For That Gravel Fix It Can Only Be Rod Stewart

A bit of gravel is definitely good for you. When I listen to Rod Stewart I always feel like a dirty junkie, going to a shameful, squalid place to get my fix of ‘gravel’. I don’t know why I feel Rod is such a guilty pleasure, lord knows there’s lots of equally uncool music I like without such feelings of shame.

Sure other artists have imitated the gravel voice with varying degrees of success. The Black Crowes and The Quireboys from the late 8os/early 90s both spring to mind. Then there’s the female gravel voices - Bonnie Tyler and Kim Carnes have it. Stevie Nicks - oh yeah, Sheryl Crowe kinda has it sometimes. None thought have every really matched that of Rod.

Later this year Rod celebrates 55 years since the release of his first single, “Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl.” There was stints in various groups with Long John Baldry, The Jeff Beck Group and later The Faces and he changed the music world with “Maggie May” - a track personally which I freely admit I can take or leave!

Not Cool
He’s not been ‘cool’ for more than four decades but he’s still a guilty pleasure to many, including me! I’ve even seen him live quite a number of times where he can still put on a quality show. My favourite period of his was the early seventies both solo stuff and with The Faces. My favourite albums are Every Picture Tells A Story (of course), Gasoline Alley and possibly surprisingly to many, the ‘MTV Unplugged, and Seated’ album with Ronnie Wood which is a fantastic album showcasing his, at that time 30 year career.

My ‘Go-To’ Rod Era
As I said above, Rod’s true purple patch came early in his career in the late sixties then the seventies up to release of the ‘Blondes Have More Fun’ album when his ego, money and love of blondes took over.

On his work with Jeff Beck, The Faces and his early solo albums his gravel voice worked wonders. Not a huge range of course but a good gruff snarl for rock and blues which also translated well for the softer folky pieces. It seemed that he brought so much soul to seventies rock music. 

Rod was profoundly influenced by Sam Cooke. His first 4 solo albums are marvellous blends of electric and acoustic textures with Rod's folk roots in full display. ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ remains one of my all-time favourite albums. About the time of "Do You Think I'm Sexy", though he lost that soul sound and never quite got it back (although like I said earlier, ‘Unplugged...and Seated’ came close). Back then though, not just Maggie May but tracks like ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’, ‘Mandolin Wind’, and ‘(I Know) I’m Losing You’ showed a singer right at the top of his game, sublime in quality and never again to be matched.

The Faces stuff too was truly awesome. ‘Stay With Me’, ‘Miss Judy's Farm’, ‘Pool Hall Richard’ and ‘Too Bad’ all had out and out quality gravel vocals from Rod as did the cover of the Wings track ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’. They were everything the Black Crowes were going for two decades later but could never quite achieve.

Water Down The Drain
I think it's a real shame the direction Rod’s musical career went. I guess he's done great financially, but I think we really missed out on some great music - especially if he had stuck with Jeff Beck or Ronnie Wood, I really think those guys creatively really needed each other.

Sure there was the odd quality track after the purple patch such as ‘Passion’, ‘Hot Legs’ and ‘I Don't Want To Talk About It’. Then there was the cover versions, especially the covers of Tom Waits’ ‘Downtown Train’ and ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’ both of which showed he could still do it when he put his mind to it. But there again, he did always have that uncanny knack of covering songs and making them better than the original.

I think Rod Stewart in his day was one of the finest voices in rock and had an original sound to his writing as well. It's sad he let all that potential go, like water down the drain. I really don't care what kind of syrupy drivel Rod has been spewing out for the last 40 years, what he did in those early days’ for me guarantees him a spot in rock voice history and that will always make me keep going back to him. 

How Levi’s Gave Us Stiltskin – A One Hit Wonder & Guilty Pleasure

For a period during the late 80s and early 90s it seemed that our Number One records were decided by either Stock, Aitkin and Waterman or by a jeans manufacturers. Hard to believe I know but it’s true! It did bring a number of classic tracks back into the public eye that maybe didn’t get to number one first time round, these included:

• The Clash – Should I Stay Or Should I Go
• T Rex – 20th Century Boy
• Steve Miller – The Joker
• Ben E. King - Stand By Me
• Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
• Bad Company - Can't Get Enough 
• Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman

There were also new bands that would probably have not given the charts a look in without Levi’s involvement like the truly awful Spaceman by Babylon Zoo. - And then there was Stiltskin who got to Number One with the wonderfully grungy ‘Inside’.

