Paddy McAloon: on the records!
A collection
of specific quotes about Prefab Sprout tracks.
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I've gone through my clippings to put together extracts of various articles in which Paddy gives a little insight into some of the Sprout recordings. I think you will find them interesting! They tend to be skewed toward the earlier works since I now don’t follow the band as closely as I used to.
Of course, this wouldn't be much of a 'Paddy speaks' page if I didn't include his most famous quote, the one that caused him a bit of grief later, I think, (even though it may have very well been true):
The Quote
"You can print this if you want but it'll sound really odd," he apologises, before getting to the point. "I know I'm probably the best writer on the planet. Seriously. Seriously -- I just know it! No-one even knows half the things I've written. But I know I'm really good because I've compared myself with the great songwriters -- Prince, Lennon & McCartney, Bacharach, Richard Rogers, Gerswin, even people like Chic -- they don't write words to interest sociology students but the music does it all. It's an awful thing to say and I never say it to anyone," he continues, "but I know that on my day...who are my rivals?" Jamming!, 1985
Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
"I like playing around with songs and titles. 'Lions' was written about my girlfriend being away at university in Limoges. I just saw the word Limoges written down on an envelope and tried to see what kind of phrase I could make from the letters. One of my best phrases became the title of the song...which might not mean anything literally, but it does convey the sense of someone leaving and another person being vulnerable as a result of that. I hope that doesn't sound too clever-clever, because I still think it is quite an easy song." NME August 27, 1983
Walk On
"'Walk On' is '76; 'Lions' is '81, that's very recent for us...I don't do any pre-76 now, it's too embarrassing." Aforesaid, "early" 'Walk On' has bits of Arabic on it; Paddy says it's about "the consolation of pop music when you're young, doing exams, listening to pop music, and ending up in your own little world." 'The Militia Have Arrived,' Kitchenware promo flier, 1984
Swoon
"We wanted to prove that folks in Newcastle could do the job. There's a very condescending attitude -- everyone thinks if you come from there you've got to wear flat caps, go pigeon racing and drink brown ale. Anyway, we were dead pleased with it even though it was done pretty cheaply. I was well prepared for it too because I've got a big back catalogue of songs. I'm well ahead of myself -- I've probably got enough for the next four albums!" (unsure of magazine source) 1983
"[About the title, Swoon] It's the classical and romantic dichotomy. We fall on the classical side. However, I've always thought the classical approach to be the most swoonworthy. It's like, you can talk about the Staple Singers, and of course those voices are far more passionate, far more direct. The point is, white boys have to use different tricks, and ours is a kind of elegance, the problem being that some people might find it too measured." NME, March 17, 1984
"I'm desperately unhappy with [Swoon]. There's a great, great record in there--I know I could put it right now--and the idea of redoing it is one of my pet projects. If I could, I'd go round all the record stores with a hat pulled down low over my face buying up all the remaining copies or, preferably, slipping new versions into the sleeves." NME, February 6, 1988
"It's my least favorite LP." NME, June 20, 1992
Don't Sing
"A lot of songs I wrote when I would think, that's a good idea for a song--'Don't Sing,' Grahame Greene, Mexico, Catholicism, blah, blah. That, in the pop world, makes you literary, because you've read a book and want people to know it by dropping all the names. In other people I would find it intolerable. I let myself get away with it because the music and overall effect is usually OK. But as a general rule, I would outlaw that now." NME, May 4, 1985
Technique
"'Technique' is absolutely spot on! It HAS technique, structure within it you see! It's about a guy who wants to work at Jodrell Bank, a star-gazer who knows he probably never will. Anyway, this chap realizes he has more passion than anyone who actually works at Jodrell Bank and that makes him more powerful than any one of them put together (sic)." 'The Militia Have Arrived,' Kitchenware promo flier, 1984
"I wrote songs like 'Technique' [when I was young]. I wasn't trying to be smart, I was trying to draw attention to the fact that all songs are artificial. The middle eight is the most artificial construction you're gonna get. You don't naturally write middle-eights. I wanted to draw attention to the fact that, if you're an intelligent person, your emotions should not be automatically consigned to the region of the heart. Heart versus the head. I could see that at 19, and I wasn't a particularly smart 19-year old." NME, May 4, 1985
