‘More Than This’ is a song by the English rock band Roxy Music. It was released in April 1982 as the first single from their eighth and final studio album, Avalon (1982). ‘More Than This’ was the group's last top-10 UK hit, peaking at No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart, and also charted in the United States, reaching No. 58 on the Billboard Rock Top Tracks chart.
‘More Than This’ has become one of Roxy Music's most popular tracks. American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs released a cover version in 1997 that peaked at No. 25, and British singer Emmie released a cover that reached No. 5 in the UK in January 1999. The cover of the single's release is the painting Veronica Veronese, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, which was completed in 1872 with Alexa Wilding as the model.
The song was written by lead vocalist Bryan Ferry, who has stated in interviews that he began writing the songs for Avalon while on the western coast of Ireland, which he believes contributed to the dark melancholy of the album. Through the lyrics, Ferry explores the end of a relationship through a tone of existential despair. In an interview with Vulture on August 16, 2022, Ferry explained why he believes the song endures. "It uses very few words, but it seems to get them in the right order," he said. "It's introspective. It's great when that type of emotion strikes a chord with people. Some of the other songs that I've done with the band and on my solo records have been a bit more obscure, but 'More Than This' really appealed to people."
‘More Than This’ is somewhat unusual for a pop song in that Ferry's lead vocals end at 2:45 minutes, leaving the last 1:45 minutes as a synthesizer-driven instrumental outro. The song's narrator is hopeful about the existence of something more but is vaguely melancholic about there not being so.
This song appears in the 2003 film Lost in Translation, with Bill Murray's character, Bob Harris, singing it in a karaoke bar in Tokyo. According to director Sofia Coppola, Murray had no idea how high the notes went. She told Esquire on June 22, 2017: "When Bill does the shot and says, 'This is hard,' before singing 'More Than This,' that was an ad-lib." In 2008, the BBC aired a documentary called More Than This: The Story of Roxy Music. Directed by the Grammy Award-winning filmmaker Bob Smeaton, it includes interviews with all members of Roxy Music alongside the likes of Bono of U2, Nile Rodgers of Chic, and John Taylor of Duran Duran.
Labels – Polydor, Warner Bros., E.G., Atco
Songwriter – Bryan Ferry
Producers – Rhett Davies, Roxy Music
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they're blowing?
As free as the wind
Hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
[Chorus]
More than this
You know there's nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
Ooh, there's nothing
[Verse 2]
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we're going?
No care in the world
Maybe I'm learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
[Chorus]
More than this
You know there's nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
No, there's nothing
More than this
Nothing
More than this
More than this
Nothing