Levi’s were proudly trend-hopping, usually focussed on depicting some bygone era to reflect the authenticity and durability of their product. The grunge sound was just another example, the advert being evidence, if any were needed that by 1994 grunge was already history. Indeed in a sad coincidence Kurt Cobain’s body was found in his garage a couple of weeks before “Inside” was released.

Stiltskin
Rumour has it that Levi’s wanted a Smashing Pumpkins song (Today) for the advert but were turned down. The advert itself was known as ‘Creek’, it’s worth a watch on YouTube and is a bit old-timey, women, jeans, bathing hunk, twisted ending type of ad – admittedly though, it is a great commercial!
Songwriter Peter Lawlor wrote the track ‘Inside’ specifically for the advert. He needed a singer and somehow found Scotsman Ray Wilson, a guy who looks like the product of crossing Bono with Fish out of Marillion. It’s Ray’s clench-arsed voice you hear being “broken minded” on the track. Lawlor himself played all the remaining instruments on the recording.  

Stiltskin the band weren’t some hyper-cool bunch of grunge misfits from Seattle. They actually looked like a bunch of competent, uncharismatic, session musicians who turned up at their studio’s fancy-dress party dressed as a grunge band. - This is because basically, they were! Lawlor pulled them together at the last minute when he realised he needed a band to go out and promote ‘Inside’. They were, in many ways, the antithesis of what grunge stood for.

But what of the song? Well, it’s lyrics are a bit daft (more of that later)  and it has a choral bit at the start for no obvious reason, but it does have nice bit of crunching guitar that you don’t get at the top of the charts very often. Smashing Pumpkins were definitely the reference point for ‘Inside’. There was some decent riffs on there, you can detect elements of the Smashing Pumpkins tracks as well as sections that seem to have come directly from the Hendrix track, ‘Hey Joe’. Then there’s that bit where the first heavy riff kicks which is just fantastic. 

Those Lyrics!! - What Was ‘Inside’ All About?
Well pick your favourite – “Seam in a fusion mine / Like a nursing rhyme / Fat man starts to fall” – note - nursing rhyme, not nursery rhyme, then there’s “Ring out in a bruised postcard / In a shooting yard”. Maybe the best lyric might be “strong words in a ganja sky”. Is it just nonsense of the highest order or do they mean something as some of those lyrics are absolutely priceless?

To some reviewers I’ve read they speak of a good time turned bad (see it turn to rust), and a struggle to come to terms and accept what has come to pass for the writer. Lines like "Strong words in a ganges sky, I have to lie, Shadows move in pairs" maybe there is an allusion toward imprisonment, perhaps a reference to where prisoners are shackled together, and inmates keep themselves to themselves? “Broken minded” could speak of mental illness especially if it’s to do with the imprisonment? Personally though I just think it’s a load of nonsense phrases all joined up into a lyric! 

Guilty Pleasure
‘Inside’ is the song we all pretend to like ironically, but in actual fact, we all really like it. To me it’s was and always will be a guilty pleasure.

At the time I liked the idea of grunge but being in my mid-20s was that bit too old for it and Nirvana apart it produced few songs that really stood the test of time. Back then I could see that glam/heavy metal was dying and something needed to replace it. Unlike its predecessor though, Grunge wasn’t fun. I still can’t listen to any of the major grunge acts, great though they may be, without feeling slightly shameful, it’s like I’m listening to the music that stopped rock and roll being fun. Because of its lyrics, the way it was put together and that advert, in many ways ‘Inside’ went against the grunge grain and was a bit tongue-in-cheek style fun.

A couple of years after this I noticed whilst watching pub bands around town that a lot of them had assimilated ‘Inside’ into their sets. Whether because they recognised Stiltskin as one of their own or because it was easy to play I couldn’t really say.

There was a whole Stiltskin album, 'The Minds Eye' released in the wake of ‘Inside’ which, rather than crashing and burning as might be expected for a group who had quite literally no following; no history; or anything else to grab hold of went top five. Of course the album was panned by the critics, but then it was always going to be.

In many ways I’m glad that Kurt Cobain didn’t live to hear this ransacking of his soul; realistically I wish he could have kept going somehow, but then I wasn’t him and never will be; the fact that Ray Wilson went on to join a short-lived post-Phil Collins Genesis proves that he knew and believed it all inside.

