worDS: SimoN ButtoN PhotoGrAPhS: rEx FEAturES, GEttY imAGES, PA Photo
HyPo full
of love
Alabama 3 the lyrics on
this track are so insightful: “i been
hanging out on street corners with
whores and junkies/Living mah life
low/But lately a little bit of light has
come into mah life and that light be
the light of love/D wayne Love/And
he be a man with a 12-step plan.”
it’s a send-up of the Alcoholics
Anonymous thing. it’s funny as
well as cool and funky, and it has
resonance that speaks to my fear,
distrust and loathing of rehab.
1
rocks
Primal Scream “Get your
rocks off/Get your rocks
off honey/Shake it now now/Get ’em
off downtown.” it’s kind of a pastiche
of the rolling Stones, and Bobby
Gillespie is one of the finest lyricists
of all time. it’s a quintessential dirty
rock ’n’ roll song, and the breathless
rap on here is genius. whenever i
hear Bobby singing rocks i want to
go out and stuff my face with as
many drugs as i can get my hands
on and get as loaded as possible.
2
Quicksand
David Bowie Nobody
knows what this song is
about, so they just go, “oh, it must
be about drugs,” but i don’t think it is.
For me, it’s a piece of well-wrought,
tortured existential angst. You can
just sing along to lines like “i’m closer
to the Golden Dawn/immersed in
crowley’s uniform” without having
to understand them. Bowie (below)
probably had no idea what they
meant either, but he invests them with
such deeper truth and conviction.
3
“Here’s our Graham
with a reminder…”
36 / www.ShortLiSt.com
The Guest List
Irvine Welsh’s all-time
favourite lyrics
The Trainspotting novelist relives the songwriting that has affected him the most
avenue B
Iggy Pop the line
“rappers standing on the
corner/wrappers flying in the wind/
waitress up from Alabama/can’t
believe the cold she’s in” is urban
poetry. the song is about a guy who’s
unlucky in love and is still fighting on,
which we can all relate to, and when
iggy (above) sings “i’m sitting in my
castle/on the verge of a divorce”
it’s really powerful. it also sums up
the vibe of New York perfectly.
4
Mull
6
5 Historical
society
Mull Historical Society “the mull
historical Society/is here for you
and me/You got to keep moving/
if you’re going to end up in our
society… we need a new hall/
to fill our membership of two.” it’s
a clever send-up of all those
well-meaning local societies that you
have in the highland communities.
Bowie probably had no idea what the lyrics
to Quicksand meant, but he invests them
with such deeper truth and conviction
tHis Guy’s in
love WitH you
Burt Bacharach i always
love a ballad of gut-wrenching
pathos, and lyrics don’t come much
more heart-wrenching than “Say
you’re in love, in love with this guy/
if not i’ll just die/tell me now, is it
so, don’t let me be the last to
know/my hands are shaking,
don’t let my heart keep breaking.”
People might not expect it of me, but
i’m a completely incurable romantic.
“Chopsticks?
Don’t know it. Next!”
day after day
7 9
Badfinger while we’re
on pathos, let’s go for this
tearjerker: “i remember holding you
while you sleep/Every day i feel the
tears that you weep.” it seems to
be universal that when people get
packed in by their first girlfriend they
listen to this. i was no exception. i was
13, but within two weeks i was fine.
As a teenager you like to think you’re
profound, then you bounce back
and tell your mates you don’t care.
“I… need…
more… creatine”
Brian was ostracised until he
ditched the centre parting
Lou loved bobbing
for apples in flour
sHe’s My
Best friend
Lou Reed i love this song.
it manages to be a beautiful and
romantic track, with lyrics like,
“Yeah, she’s my best friend/She
understands me when i’m feeling
down,” but it’s also a sleazy street
song when he sings, “here’s to
mullberry Jane/She made jam
when she came.” only Lou reed
can pull these things off.
8
Positively
4tH street
Bob Dylan it’s a brutal,
cryptic, ultimate put-down. i’ve read
all sorts of things about who he is
talking about when he sings, “You
see me on the street/You always act
surprised/You say ‘how are you?
Good luck’/But you don’t mean it.” it
is so over-the-top as a put-down that
it becomes a song about petulant
self-loathing. can i relate to that?
only when my team, hibs, get beaten
and i ask myself, “why did i go?”
Beasley street
John Cooper Clark this
is more of a poem set to
music than a song. he’s writing about
a street in manchester stricken by
poverty. “oAP, mother-to-be/watch
the three-piece suite” conjures up
an image of an old-before-her-time
woman eying a dumped sofa. on the
housing scheme i grew up in there
was always abandoned furniture
in the street and we’d use it as
trampolines even after scabby
dogs had taken a leak on them.
10
Crime by Irvine Welsh is published
by Jonathan Cape, priced £12.99
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