Steve McQueen
"'Steve McQueen' was Thomas [Dolby's] record in a way...I gave him a huge collection of songs, and almost all the ones he picked were written in 1979, long before 'Swoon.'" Melody Maker, August 4, 1990
"It just seemed like an intriguing title for an LP. He was really good in an un-arty way. He was never hyped up. It's that instinctive feeling I like." Melody Maker, June 1, 1985
"Well yeah, I latched onto him [Steve McQueen] not because of his film career, but...I like the sound of his name. I had a vision one night that the LP should be called 'Steve McQueen'. I like playing around with the idea of how people will see us. The LP cover is the three [sic] of us on a motorbike, one of McQueen's trademarks, yet something you'd never associate with Prefab Sprout. So it's a pretty superficial link between the title and the album. It's eyecatching and sounds great on the ear. If it gets people's backs up, then great." Blitz, June 1985
Diana
"I'm proud of 'Diana,' I have to say that...It's about the deification of a girl. It's really about the Daily Mail, the way they wrote about lady Diana Spencer. The burden she had. Don't you think it's funny and ironical that she has the virgin goddesses' name, when what she represents is motherhood, the perfect mother?" 'The Militia have Arrived,' Kitchenware promo flier, 1984
When Love Breaks Down
"It is a very personal song. It's not that far removed from personal experience. I've worked so hard, it's been to the detriment of other things. Relationships have suffered, I don't mind saying that. But I know if I don't work hard I won't get that golden moment. I know I can go even further but to do that I have to narrow down my interests." Melody Maker, June 1, 1985
Goodbye Lucille No.1
Magazine article: "History gets murky here, [when the Sprouts first started] but there was a plan to write an entire album with the same title for each song, the completely different tunes and subjects to be differentiated by numbers. The only worthwile result was Goodbye Lucille No. 1 which later appeared on Steve McQueen." (unsure of magazine source)
"It was written at the same time as the Police's 'Walking on the Moon"...I was ill in bed and heard 'Walking on the Moon' and it was really simple. I thought, 'I've got to get simple.' And Johnny has got to be the most cliched rock 'n' roll word ever used. So I thought I'd fill the verses up with stuff you don't normally say to someone, like "Are you still in love with Hayley Mills?" NME, June 20, 1992
Faron Young
"I know that kind of vigor isn't normally associated with us, so that should surprise some people...as for America, I'm not preoccupied with it all. The first LP probably had too many references to it, I know, but 'Faron Young' is really sending up that country's cliches."(unsure of magazine source)
"This shows you how stupid I am--it's a song wondering why people like Country & Western Music when they live in the industrial north. I thought 'why do they listen to all these things about cowboys and farmers and grain?' and then 20 years later, I suddenly think, 'It's because C&W deals with real emotions.' Take that!" NME, June 20, 1992
When the Angels
"I wanted to talk about somebody dying young with a wonderful gift. The main thing on my mind then was Marvin Gaye. I couldn't be sombre and serious like the 'Nightshift' thing. I wanted to be irreverent and put two fingers up at the sky." Melody Maker, June 1, 1985
"Last year, I was in London about the time Marvin Gaye was shot. I'd actually heard very little of his music, but around that time I got the LP 'What's Going On' and I loved it so much, this song came out of that. Not to 'do a Marvin Gaye' but to do some sort of tribute, a twist on the old saying that those who are good die young." Epic records promo flier for 'Two Wheels Good,' 1985
Appetite
"It was a song about a girl who got pregnant, and the idea of her calling the kid after her lust for life. Thomas Dolby never thought he did justice to that song." Epic promo flier, 1995
Moving the River
"Yes, that line [from 'Moving the River'] comes from the time when Paddy and I worked in a petrol station. An old gentleman used to come in and tell us the easiest way to make money was to become a bookie, 'Money for jam, John, it's money for jam." It just became a catchphrase between the two of us." This is actually from Martin; Connect, 1988/89
From Langley Park to Memphis
"Hand on heart I think we've made a great record. I think the songs surpass anything on 'Steve McQueen,' yet musically and lyrically they're more accessible. That's a deliberate move. I've realised that a good simple song is better than a half-successful complicated one." NME, February, 6, 1988
Cars and Girls
"'Cars and Girls' isn't an anti-rock song. It's simply saying to Bruce Springsteen that his metaphor for everything ('life's a highway') just isn't big enough to include all the complexity and sadness in the world." NME, March 25, 1989
