Catching the Butterfly

The idea of catching a butterfly, that image of chasing something ethereal and beautiful, seems to be the heart of Catching the Butterfly. It can be interpreted as the pursuit of a life dream, that goal that seems just within reach but may never be fully grasped. It also evokes the notion of lucid dreams, those states where one is aware of dreaming. This could suggest that life itself feels like a dream from which one cannot fully awaken, or the awareness that what is being chased, that "butterfly," is not entirely real.

The gestation of Urban Hymns, the album containing this piece, had its ups and downs. The band, The Verve, had split in August 1995 after the promotion of A Northern Soul, but reunited two weeks later without guitarist Nick McCabe. Richard Ashcroft moved to Bath, Somerset, and began creating demos. Simon Tong soon joined. After some recording sessions that did not go well with producers like John Leckie and Owen Morris, they looked for a new guitarist and contacted Bernard Butler, who stayed for a week before leaving due to creative differences. It was in 1996 that The Verve began recording at Olympic Studios in London, working first with producer Martin "Youth" Glover and then with engineer Chris Potter. In early 1997, Ashcroft re-contacted McCabe. The final production of Catching the Butterfly, with its 6:27 runtime, fell to Chris Potter and the band themselves.