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I wrote this song in 1990 with Frank Usher, Mickey Simmonds and Robin Boult and it was originally on the “Internal Exile” album . The lyric had originally been intended for a duet with Moya Brennan with her band Clannad and I spent a fruitless couple of days at Rockfield studios with them in late 1988 trying to put something together with my original lyric idea when I was still living down South and part of Marillion. Moya and Clannad loved the lyric I had back then but we couldn’t get it together mainly because we spent too much time in the pub and the work schedules were an afterthought.
Nobody got into the studio till late afternoon and then it was dinner then back to the pub and late, late writing sessions that achieved little. We mutually gave up on the idea and I headed back home to a band that was fast fragmenting and whom I’d leave a few weeks later. It was too late to even suggest it as a lyric for a Marilion song and was probably wrong for us then anyway as I always knew it needed a slight country and western approach musically and for that reason it never made the “Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors” album either as I felt it didn’t fit with the other lyrical ideas.
The lyric stayed in my little black book until I was inspired to take it out and re write for the “Exile” sessions. It wasn’t until Frank came up with the main riff that everything clicked into place and personal circumstances leant the song an edge and a feel that I knew was right for me to sing with conviction. The “Exile” album had a lot of different song writing styles as I was facing my “difficult second” solo album having used up a lot of material on “Vigil” that had been intended for the Marillion album that never happened. It could handle the inclusion of a song with a country vibe.
My producer Chris Kimsey and I wanted to go with it as a duet and a number of people were suggested including Kate Bush ( who my manager at the time, John Cavanagh ,as a former EMI executive knew well) and Tori Amos. In short we ran out of time as people didn’t get back to us and I think between my ugly exit from EMI and the Kate Bush/ Peter Gabriel connection that avenue was more of a dream than a reality. The song was therefore originally recorded just with female backing vocals rather than as a fully-fledged duet.
In 95 when I decided to re-record some tracks from “Exile” for the “best of” “Yin/ Yang “albums the opportunity to re-examine the idea of a duet. The first person I thought of was Sam Brown who’d just finished the Pink Floyd tour on which she had been singing backing vocals to brilliant effect and I’d loved what she did on their live “Pulse “album. I’d met Sam at a few gigs and events and I contacted her manager who was up for the idea.
She arrived at the studio to work with my producer James Cassidy and we were slightly worried as she was in the latter stages of pregnancy with her second child. She was fantastic to work with and her great sense of humour allayed all our fears as she continually wound us up about her water’s breaking during the sessions. I don’t think I ever laughed so much during a recording although sometimes nervously! :-).
When it came to shooting the single cover and the video she was breast feeding her recently born child and despite all the demands of dealing with Mohan, her newborn child on set( and who's in the video) she got totally involved in the filming and gave her all. A total trooper and consummate professional she captivated everyone involved in the shoot and had us all laughing throughout the day.
Filming down at Barnes Ness lighthouse near Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian was pretty dramatic as I saved all my pennies and invested in a helicopter hire for the shoot.
It was a particularly windy day and we were all a bit nervous on the balcony on the top of the lighthouse. The helicopter made a few passing moves and flared up to the lighthouse at times a little too close for comfort. I thought the pilot was being pretty cool until we came down from the takes to find him white faced and slightly shaken up. I think that’s what we call a near miss!” he said to our disbelief!
The single made a tiny dent on the charts and to be honest I was hugely disappointed as I really did believe we had a great chance of a hit with it. As usual a total lack of radio play killed it and I still think it is a hit song that should have been but never was.
It’s probably the most fun video I was ever involved with and it really did become a party at the end!
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I wrote this song in 1990 with Frank Usher, Mickey Simmonds and Robin Boult and it was originally on the “Internal Exile” album . The lyric had originally been intended for a duet with Moya Brennan with her band Clannad and I spent a fruitless couple of days at Rockfield studios with them in late 1988 trying to put something together with my original lyric idea when I was still living down South and part of Marillion. Moya and Clannad loved the lyric I had back then but we couldn’t get it together mainly because we spent too much time in the pub and the work schedules were an afterthought.
Nobody got into the studio till late afternoon and then it was dinner then back to the pub and late, late writing sessions that achieved little. We mutually gave up on the idea and I headed back home to a band that was fast fragmenting and whom I’d leave a few weeks later. It was too late to even suggest it as a lyric for a Marilion song and was probably wrong for us then anyway as I always knew it needed a slight country and western approach musically and for that reason it never made the “Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors” album either as I felt it didn’t fit with the other lyrical ideas.
The lyric stayed in my little black book until I was inspired to take it out and re write for the “Exile” sessions. It wasn’t until Frank came up with the main riff that everything clicked into place and personal circumstances leant the song an edge and a feel that I knew was right for me to sing with conviction. The “Exile” album had a lot of different song writing styles as I was facing my “difficult second” solo album having used up a lot of material on “Vigil” that had been intended for the Marillion album that never happened. It could handle the inclusion of a song with a country vibe.
My producer Chris Kimsey and I wanted to go with it as a duet and a number of people were suggested including Kate Bush ( who my manager at the time, John Cavanagh ,as a former EMI executive knew well) and Tori Amos. In short we ran out of time as people didn’t get back to us and I think between my ugly exit from EMI and the Kate Bush/ Peter Gabriel connection that avenue was more of a dream than a reality. The song was therefore originally recorded just with female backing vocals rather than as a fully-fledged duet.
In 95 when I decided to re-record some tracks from “Exile” for the “best of” “Yin/ Yang “albums the opportunity to re-examine the idea of a duet. The first person I thought of was Sam Brown who’d just finished the Pink Floyd tour on which she had been singing backing vocals to brilliant effect and I’d loved what she did on their live “Pulse “album. I’d met Sam at a few gigs and events and I contacted her manager who was up for the idea.
She arrived at the studio to work with my producer James Cassidy and we were slightly worried as she was in the latter stages of pregnancy with her second child. She was fantastic to work with and her great sense of humour allayed all our fears as she continually wound us up about her water’s breaking during the sessions. I don’t think I ever laughed so much during a recording although sometimes nervously! :-).
When it came to shooting the single cover and the video she was breast feeding her recently born child and despite all the demands of dealing with Mohan, her newborn child on set( and who's in the video) she got totally involved in the filming and gave her all. A total trooper and consummate professional she captivated everyone involved in the shoot and had us all laughing throughout the day.
Filming down at Barnes Ness lighthouse near Torness nuclear power station in East Lothian was pretty dramatic as I saved all my pennies and invested in a helicopter hire for the shoot.
It was a particularly windy day and we were all a bit nervous on the balcony on the top of the lighthouse. The helicopter made a few passing moves and flared up to the lighthouse at times a little too close for comfort. I thought the pilot was being pretty cool until we came down from the takes to find him white faced and slightly shaken up. I think that’s what we call a near miss!” he said to our disbelief!
The single made a tiny dent on the charts and to be honest I was hugely disappointed as I really did believe we had a great chance of a hit with it. As usual a total lack of radio play killed it and I still think it is a hit song that should have been but never was.
It’s probably the most fun video I was ever involved with and it really did become a party at the end!
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