Nero the Zero
"It's one we used to play live when we played in tiny pubs in Durham, where we come from. We went into a local studio in Newcastle for a couple days and banged down six songs real quick, pretty much live with few embellishments. I wrote 'Nero the Zero' when I was 18 or 19, and it has a funny lyric, actually about playing in Durham." Creem (date unknown)
I Remember That
"That phrase ['I remember that'] gets close to romanticism without actually being sloppy, and that's what I wanted." Epic promo flier, 1995
Enchanted
"A song like Enchanted...is about finding something to be excited about year after year...Nothing ever hits you again with the force that it did at 18....you don't know then that you can't achieve everything you set out for yourself." (unsure of magazine source)
The King of Rock 'n' Roll
"I wrote it in 20 minutes. I got off the bus one day, picked the guitar up and wrote it. I thought it was so funny I couldn't play it to anyone. It was so ridiculous that I thought we couldn't record it..." (unsure of magazine source)
"At one point Paul [McCartney] introduced me to the drummer of the Crickets, and he told the guy, 'You may have heard this guy's song.' And Paul started singing the chorus [to The King of Rock 'n' Roll]. And I said, 'I'm not sure that record did us any good, because it's taken as a kiddie record.' And McCartney said, 'Yeah, Paddy, I suppose that song's your "My Ding-a-Ling." ' " Rolling Stone, March 7, 1991
Hey Manhattan!
"I know nothing about New York...I was reluctant to show the record to people. I have walked down Fifth Avenue, but I had to check from a book whether the Carlyle was round about there. I don't know all that business. The whole emphasis, which is obvious to me, is to do with the kid--and bugger his nationality, though he's probably from Kansas, the sticks, being 18 or 19, it's all to do with being alive. Being in a new place. Or living somewhere where all those opportunities which you saw when you were a kid were there, and they've all gone past you." Sounds, May 14, 1988
"It is the one song I'm dissatisfied with the way we realized it--it should've had someone else singing it, an American. Isaac Hayes was the idea, we tried to get him, they said no." Epic promo flier, 1995
The Golden Calf
"I was 19 when I wrote it. It's one of the early Sprout songs from when we were playing pubs and had a much more rock'n'roll oriented set because that was what I liked. It's a bit like doing a cover version because I don't remember what it was about." i-D: The Tribal Issue
Venus of the Soup Kitchen
"'Venus of the Soup Kitchen' is about insecurity." NME, March 25, 1989
Protest Songs
"It's sort of a downhome funky session recorded live in the same way as our first album with no fancy production...The title of it is a bit ironic in that it isn't about Bob Dylan writing about the Cuban Missle Crisis or the events of the day. It's called that because maybe more than any other of our records it refers to an outside world, like everyday life in Newcastle. It refers to unemployment, although I shiver when I say that because it sounds like the typical thing pop stars do...they [the songs on Protest Songs] aren't chest-beating 'what's wrong with the world?' songs." i-D: The Tribal Issue
Jordan: The Comeback
"I wouldn't want to make out that there was some great masterplan behind it all but, yes, the record does fall into arranged sections. Firstly, there's a collection of fairly straightforward pop songs, general songs with no great theme. Then there are the Elvis songs. Then there's a section where I tried to write a pop medley. Just having fun in the studio with colors. I'm a big fan of side two of 'Abbey Road," although it's dangerous to mention the Beatles. Then you've got the final section of songs which concern themselves with, I dunno, regret or growing old or the desire for some peace. These are the meat and potatoes of the record. I knew from the beginning that if people aren't with us on this, then it's bye bye. You have to accept this bit" NME, August 11, 1990
Looking for Atlantis
"I was just thinking of how lots of people go running around the world to find some fancy cause to devote their lives to and all the time what they're really searching for is something simple like being in love." Pops, August 15, 1990
Wild Horses
'Wild Horses' is about someone thinking their time has gone. They look at a 17-year-old girl and think she's perfect and wish they were 17 and could go out with her. I wanted to do it in the sweetest way possible, without it being a crappy rock or pop sex song. I think it's a sexy song." (unsure of magazine source)
We Let the Stars Go
"I had tickets to see Michael Jackson in Leeds, and I got up that morning, and I swear to God, I hit the piano [and wrote 'We Let the Stars Go'(?)] and I thought 'that's great!' and I ended up not going to see him." Epic promo flier, 1995
