In 2002 Mike Skinner released the first full length album by the Streets. The film was a critical juggernaut and The Streets career took off, each album getting darker and darker. Then out of nowhere came their 4th album Everything is Borrowed.
Compared to the previous album The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, it might as well be a completely new group. While Original Pirate Material painted a dark image of London and Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living discussed the dark side of celebrity (drugs, papparazzi, etc) Everything is Borrowed is an uplifting album about living life to it’s fullest.
It’s not just the lyrics, it’s the music too. I remember the first time I heard this album. I had picked it up at the CD store and within the first 45 seconds of the titular opening track I knew this was very different Streets album.
Songs like ‘Heaven for the Weather” and “The Way of the Dodo” are delightful songs. Heaven having a sound that makes you want to dance while Dodo shows off Skinner’s rapping ability at it’s best. However the best track on the album is right smack in the middle ‘On the Edge of a Cliff”
I’d argue that Edge of a Cliff lyrically sums up everything Skinner wanted this album to be about. It tells if our narrator contemplating suicide when a man approaches him with this uplifting piece of wisdom. “For Billions of Years since the outset of time/Every single one of your ancestors survived/Every single person on your mom and dad’s side/Succesfully looked after and passed onto you life/What are the chances of that like?/It comes to me once and a while/And everywhere I tell folk it gets the best smile”.
Everything is Borrowed is an album about living life to it’s absolute fullest. It’s a great album to throw on this summer with the windows rolled down.
Matt Kelly can also be found hosting The Saint Mort Show, Co-hosting the Reddit Horror Club Podcast, Writing for Geekscape,Tweeting and running Dollar Monday Promotions. 
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