It's a much more forensic operation. by Nick Lowe

It's a much more forensic operation.

Nick Lowe

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I found myself in Zurich Airport. I'd done a TV show, oddly enough, with Mavis Staples. That's the way they do it in Switzerland. And I'd had a bit of a late night with members of her band. And I was - my flight was delayed. And I was sitting in the airport, and I just came up with the idea. And by the time, we landed at Heathrow, I'd pretty much sort of got it.

zurich tv-shows night

The idea was put to me, and my initial reaction was of slight sort of - I was slightly appalled, really, because in the U.K., we don't - we think it's all a bit vulgar, you know, doing Christmas or cashing in on Christmas. And there's a word we have for it, which is naff. And it's not exactly uncool. It really sort of means kind of vulgar and a bit - not very stylish.

mean ideas thinking

It's like a little folk song. I think it might've been Harry Belafonte or someone like that who did it. And "Merry Christmas, Everybody" by Slade, which is a rock group - a rock-pop group who are very big over there.

merry-christmas song thinking

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day," which I actually recorded on "Quality Street" because I don't think anyone has ever covered it before. You hear it every single Christmas, and it is a great record. That's by Wizzard. It is a really great record, but I don't think anyone's ever covered it before, so I had to go it doing it differently. It's quite different from how the original goes.

quality wish thinking

I sort of have various sort of theories when people ask me about songwriting because it is a mystery. You don't really know. Sometimes you can do it and sometimes you can't. It's really peculiar.

mystery peculiar people

And then, one day, they program a new tune, and it really catches your ear, you know, because you can be doing the washing up or something, you know, in your apartment and suddenly you go, whoa, what are they playing in there? And you run to the wall, but it's finished - but the song's finished. You only heard enough of it just the pique your interest. And you never know when they're going to play it again, of course, like a normal radio station.

wall running song

I mean, the way I'm talking, it sounds like I'm - you know, I'm about to go out and sign up for the nearest seminary, and you'll never see or hear from me again. But it's a hard thing to talk about really 'cause I'm not at all sure myself about it. But I've got a very, very simple sort of outlook to it. Yeah, that's all I can say, really.

simple talking mean

I was very pleased when that came along, because it had a spiritual context, i found it moving, and I couldn't quite believe I'd come up with it.

We thought, 'We'll never be able to do this. We'll have to put all this junk up in the studio to get ourselves in the mood -- Christmas trees and fake presents and all that sort of stuff,'.

It was a real gimlet-eyed, 'OK, next' (operation). by Nick Lowe

It was a real gimlet-eyed, 'OK, next' (operation).

It's a bit like seeing a silly film of yourself a bit drunk at a party and being forced to watch it. You recoil somewhat, it's not a place I like to go back to, reliving the old days, (though) I have a degree of affection for the little twit.

Talking about going on tour with (his Brit band) Rockpile or that sort of thing fills me with despair, so he's probably going to be on his own for the rest of it.

All those years we'd spent learning these chops, and all those gigs in Germany where you'd play all night, and along comes punk. It has nothing to do with that. A lot of people went out of business.

you learning business people

They tell me I produced songs. I just stood in the back, wore a good suit and said, Yeah, that's happening.

back good me said