"BAD DANCERS OF A CERTAIN AGE" was written after I heard a very successful young singer/songwriter talking about his recent Glastonbury appearance.

 

"It was.. it was just me..  me and my guitar and my little songs.. and there were all these thousands of people" he marvelled, wide eyed. "It was totally surreal".

 

Now I had no issue with the guy personally or his music but ... pur-leeze 🙄🙄 Surreal?

 

Mate, you have a huge team behind you,  you had millions of pounds thrown at your recording, your promo and social media, you've been groomed and branded,  and known for months you'd headline Glasto. And I'm guessing you knew there'd be a few people there?

 

That was NOT surreal!!!

Maybe if you'd walked on stage accompanied by an elephant tricycling while eating an aubergine, that would have been surreal.. but as it was you were just doing your job.

 

Anyway, I rarely rant (and never about musicians) so that's that, and good luck to the guy. But i still write the song 

 

When we hit the studio  I said to Seadna  "Let's make this sound a bit like 'Instant Karma'", 

and we had a lot of fun..  Seadnas' keyboard 'solo' is genius.

 

NAVIGATE was the first song I wrote for this record, where it all began.

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I was trying to write directly about where things where up to. If "Navigate the radio silence" sounds cryptic, it wasn't - radio had literally just stopped supporting an artist with whom I worked closely, it felt like something of a body blow. 

From there the song seemed to make a clear jump from the personal to the global. 

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Someone told me 'You do realise the keyboard metre on this resembles Leonard. Owen's "Everybody Knows"

"No shit" I said.

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Anyway I was fortunate to have Thea Gilmore on harmonies and Liz Hanks on suitably edgy cello to enhance this track..without them those 6 verses could have dragged a bit 

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ME WITH YOU 

A little paean to love, home and identity.

 

Personally I was most impressed that I managed to get 3 of my fave ever albums - "Tim" by the Replacements, "Trust" by Low and "Blue" by Joni - into one line. 

 

Anyway, I've started performing this song again now in 2026 which feels great.

 

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG 

First two lines entered my head while listening to MGMTs brilliant "TSLAMP". 

And I was off. I suddenly realised the political party I'd voted for for 30 years didn't like me!

 

The Battle Of Waterloo may be have been won on the playing fields of Eton but the battle of Brexit was lost on the timelines of Twitter. And hey pretty shining people are we really all right together?

 

SHOWRUNNERS BLUES

Waiting for the cricket scores to come through on my phone one Saturday. 

Kept getting distracted by an incendiary piece in the New Statesman that someone had retweeted.

 

Got me thinking about power. 

Real power. Shadow power, super quangos, hedge funds, ex government advisors with new jobs and opaque remits. 

 

Went upstairs and wrote this lyric. Borrowed some chords from a famous Scientologist. 

Didn't think I liked it.  Came downstairs and checked on the cricket again.

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ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS 

A composite .. I changed one line so that neither of the dudes I had in mind would think it was about them and feel embarrassed. My friend Jimmy Forres played great guitar, and the lovely Meg Lee did the harmonies.

 

I tried briefly to add bass but suddenly realised it was in danger of sounding like "She's Electric".

Reader, I resisted. 

 

WHEN IT GETS COLD 

Last song I recorded for the album..  seasonal vibe, caught it in one take.

Was probably thinking about my Mother.

 

THE STRANGE UNTRIED

The title is a lift from a synonym for death in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".

Difficult one.. I was out for beers one night with a dear old mate..

We had a broad catch-up conversation that got me thinking about life, life spans, uncertainty, joy.

The following day on dropping my sons off at school I learnt that the parent of a friend of both of them had passed suddenly. I went out for coffee and heard equally suddenly that a musician friend had passed.

Neither of the people in question were even into middle age. 

 

I wrote the song quickly but I felt it was too direct, near the bone, insensitive even.

I didn't want to make artistic gain out of others tragedy or grief.

 

So I changed the name of the bass player who'd died, but still didn't think I could release the song.

 

For better or for worse I changed my mind.

I now even wish I hadn't changed his name tbh, it was meant in tribute and in sympathy, but that's all history. 

 

"Be at peace with all you've found 

Claim your space and go your way

With honest heart and solid ground

And sufficient unto the day"

 

RED LETTER LIFE

An existential slip jig. 

 

I came back one Saturday night from a live radio session at Media City, where I'd been lending some support to my very talented mate Abbie Ozard.  It went wonderfully, and - still on a high - I called in at a local hostelry for a celebratory beer. 
 

I walked straight into a completely offensive 'political' conversation between two beer addled barflies. 

The 'fight or flight' process kicked in, I decided on a little of each.

 

I soon walked home in a freshly filthy mood and slept terribly. I got up early to hang out with my two sons, pulled open the curtains, and that's exactly where this song begins, and where this album ends.