Lyrics

Sack Trick remind me of Tate Modern with Nick (and the laugh of Sarah Cawood)
“Mummer,” reminds me of the Lytchett Science trip (and Steve Jones’ gene language lecture)
Bennett remind me of walks to the Joiner’s Arms (You couldn’t get every CD in my native town)
The Trail of Dead make me feel sad

Sky Magazine reminds me of Wish by the Cure (and school coffees)
It seemed racy (and then Blur briefly made me popular)
Hengisbury Head
Cheval de Freese remind me of the Arts Café
The Spitz and Pavement
Dad’s Dorchester Fete and Icen Way

“Murder Park” recalls Denise and Super Buys (and my third year hedgehog study)
Mab make me think of the Cargo Club with Edd (and little jam jars of saki)
Focus remind me of Dad’s spotted LP (and Salad of Xmas TV)
Emma Pollock makes me think of Claire and me (where we both cried at each other)

H.M.H.B. remind me of Wimbourne (stressed at Biogenesis)
Induction fees remind me of Hernandez Bros cartoons
Thomas Dolby reminds me of Airwaves and the forced quelling of romance
The Divine Comedy of woodlice and Kew promenade with friends

T.M.B.G.’s “No!” album reminds me of Launch Pad and of family gigging
Louise Brown’s knees of singing the Monsoon Bassoon on my bike

Wax and Hourglass remind me of the coach trip in ’87
Headmaster toys, Scelidosaurus/Mum in Huddesfield
Now Scarlet’s Walk reminds me of the final kiss with Ariana
Magic Malik reminds me of Foyle’s Jazz Bar with Karen

Cabin Fever reminds me of a nice letter from their bassist
Rolo Tomassi remind me of sadness at the Old Blue Last
Vivian Stanshall reminds me of lying awake in Stoke Newington
Oxes make me think of my first awkward week in London

