Cannock Chase
The universe brought me a new favorite song, packaged cleverly in the season finale of Hacks.

This past summer had a soundtrack, and the seed of it was my new favorite song: "Cannock Chase," by Labi Siffre.
"Cannock Chase" by Labi Siffre
Labi Siffre is a singer-songwriter from the UK. "Cannock Chase" was on Siffre’s 1972 album Crying Laughing Loving Lying. The title track from the album was in Alexander Payne’s new movie The Holdovers (dear god, I loved that movie, btw).
But it was "Cannock Chase" that grabbed my soul by some handle I didn’t know I had. I first heard it in the season finale of Hacks (Season 3, Episode 9: Bulletproof). I paused the show to track down the song and just live in it a bit.
I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is about the song that caught me. It places me on some lonely, winding road in a forested corner of Western Washington, some place that only exists in my mind and heart. (Relevant info: I was born and raised in Seattle, but left there more than 20 years ago.) I'm surrounded by tall evergreens close to the road, and the clouds are dark and heavy in the way I've only ever seen in that corner of the Pacific Northwest. I guess the pieces are there in the song: a car, the rain. Yet the mood isn't gloomy, it's soaring. The thrum of his voice stirs a matching thrum in my chest. It pulls my heart right out of my body and into places I haven’t been in a long time. It brings me home and sends me out into the world again, at once. It’s a beautiful song.
I played "Cannock Chase" on repeat for a long while, then I bought the rest of the album. It’s a lovable album!
"Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying" by Labi Siffre
The title track—"Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying"—truly is wonderful. It was a perfect choice for The Holdovers.
"It Must Be Love" by Labi Siffre
"It Must Be Love" is cute! It was covered by Madness in the ‘80s, but that’s off my radar.
"Gimme Some More" by Labi SIffre
"Gimme Some More" is poppy, funky fun. Gotta love any song with organ and an earnest “sock it to me!”
"Blue Lady" by Labi Siffre
"Blue Lady" sounds a smidge ahead of its time to me. Shades of Genesis and Paul Simon.
"My Song" by Labi Siffre
"My Song" is chock-full of plucky, early-'70s sitcom, bring-on-the-world, theme song vibes.
I genuinely adore the whole Crying Laughing Loving Lying album; the songs I spotlighted here were almost picked at random; the whole thing has me in its thrall.
Labi Siffre inspired me to make a playlist of songs from some other ‘70s singer-songwriters I love, including Nick Drake, Yusuf Islam, Norma Tanega (I found her thanks to What We Do in the Shadows’ impossibly perfect theme song, "You’re Dead"), and a personal soft spot, Art Garfunkel’s 1975 album Breakaway (give it a chance!). It's not in a shareable playlist form, I’m afraid, so you’ll have to track those down on your own, but they’re worth it. For now, enjoy Labi Siffre.
Deepest gratitude to the person who brought "Cannock Chase" and Labi Siffre into my life, which I think might be the music supervisor for Hacks, Matt Biffa. I don’t know enough about TV production to know who chose that song, but I suppose Mr. Biffa would at least know who to thank for me. Whoever it was, thank you, thank you, thank you. You have excellent taste and a generous heart.
And thank you, Labi Siffre, for your music. It's beautiful, and I feel so lucky to have found it at last.