Machine Gun Ibiza
"I was down the pub with a mate of mine from The Kane Gang and he said something to me across the noisy table, about 'Machine Gun' -- which is a track by Jimi Hendrix -- and Ibiza, where we'd just been on holiday. I thought, 'Machine Gun Ibiza? What's he on about?' Then we built up the idea of this character...someone who was so cool that he embodied all your aspirations. There's no great message in it." Tracks, September 1990
Carnival 2000
"I loathe the idea of waking up one day and thinking 'I never did all the things I wanted to do' --and, worse, being too old to do anything about it. So I wanted to write a good Year 2000 song while I still could." Tracks, September 1990
"It was originally a piano piece, a two and a half minute throwaway...I didn't like it when I finished it. But with the passing of time, I now love it." Epic promo flier, 1995
Jordan: The Comeback
"The title track is Elvis as Howard Hughes on the top floor of his hotel in Vegas. I wanted to get an Elvis imitator to sing it, but then decided it was a bit too gimicky." Melody Maker, August 4, 1990
Jesse James Symphony and Jesse James Bolero
"[These songs] came about when I was trying to kickstart my writing again, and I thought, 'What if I was writing something for Streisand or Presley?' I decided to write something that would have appealed to Elvis' own self image. He liked to identify with mythic things, you can see that in his 'American Trilogy.' So I wrote something that dealt with him in those mythic proportions: the image of the outlaw, and all the sentimentality that allows the singer." Melody Maker, August 4, 1990
All The World Loves Lovers
"It's the idea that, this time, you're not going to be in love with someone and not say all those corny things which somehow end up jinxing it. But at the same time you want all those corny things to come true." Tracks, September 1990
"On a crassly commercial level, it is there because it's pretty, and it might make you want to start again." Epic promo flier, 1995
All Boys Believe Anything/Ice Maiden
"This is a medley about being 16 and seeing Agnetha from Abba on Top of the Pops and being impressed by this Swedish version of glamour. Then when your older you realise it's not as sophisticated as all that." Tracks, September 1990
Paris Smith
"This is a song for Wendy because she said that if she ever had a kid, what would be the most inappropriate name to give it? She came up with Rock Smith -- after Rock Hudson -- then Paris Smith." Tracks, September 1990
The Wedding March
"This is an awful apology to make but I think this track's better on my original demo. It's beautifully done as a recording, but I was closer to the spirit of it on my tape." Tracks, September 1990
One of the Broken
"On the intro where I go 'Hi. This is God here" you are supposed to smile. But it's also meant to be truthful as well as daft. I want people to find it moving and to think 'Old Paddy's a bit of a card, eh?" NME, August 11, 1990
"It's one of my favorites now among all my songs." Tracks, September 1990
"On that record [Jordan], my favorite song is One of the Broken. I love its spirituality. BEST magazine (France), July 1997, translated by Laurent Bodnar
Michael and Mercy
"With 'Michael' I just thought it was such dramatic material. The idea of Lucifer banished from heaven and trying to be let back in. The idea of him in this cold and lonely place. That's why the song is so high-tech, to denote that. Then I followed that with 'Mercy' which is much more intimate plea for forgiveness. You can read them as unconnected but they're supposed to be a response to each other. But the subject matter is just so fantastic. Every bit as dramatic as 'Dick Tracy'." NME, August 11, 1990
"[About 'Michael'] I just liked the idea of the devil thinking that because when he was kicked out he missed out on a real career opportunity." Tracks, September 1990
Scarlet Nights
"I did the demo for this as, like, a disco track...Then Tom [Dolby] heard it and wanted it to be a ballad...We came to this sort of compromise in the end. It's about someone waiting to die so I s'pose you've got to have a suitably solemn backing." Tracks, September 1990
The Sound of Crying
"It was more a feeling that, no matter how well-regulated world affairs are, disasters are always gonna happen. Now normally I stay away from those kind of big statements, cuz I feel uncomfortable making them, but in this case it just fell out...I'd been writing songs kind of about Michael Jackson. The verses were gonna list all these things that had gone wrong for him, and I was going to invent some and, in the same way 'Jordan' was about Elvis, write a song about Michael Jackson. But the release from it was going to be the chorus, 'Only the boogie music/Will never, ever let you down.' Then at the last minute my nerve failed. No matter how much I loaded up the verses with disturbing images, I just wasn't sure about the chorus." Creem, unsure of date
