The Starting Line

Tim Rice-Oxley started this song in the back of the band's touring bus on a boiling hot day in Boston in the summer of 2010. He explained: "It was right after the show, and I was first on the bus so I cracked open a cold beer and picked up the guitar, and this spilled out straight away. That's my idea of heaven. We were in Lincoln, Nebraska a couple of days later and everyone had gone off to get some rest in the hotel. The tour bus was parked up outside for the day so I thought I would go on there and be able record the piano and vocal for the demo without disturbing anyone. Anyway I was singing away merrily when I felt the bus pull away and before I knew it I was heading out of town - I ended up doing most of the demo outside a Walgreens in the back-end of nowhere. I'm not sure the bus driver ever realised I was on board."

Lyrically, the song considers the ease with which the idealistic youth can turn a bad situation around. "Forget the ghosts that make you old before your time," exhorts vocalist Tom Chaplin. "I like the idea of having to almost make a physical effort to get back on track sometimes," explained Rice-Oxley, "if you get really low or things just aren't going right. It's a very sympathetic song, and I think it a good articulation of the human sympathy that is a big part of what ties the album together."