![]() ![]() MEW: We happened to be in two bands that were playing the same show one night in Nashville-it’s been a long time, 7 years ago now-and it took us 5 minutes to realize we were connected in a very soulful way. MR: How did you meet? And how much of what he did on that song was intentional? MR: Is it Phil Cook playing piano on Big Love? I think that your narrative form will resonate with our readers, I do, but I want to be deliberate about the instrumentation on Big Inner because it’s incredible! Can we talk about a few instances that struck me? Can I get specific right off the bat? White: Yeah, it’s good to hear your voice. Meaghan Ritchey: This is Meaghan from Curator Magazine. White, the man behind “The Big Inner” and SPACEBOMB in Richmond, VA. It’s what we write songs about.A winding phone conversation between Meaghan Ritchey & Matthew E. For me, Soho symbolizes that, although it’s a much tidier place these days. I don’t even know why really, but it’s the difference between day and night – people go mad at night, and they go mad in Soho. And that whole thing of being a northerner and coming down to London: I always had that feeling, and still do, of escaping into the West End. When I first moved down to London, we used to get all dressed up in our David Bowie imitation clothes, and clatter down the staircase at Seven Sisters tube station on to the brand new Victoria Line, and go down to Shadowramas on Neal Street. The first song on the first Pet Shop Boys album is about running away to London. I’ve lived in London since 1972, and the great thing about London is that people come from all over the world live here – even from Newcastle! When I was a kid in Newcastle I always dreamed of moving down to London. ‘“West End Girls” is a song that’s very specifically about London. ![]() Neil Tennant remembers Soho in the ’70s, which inspired his band’s timeless ode to London nightlife: That was the only song of ours for years that we ever printed the lyrics for or explained and, once we’d done that, then it was okay if people wanted to use it as a drinking anthem. ![]() I was saying, “I’m going to describe a typical night does anybody think that this is no way to live, and could somebody throw me a lifeline?” There was one particular show I remember where a forest of lager cans was raised in the chorus and my heart sank – which shows how far my head was up my whatsit at the time, because I wasn’t in touch with the reality of the song. I was using alcohol to numb the senses and thus arrived at the point where “Born Slippy” was written. I was describing a progressively despairing state of mind. ‘In truth, the song was me literally asking for help. Underworld’s Karl Hyde remembers his state of mind at the time: This anthem for the Stella generation was assembled from snatches of a conversation heard on a night out in Soho. It was just a yelp of laughter from the audience: they quite forgot the air raid!’ And then “Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”: instead of the nightingale, we got the air raid siren! The theatre just fell about, they laughed so much, and Judy Campbell just died laughing on stage. “A Nightingale Sang…” just hit the right note for the time: it was so divinely escapist: “There was magic abroad in the air/There were angels dining at the Ritz…” It was nothing to do with air raids. And when she got to the point where she sang, “a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square,” she held up her hand and sang, “Hark!” – you know, for the nightingale. Judy Campbell was a successful young starlet then, and she came on in a satin evening frock, looking glamorous. The Shepherds Bush Empire had such nice shows. ‘It was the beginning of the air raids, but we went out, because we wanted to go out. The most memorable performance of this romantic London song took place in 1940, during the early days of the Blitz. ![]()
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