Synopsis

In a dim, sepia-toned bar, Elbow perform amid whiskey, beer, and heavy shadows. The video follows the weary rhythm of the place as drinks are served, a solitary woman dances, and the band turns the bar into an increasingly charged performance space. Guy Garvey dominates the frame at the microphone, occasionally using the surroundings as percussion. The mix of stark black-and-white narrative images and earthy color gives the song's drinking, isolation, and emotional exhaustion a distinctly old-fashioned atmosphere.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Grounds for Divorce" was released in 2008 as the first single from Elbow's fourth album, *The Seldom Seen Kid*.

• The bar setting and muted brown palette mirror the song's themes of drinking, dissatisfaction, and wanting to escape. The video uses small, repetitive gestures - including the serving of drinks - to suggest a life stuck in a cycle.

• The song's signature guitar riff had been part of Mark Potter's playing for years. He originally came up with it while learning slide guitar, and Elbow reportedly went through four versions of the track before completing the album recording.

• Producer Craig Potter said that an early blues-based loop, recorded on an Edirol field recorder, remained part of the finished track. That lo-fi origin helps explain the song's rough, smoky texture.

• Guy Garvey wrote the line about a cocktail called "grounds for divorce" in Manchester's Temple of Convenience, a pub and toilet venue where the band spent time. He later forgot the line until a friend reminded him of it.

• Although the song is often read as a straightforward breakup number, Elbow connected its lyrics to the aftermath of the death of their friend Bryan Glancy and the urge to escape emotional entanglement.

• The track won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song in 2009.

• The song gained additional exposure through the trailer for *Burn After Reading* and a television advertisement for the video game *Left 4 Dead*.