BTW. In truth I actually prefer the "Live and Acoustic" version from Ray’s solo album of a few years ago to the Stiltskin original – look it up, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Brett Anderson – A Not Too 'Trashy' Book

I’ve just finished reading Brett Anderson’s autobiography – 'Coal Black Mornings'. Must admit I struggled to put it down and read it cover to cover in two days. For me, Suede were always one of the most underrated British bands, a group with a unique sound and sexually ambiguous visual whi came to the fore in the Brit Pop era of hyper-masculinity. Back in 1993 I still vividly remember seeing the video for ‘Animal Nitrate’ and rushing into town the next day to buy the debut album on tape! Lyrically it was a bit like a Smiths album but stripped of pretence. Animal Nitrate and it’s video sounded to me so fresh and new, but with an instant familiarity. With its Bowie-esque/Roxy Music vibe it was both sexy and glamorous - but with a grim and grimy feel so evocative of the 70s and early 80s of my childhood.

Now at this point I must point out that this isn’t your usual warts'n'all rock biography about the excesses of life on the road and smashing hotels up. This is largely a story about Anderson's childhood, growing up poor in Haywards Heath, a sort of dead-end commuter town that ended up populating so many Suede songs. Brett’s early years particularly fascinated me, before reading this book I knew very little and thought he came from a more privileged background. 

Growing-Up Comparisons
A large part of Brett’s history is quite close to home for me even though I was 200 miles further North. He grew up more or less in the years I did and his analogies of the period are spot-on and far less forced than most novels or TV shows depicting the era are. I can relate to his childhood in many ways: beans on toast for tea, salad cream, the rainy caravan holidays, the general provincial dullness and 'making do' of the time and more than anything - being a bit of an outsider.

Anderson's description of London in the early 90s is also real to me - I also had a love affair with London at the time, even living and working down there for 12 months in 1992. Mine was a different experience being more in the west-end back street pubs and clubs than theatre-land. But though the parts of London I knew well were different, Anderson still describes to me a place I knew, there was a general mood of gloom and nothingness, the dregs of the 80s hanging about on street corners, along with the dirt, the cigarette butts and the windswept empty squares.

The early Suede Years
Now the majority of the book focuses on Brett’s childhood. If you enjoy coming of age stories you’ll really enjoy it. The band though only makes an appearance in the final quarter of the book with it stopping just before the 'big time' of success.

As the book progresses, iconic characters from the 90s musical scene sweep through Brett’s life including Justine Frischman who helped launch Suede, became Anderson’s lover, then dumped him for another musician. I particularly liked the comment about Justine being so posh that he initially thought she had a speech impediment! Interestingly, the dissolution of their relationship seemed to free both of them to achieve more creativity. Frischman went to form her own successful group Elastica, who ended up another very 90s cool band. Anderson also details how his affection, cooperation and conflict with the very talented guitarist, Bernard Butler influenced his own writing and musicianship.
I found particularly fascinating Brett's writing processes. The people (friends, relatives, neighbours) and places that informed those early songs.

You don't need to be a Suede fan to enjoy this book
Brett Anderson is an engaging writer with a fascinating history. Coal Black Mornings is an essential read for anyone who lived through the 90s. Along with Louise Wener's ‘Just for One Day' it’s an essential memoir of Britpop.

It is a short book and if I said I didn’t want more salacious details about the likes of Justine and Bernard I’d be lying, but this isn’t a book about sex, drugs and rock and roll. It is, I think, a very honest account written with his children in mind, about an ‘ordinary’ life in Britain in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, about reflecting on his upbringing and about his love of music and writing music.

What make the book work is that he’s cut the jokes and dialogue but maintained a wry tone to the whole thing. It's a wonderful read, so evocative of that age which with ever increasing distance seems ever more magical – yet ever more shabby at the same time.

Only negative - the phrase 'Coal Black Mornings' is used 7 times in this book which grates a little. I know its a clever phrase and I get it but it is repeated somewhat, there again in a funny way that’s very Brett!

Radiohead - Karma Police Arrest Me Now!

Given that I am and have always been a fan of indie and alt-rock, I know that I’m supposed to like Radiohead. And so I’ve tried - I really have! I’ve been open-minded, making every effort to like them. I’ve even persevered giving Radiohead a good three decades to win me over. But when it comes right down to it, I still hate their music. Yes, I know. ‘Paranoid android’ is cool. And “Fake Plastic Trees” is pretty great, but that’s pretty much it really. 

Thom Yorke has always bothered me. I thought he was weird back in the 90s, and I still think he’s weird now although I do admit a spotty adolescent is more likely to be impressed by Yorke’s soul-sucking neoliberalism than I am! 

I generally don’t mind electronic or even prog’ bands with an art school influence, Radiohead though can feel like a dead end amid the tributaries of its various influences. For whatever reason, I can’t stand them. The closest I’ve really come to liking a Radiohead song is The Pretenders version of ‘Creep’ where Chrissie Hynde absolutely nails the track in a way Radiohead never did.

