“Hey, Jamie. Do you listen to Snow Patrol?” No one’s ever asked me that in my life. But the answer I would provide if I was would be a short “No.” Not because I don’t like the band. I just don’t pay that much mind to them. I think the last Snow Patrol song I remember being around and promoted was ‘Just Say Yes’. And whatever spin you may want to put on it that stops you from acknowledging your age, that song is pushing 20 years since its release. There was a point where the band was everywhere. Mainly ’cause of ‘Chasing Cars’. I never understood the hype for that one. Oh, and couldn’t forget about ‘Run’ too. ‘Open Your Eyes’ was used in an episode of The Office US. They were featured in a Spider-Man film soundtrack too. But when it comes to Snow Patrol, there are two songs by them I really like. One of them I covered ages ago in ‘Chocolate’. And the other being today’s featured song ‘Spitting Games’, both of which are from the group’s 2003 album Final Straw.

‘Chocolate’ was the first Snow Patrol track I ever heard. In the process of writing this, I looked back at the post I did for it. What a throwaway that was. I was younger and clearly didn’t care as much. When it comes to ‘Spitting Games’, I’m not too sure when or where I heard it for the very first time. Maybe it was in an advert. Maybe I heard it in a TV show somewhere. When it comes to these sorts of situations, more than likely I saw the video on MTV2 or one of those music television programmes and got into it almost immediately. It’s all in that guitar riff/’ooh-ooh’ melody that opens the song. Once you hear that, it’s pretty much over, you won’t be able to get it out of your head. Or maybe I’m just projecting. At the very least, I’m sure that’s what happened to me when I initially came across it. I particularly like the song’s ending, which is a spontaneous recording by producer Jacknife Lee of singer Gary Lightbody performing the track on a staircase.

For the longest time, I was confused by the song’s title and what it had to do with the lyrics. Like the previous song I covered on here, it just made me think of this disgusting image of people literally spitting at each other for fun. But honestly, maybe only yesterday (I write this on 13th February 2025), I properly thought about the title and its other very obvious meaning. When you’re spitting game, you’re flirting. And that’s what this song’s about. Well, it’s about the narrator’s inability to flirt due to shyness. They feel much more comfortable telling the person they’re interested in how they feel through writing an undisclosed number of letters. It’s not made clear if these letters are even sent. But they just need to get the words down because otherwise they’ll never be physically said. They just can’t muster the courage. Yeah, I like this one. And below are a couple of alternative videos for the track I found in the YouTube search. Just a bit different from the one I’m used to.