References

* Lord Frith – The God of rabbits, in the novel Watership Down. (I’m also referring to Fred Frith, the avant garde composer. Oddly, my first ever gig was on Frith Street in London, so this song is really about life and art being intertwined)
* Sack Trick – A 90’s comedy band, featuring members of Rachel Stamp and other 90’s indie folk
* The Tate Modern – An art gallery in London, which I went to with my friend Nick on the day I bought the above album. At the time, I'd just decided to move to London and was obsessed with the thought
* Sarah Cawood – A bubbly, 90’s TV presenter, who did a guest vocal on the above album
* Mummer – Probably the worst album by XTC, one of my favourite ever bands. It, none the less, contains 5 or 6 brilliant tunes and was purchased on a school science trip to London… I was so excited about being able to find it in a shop. (This prefigures the internet, so rare albums could only be bought on city trips)
* Lytchett – The school where I did my GCSE and A level exams, in Dorset, England
* Steve Jones – In this case, I’m not referring to the Sex Pistols guitarist but the Biology Professor Steve Jones.
I saw him talk on the above A level science trip but (at the time of writing this tune) he was my boss!
* Bennett – A great 90’s band, who deserved fame, but didn’t get it. Their best song was called, “Wanker,” and has one of the strongest lyrics I’ve ever heard. It’s a brilliant dissection of a laddish man
* The Joiner’s Arms – A pub in Southampton (where I went to university). Almost every band plays there, before becoming famous
* …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – A band who I strongly associate with a 2006-2009 hopeless love affair
* Sky Magazine – An early 90’s fashion and music magazine. A boy at school got my friends and I interested in it as (pre-Loaded, FHM, Nuts and Zoo etc.) it was the only easily available magazine that showed semi-naked women. In retrospect, it was laughably tame, showing perhaps two nipples an issue, however, the music reviews seemed exciting at the time and women are always beautiful
* Wish – An album by the Cure, which I liked a lot during my A level exams
* Blur – A great 90’s band who admired XTC and Squeeze. (Hence, some of my tastes in music briefly became fashionable)
* Hengisbury Head – A nature reserve in Dorset, which I visited on a school trip at the time of discovering Blur
* Cheval de Freese – A brilliant French band. One of the best live gigs (and best drummers) that I’ve ever seen
* The Arts Café – A lovely venue in London’s Aldgate East, which has now sadly closed
* The Spitz – As above! Thanks London property developers, for turning everything good into expensive flats
* Pavement – A cool 90’s band
* Dorchester Fete – My Dad works for Dorset County Council (and organized a fete at the time I was first into Pavement)
* Dorchester – County town of Dorset and home of Thomas Hardy
* Icen Way - A street in Dorchester, which features a charming dinosaur museum
* After Murder Park – An amazing album by the Auteurs
* Super Buys – A chain of shops in Dorset. I worked in the Poole store during a university holiday and was lucky/unlucky enough to work with…
* Denise – On our first date I suggested going to a pub, but she said that we should go to some empty fields instead. It was pouring with rain and we lay in the wet kissing… I had no idea what I was doing and then went home covered in mud. We became friends
* Hedgehog studies – I did a project on hedgehog ecology for a year, at university
* Mab – An Italian band who I used to watch with my friend Lorna, after first moving to London
* The Cargo Club – A pine coloured music venue in London
* Focus – A Dutch rock band, which my Dad was wise to recommend to me. (I’ll always remember the brilliant optical illusion on one of their album covers. It looked like a pattern of spots, but spelt the word Focus when viewed from a distance)
* Salad – A lovely 90’s band (whose debut album was in my play list, whilst wrapping my 2007 Christmas presents)
* Emma Pollock- During my 2006-2009 unrequited love, a friend and I went to see this singer. We were both feeling sensitive at the time and had a petty argument about whether men were romantic enough, in which we both cried. It’s one of the few arguments I’ve had, thank goodness
* Half Man Half Biscuit – An incredible band
* Wimbourne – A very pretty village in Dorset - Home to Robert Fripp and visited often by me as a kid
* Biogenesis – A biotechnology company, where I took my first job after uni. There were some nice people there and two of the bosses were really sweet guys, but I disliked the over-work and wearing a suit in retrospect (as well as being back in a tiny town and away from the challenge and stimulation of university.) It seemed as if the world of work and profit was a huge step down from academia/public service
* The Hernandez Brothers – A pair of artists, who produced the lovely, “Locas Tambien,” and, “Love and Rockets,” serials. I discovered them during my induction week at university
* Thomas Dolby – I’m a big fan of this musician, particularly his live “Sole Inhabitant” DVD
* Airwaves – My favourite Thomas Dolby song. It’s heartbreaking and like the best ever David Bowie tune
* The Divine Comedy – A favourite band of mine - particularly their first two albums
* Woodlice – In my second year at uni, a lot of woodlice would enter my room, via the patio doors. They stayed on the window ledge and caused no trouble. They're cute little things
* Kew Gardens – I love it there. It’s so elegant and I discovered the Divine Comedy on my first visit there, with a uni field trip
* Promenade – My favourite Divine Comedy album. It’s the musical equivalent of punting on the Cam and opening a bottle of Pims, with a girl in a big white dress
* They Might be Giants – I love the intelligence and friendliness of this band… They wrote an album of children’s’ music called “No!” which I really admire them for
* Launch Pad – The Science Museum in London contains this great room of hands-on experiments, for children
* Louise – A girl at work, who I had a crush on but always knew that I wouldn’t actually get on with. It was an entirely academic crush (as she had a boyfriend and used to be quite sensible and annoyed by my silly sense of humour and lack of office ambition). She often used to complain about her legs being plump to another girl in the office, as girls sometimes do. As common in these situations, if only she’d known what people were actually thinking. Any average girl would be in the top 0.0001 (or whatever) most beautiful things to have ever existed. A 1cm difference is leg size is pretty small beer, when you consider that women are the most pretty things in the whole of reality.
* The Monsoon Bassoon – Maybe my fave band
* 1987 – My tune, “Ghost Watch,” was originally called 1987, as it listed the events in my life during that year.
(For some reason, lots of important things happened to me in 1987 – toys that I liked, meeting my South African great uncle, music, books, revelatory days out etc.)
* “Headmasters” – A type of Transformers toy from 1987
* Wax – A pop band, whose brilliant song, “Bridge to Your Heart,” was in my head a lot in 87
* Hourglass – The single by Squeeze which first caused me to notice and love them
* Scelidosaurus – During my 1987 day trip to London, a toy of this dinosaur was given away free at the Natural History Museum shop
* Huddesfield – My Mum and Sister visited friends in this town in 87. (On our way home from London, my Dad and I met them at Victoria coach station)
* Ariana – My first long-term girlfriend and a big influence on me. She’s absolutely brilliant and I’ll never stop loving her a lot. She was American and I met her during a 6 month visit to London, which put a sad deadline on our time together
* Scarlet’s Walk – My favourite Tori Amos album. Ariana and I loved it at the time she moved back to America
* Magic Malik – A jazz band leader, who does some cool polyrhythmic stuff
* Foyle’s Jazz Bar – Actually called, “Ray’s Jazz,” this is a café in the lovely Foyle’s book shop
* Cabin Fever – An album by the Scaramanga Six, which I bought just before Christmas 2007
* The Old Blue Last – A music venue in Old Street, London, which often hosts free gigs
* Rolo Tomassi – A charming experimental band. I went to see them at the Old Blue Last alone in 2007, rather than sadly hang out with the girl who had broken my heart
* Vivian Stanshall – A brilliant English comedian/musician
* Stoke Newington – An area of north London, where I once lived with my friend Karen
* Oxes – An instrumental band, who I discovered on my first week in London. They influenced me, as they were math-rock, but almost within the reach of my own guitar skills