As a big music fan and collector I’ve been bombarded with 30 years of critical and fan acclaim for Radiohead. I don't mean to take away from their artistry because there is no doubt that they are a talented group of guys, but I just don't like them. I can only gather that there’s something wrong with me, or maybe there’s something there that I’ve yet to get. Or is it just a case of it’s not them, it’s me? 

If you’re a Radiohead fan reading this, congratulations on being way, way smarter than the rest of us simpletons who just want to listen to a song with a good hook or a beat that isn’t in some weirdo 179/4.26 time signature. For me though, the map of my personal tastes has a Radiohead-shaped blank space in one corner, coated with some kind of space-age non-stick material that keeps me from liking them.

Five Top Albums That Are 50 Years Old in 2019

I'm not normally into writing ‘List’ blogs but I couldn’t resist this one. It’s now 50 years since the closing year of that great musical decade, the sixties. In my humble opinion these are my top five great albums from 1969 – and they’re still great albums half a century later!

The Who – Tommy
Tommy was The Who’s fourth studio album. It was an extremely innovative and risky album at the time being a rock opera. Thanks to bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys albums were becoming more important than the single in rock music. Therefore Pete Townshend wanted to do something to fully capitalize on the album as a continuous art form.

The album told the story of a psychosomatic deaf, dumb and blind lad and his experiences in life. Tommy was essentially a melting pot for Pete Townsend’s ideas about sex, family, spirituality and hero worship.

Keith Moon and John Entwistle's rhythm section got more and more chances to shine throughout this double album than they had previously and manage to achieve some truly jaw-dropping results. Roger Daltrey is finally able to put some real feelings into his singing as he identifies with poor Tommy, just listen to him perform ‘See Me, Feel Me’

Top Tracks

• See Me, Feel Me/Listening to You
• We’re Not Gonna Take It
• Pinball Wizard

The Beatles – Abbey Road
By this point The Beatles were on the verge of breaking up, what with McCartney now trying to be fully in charge of the band (in his eyes at least) and Lennon’s almost non-existent interest in continuing as a part of The Beatles, things hardly indicated that there was any hope for a complete album - let alone a good one! 

The release of ‘Abbey Road’ proved to the world that they actually could leave all those problems behind, and put their heads together creating one last fresh, heart-stirring masterpiece. The album works incredibly well as a whole, with each Beatle getting his highlighted moments. They did end on a high note, though It’s really sad to think that the dream would soon be over.

It might have been their last album but it contained some absolute classics, there are the two George Harrison masterpieces, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘Something’; both rank alongside the best songs the band ever recorded. Then there’s ‘Come Together’ which must count as one of the greatest opening tracks on any album.

Top Tracks

• Come Together
• Here Comes The Sun
• Something

Sly & the Family Stone - Stand!
Stand! was the fourth album by the funky soul band Sly and the Family Stone released in 1969 a few years before Sly Stone’s drug addiction and enigmatic persona fully materialized. Back then he was changing the way people viewed soul and pop music from a musical, cultural and racial standpoint. ‘Stand!’ catapulted Sly & the Family Stone into mainstream success, combining ample doses of lyrical consciousness and infectious pop song writing into one cohesive record. 

Before transitioning into psych-soul pioneers on their subsequent record, 'There’s A Riot Goin’ On', the group achieved a near-perfect balance of both sides of their career, refining some of their earlier work while hinting at the experimentation to follow. 

You can’t deny that the success of Stand! Did lead to problems within the band, but for me it was a pinnacle of Sly & The Family Stone's career, it’s also a true landmark album for funk music.

Top Tracks

• Everyday People
• Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey
• I Want to Take You Higher

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
'In the Court of the Crimson King' represents the beginning of progressive rock as a genre, and what a start it was! It’s neither pretentious, nor inaccessible - descriptions often levelled at prog’ albums. Yes it’s bombastic and grandiose; yes it has flutes, mellotrons and strange vocals; yes it has some weird, abstract lyrics. It’s also quite simply an excellent album with pleasing musical ideas greeting you around every corner.

Prog’ has tried (largely unsuccessfully) ever since to be as heavy-hitting as the albums opening track ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’. It’s a piece of music so dressed up with over-distorted guitars, finger-flying note runs and radio-filtered hooks that it brought a new focus to rock music. It leant on jazz and classical influence ahead of the English's love of blues music at the time.

King Crimson created a highly influential album that set a benchmark and was referenced by every progressive act for years to come.

