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Songs In The Key Of Life

interview by Jim Wirth, New Musical Express
11 July 1998


The First Record You Can Remember:
'Fernando' -- Abba
"The video has them all sitting around a fire playing 12-string guitars, so I suppose that I must have seen it on Top Of The Pops. Abba are the kings of melody and I love idiosyncratic melodies; I hate avant-garde records. Actually, I went to see Kraftwerk at Roskilde and they've got that same gift for melodies that just stick, which Paul McCartney has too. I don't like the kitsch aspect of Abba because I really believe they were brilliant songwriters. In production terms, they were geniuses; their voices were beautiful and though there's a lot of soppy rubbish underneath, the records are great."


A Song That Reminds You Of School:
'Thieves Like Us' -- New Order
"This is intrinsically linked with 'Cemetery Gates' by The Smiths. I had this long bus journey into school and was always listening to these tracks on my personal stereo. I learned everything I know about song structure from New Order; their songs were modern symphonies and their melodies took their time to unfold. I was the only person at my school who was vaguely interested in The Smiths and New order and I was condemned for it constantly. Everyone else was into Level 42, Simple Minds and Big Country."


Record You Fell In Love To:
Bandwagonesque -- Teenage Fanclub
"This was the record I courted my wife to. When I first met her we spent long evenings together singing along to 'The Concept'. This album is such a warm, beautiful record and the band sound wonderful together. Neither of us had ever listened to Teenage Fanclub before we met and I think that the records you fall in love to are the ones that are exclusive just to you. Bandwagonesque will always be special to us because of that, although 'Different Drum' by The Lemonheads runs a close second."


Heartbreak Record:
'No Regrets' -- The Walker Brothers
"I haven't fallen out of love yet but my big record when I left Suede, which was kind of a heartbreak period for me, was this. It got to such a ludicrous situation with the media. Everything became ridiculous and funny and this song is so over the top that it mirrored the situation perfectly and brought it all down to comedy. You can either break down in tears or break down into laughter, and that's the way I chose to do it."


Record For The Greatest Summer Of Your Life:
'Buzzin' Fly' -- Tim Buckley
"My best summer would have to be the summer of 1996 when me and my wife got into the car and drove round France at high speed playing CDs on the car stereo. This song was always on; it's the perfect soundtrack to being in the middle of nowhere with lots of strange people drinking wine. This was at a time when I was thinking about getting my solo career started and just after a rendezvous with The Verve, which was a bit of a mad time which set me back a bit. So the holiday was just two weeks of getting my head together and having a great time."


Anthem For A Night On The Tiles:
'Cum On Feel The Noize' -- Slade (or possibly Oasis)
"I don't really have many nights out on the tiles these days unless I'm at festivals because when I'm at home I tend to stay indoors. I can't decide whether to choose the Slade or Oasis version of this song but either way this is a great throwaway record that makes you feel exhilarated. It's a drinking song really; there's such a robust, Germanic beer hall quality to it."


Record That Inspired You To Form A Band:
The Smiths -- The Smiths
"My brother taped the Smiths playing live at Derby on Whistle Test when I was about 13 and told me I had to watch it. It blew me away. I watched that video for the next two years, studying everything about the gig and the songs. When their debut album finally came out it became my obsession and made me decide to become a songwriter. The whole thing about The Smiths was bizarre; Morrissey was bizarre, Johnny was bizarre, but inspiring. I lived the whole thing. I lived every word on the back of the record sleeve. It was quite frustrating when I plugged a guitar into a cheap amp for the first time and I didn't sound like Johnny Marr."


Record Guranteed To Clear The Tourbus:
'Clouds' -- Glen Campbell
"This is a difficult question because you can stray into kitsch territory and records that are so bad they're funny. Me and the band listen to the radio a lot on the bus, and Diana memorial records have united us in hatred for a while. I have a fondness for lots of Glen Campbell stuff, though, but some of it gets too soppy and irritates people. This one is a good example - it's a Joni Mitchell song and although I really like it, it does get a bit mushy."


Midnight On New Year's Eve, 1999, What's On The Hi-Fi?:
'I Stand Accused' -- Isaac Hayes
"I've been at New Year's parties where all the obvious records have been played - 'Dancing Queen' by Abba, 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer - and it's always been a disaster because by 10pm no one's in a fit state to enjoy themselves. These days I'd rather be in bed anyway, but this record will do me because it is sedate and rises steadily and will lead me nicely into bed."


What Would You Like To Be Played At Your Funeral?:
'Martha' -- Tom Waits
"I only heard this record six months ago. It's a song about an old love affair and the chorus is beautiful: "Those were the days of roses/Of poetry and prose/And Martha all I had was you and all you ever had was me." That's all the feelings that you could ever hope to inspire in a person at a funeral; allowing them to look back and say that that was something important and I have a beautiful memory of it."






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