If You Don't Love Me
"'If You Don't Love Me' was among a batch I wrote in frustration in autumn of last year where I thought there should be nothing in the way of understanding the lyric. No interview needs to be done to explain concepts of Elvis Presley and the desert and all that stuff. just give it to 'em easy. If you strip away the disco-pop elements of 'If You Don't Love Me,' there's an intimite ballad at the heart of it. When I wrote it, it was extremely personal, cuz there are only words like 'you' and 'I'--direct, but not too specific. If I'm supposed to be good, surely I can write something that doesn't need explanation." Creem, unsure of date
Andromeda Heights
"It's a solar system, it's about two lovers who decide to build a house. It's a very simple idea actually. The only difference is that they only use noble material: iron, wood, glass...They've got respect for what they're building and when it's done they call it Andromeda heights because in England people give a name to their house, and most of the time referring to the height [sic, perhaps "area"] where it's situated, and they also name it after stars, after the surrounding galaxy. I love the word "star" and I tend to use it as often as I can. "Star" is a word that sounds good in a song, if it's well situated in a sentence. For me it has nothing to do with the science fiction side of it, I really want to become part of the stars, to dance with them...it's very important for me and my music..."
"...I always begin with the music, but for instance for the track 'Andromeda Heights' I had the title but I really didn't know what it would be about...It could be about an orbital station, about a million things to do with space in general...but it seemed to me that the music was very terrestial so I decided that it would be the name of a house well attached to the ground, but with a fantastic view of the stars." BEST magazine (France), July 1997, translated by Laurent Bodnar
"['Andromeda Heights' is] at the same level of quality as the best parts of Jordan." BEST magazine (France), July 1997, translated by Laurent Bodnar
Electric Guitars
"A little photograph of the Beatles at the height of their fame." 2FM (Ireland) Radio interview, 1997
"'Electric Guitars', the song about the Beatles, is kind of a last reminiscence to the era of Prefab Sprout as a band. Today, I have the image of Prefab Sprout as a virtual orchestra, a pure artefact, being shaped in our studio. "Andromeda Heights" actually contains many elements of the past, but was produced by means of tomorrow's technology. Basically, I've transferred methods, which otherwise are solely used for making Dance music, to the song format." German magazine "SPEX" 5/97 (SPEX quotes forwarded by Hendrik Kroez -- thanks!)
Avenue of Stars
"I'm working more and more with the computer nowadays. It's a fabulous instrument if you can really use it. I wrote 'Avenue of Stars' in complete collaboration with the computer, for instance the long instrumental introduction. I put all the elements inside, but nothing has been written on a piano or guitar. It's just an interactive work between the computer and I. I would be writing down the first line on the screen and then I was waiting for something to happen, it's a whole new way of working." BEST magazine (France), July 1997, translated by Laurent Bodnar
The Fifth Horseman
"In this song, I'm moving on a level of absolute seriousness, which is thought to be romantic, but the lyrics know well enough that they can be accused of megalomania. Not only have I calculated with that risk - furthermore this very risk is what the song is all about. One should take this song serious, but just to some degree. It is moving close to the edge. You know, people are mistaking when they believe that my lyrics are poetry. A poem can and should stand for itself. But a pop lyric needs music to achieve some degree of plausibleness. That's the wonderful thing about pop music- that one can use most banal phrases and still is in the position to give them dignity, which they otherwise would never achieve. Take songs such as "The mystery of love" or "Life's a miracle" - just platitudes. If I've succeeded in making them bigger than real life I've hit the target" German magazine "SPEX" 5/97
Swans
"Swans is from an album or musical, 'Zorro the Fox' which I started writing in the 80's. I nicked it from that." 2FM (Ireland) Radio interview, 1997
"['Swans' is] at the same level of quality as the best parts of Jordan." BEST magazine (France), July 1997, translated by Laurent Bodnar
Life's A Miracle
"That song is like little messages to yourself, cliches, squeeze the most from each day. But it's the spin that the music puts on the words that make them good, I think." MOJO, May 1997
"['Life's a Miracle' is] at the same level of quality as the best parts of Jordan." BEST magazine (France), July 1997, translated by Laurent Bodnar
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