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He envisaged a big, happy song with a loud, healthy message. It would pack a whomping great beat and have loads of lush strings. It needed a singer. Enter, flamboyantly, David McAlmont - black, gay and blessed with star quality - who added lyrics, a breathtaking falsetto and a title: Yes. Yes was recorded in France at Christmas 1994, with Butler playing guitars, bass and keyboards. He produced it himself. It became a number 8 hit single in June and was many people's song of '95. The follow up, recorded concurrently, was a massive, heartsick ballad called You Do. (Butler had actually written it for Suede, but they'd turned it down.) The McAlmont & Butler partnership was pottering towards an already agreed conclusion when, in an interview to promote You Do, McAlmont strongly implied that his collaborator was an anti-social, homophobic grouch. Despite a retraction from McAlmont the following week, a marvellous little chapter in modern music had ended sourly. excerpt from the BB interview 'Have Guitar, Will Travel' (Q Magazine) by David Cavanagh. |