on the Hot 100 singles, while the album went to #18 on the Billboard 200 chart. "Fields of Fire" got some play on MTV, featuring similar Scottish guitar sounds and rhythms. 

The band recorded their followup, 1984's Steeltown, with Lillywhite, which went to #1 in the U.K. but didn't resonate with American listeners, who were unfamiliar with a lot of the historical Scottish references in the lyrics. The album only reached #70 on the Billboard 200. 

Big Country toured both as headliners and support act for Queen and Roger Daltrey. Indeed, Brzezicki, Butler and Watson all played on Daltrey's 1985 solo album Under a Raging Moon. Butler also played bass on the Pretenders hit "Back on the Chain Gang" and along with Brzezicki played on Townshend's White City: A Novel album. In addition, Brzezicki played drums on the Cult's album Love and was in the video for "She Sells Sanctuary."

Meanwhile, Big Country released two more albums in the '80s that were hits in the U.K. but did not fare well in the U.S. After their fifth album flopped in 1991, Brzezicki left the band and the group was dropped by its label; the album wasn't even released in the U.S. There were three more albums in the '90s with varying success in the U.K. Adamson also moved to Nashville in the mid-'90s and released an alt-country album with singer Marcus Hummon as the Raphaels in 2001.

Adamson played a farewell tour with Big Country in 2000. In November 2001, Adamson disappeared. Dealing a relapse of alcoholism, the end of his second marriage and general depression, Adamson killed himself in December 2001 in a Honolulu hotel room. 

In 2007, Butler, Brzezicki and Watson reunited to play a 25th anniversary tour with Butler on lead vocals. They got back together in 2010-2011 with Mike Peters of the Alarm on lead vocals and released a new single. Butler retired in 2012 and was replaced by former Simple Minds bassist Derek Forbes. The group released an album in 2013. Peters toured with the band, but left later that year to focus on the Alarm and solo projects. There have been some more lineup changes over the years, but Big Country continues on.