Top Tracks

• 21st Century Schizoid Man
• Epitaph
• In The Court of the Crimson King

MC5 – Kick Out The Jams
Kick Out The Jams is one of those albums that is in my 'hall of fame' because it goes completely against the grain of its time. It’s A fabulous explosion of rage, a murderous din with a fair bit of psychedelia thrown in too. Its just 40-odd minutes of sustained, rage fuelled rock - “Kick out the jams, motherfucker!”

This album stands head and shoulders above most modern pop-punk/garage rock style bands. It has a freshness, energy and ability that would put many of today's bands to shame - and you can still understand every word. Throughout the album’s breakneck eight songs, MC5 sprawl through white noise and feedback, cosmic jazz freakouts and polemical frenzy with a glorious sense of abandon.

It’s quite simply one of the most influential albums ever, without this would we have had heavy metal, punk, goth or emo? Maybe? Maybe not! It might not have been until 1977 when punk rock kicked off but its foundation was set in 1969 with Kick Out the Jams. 

Top Tracks

• Ramblin’ Rose
• Kick Out The Jams
• Starship

So There We Have It!!

There we go, five brilliant albums which signified the end of the sixties and influenced the future of much of rock, punk, soul, funk and prog' in the next decade. If you haven't already then get out there and give them a listen - you won't regret it!

Soul II Soul Club Classics Vol I – 30 Years On & Still a Classic

Hard to believe I know, but Club Classics Volume One by Soul II Soul is 30 years old this week! Released in April 1989 its still a landmark album for British soul and R&B today. From the opening funky beat of ‘Keep On Movin’ through to the closing ‘Jazzies Groove’ it impresses.

Soul II Soul was the baby of Jazzie B (formerly known as Beresford Romeo) born in the UK of Antiquan parents. He started the embryonic Soul II Soul with mate Philip “Daddae” Harvey after leaving school. They were modelled on the Jamaican mobile DJ/dub crews and started to get hired for gigs in the mid-eighties. In 1985 a misunderstanding and a fight with Bristol’s “Wild Bunch” who had hired Soul II Soul for a party in London ended up with the Wild Bunch’s Nellee Hooper joining Soul II Soul. Successful club nights followed in rapid succession and resulted in the guys being signed to 10 Records who were a subsidiary of Virgin. Their first singles ‘Fairplay’ and ‘Feel Free’ reached as high as Number 63 in the Top 100 and set the formula for their future.

Club Classics Volume I 
The next single was the great ‘Keep On Movin’’ which opens the album. It was released ahead of the album and reached the Top 5 setting the standard for a whole genre of UK smooth soul. It was a club and pop classic with the most recognisable drum track ever. It sounded American - but it wasn’t! It moved UK black music truly into the mainstream. There was an obvious Chic influence but hey, there’s nothing wrong with learning from the masters. Caron Wheeler’s vocal, Hooper’s production (especially the piano and strings parts) all made ‘Keep On Movin’’ one of the album’s standout tracks.

The other truly great track on the album is ‘Back To Life’. The track got to Number One and was fully deserved.   On the album though it was the original a cappella version rather than the single version. For me this made it even more special. When the drums do eventually kick in they lead very nicely into ‘Jazzie’s Groove’ a track that really epitimised the era, with it’s James Brown style beat and the stabs of horn it was appropriate to not only close the album but the Eighties too, setting a new benchmark for the UK nineties soul and R&B sound that influenced heavily the likes of Jamiroquai, Lisa Stansfield, The Chimes and Massive Attack.

Of the other tracks, ‘Fairplay’ moves you into a grittier, urgent sound especially the feral, funky vocals of Rose Windross. ‘Holdin’ On’ with its message was clearly influenced by Gil Scott Heron. ‘African Dance’ brought African sounds to a Chicago House beat which along with ‘Dance’ has a breeze of chilled-out beats and flutes making the album truly feel like a new dawn for UK soul.

Club Classics Volume I is still a peerless summer soundtrack, which truly provided a blueprint for how things could be done. It was a huge international hit but it was also probably the pinnacle of what Soul II Soul achieved. Wheeler soon left to go solo,  Jazzie B soldiered on, to varying degrees of success, but was always a formidable presence in British black music. Hooper left to have further success with Massive Attack. There were more Soul II Soul albums up to 1997 but none reached the heights of that debut.

A True Classic
Hearing Club Classics Vol One today still takes you right back to the vibrancy, excitement and possibilities of the coming nineties decade. It might be 30 years old now but it hasn’t really aged. Go dig your old copy out now and enjoy it all over again I say.

Mull of Kintyre – A Guilty Pleasure

We all have our "guilty pleasure" music even if we try and deny it. What is it though? Well it’s those songs that we don't want to admit to liking. The term "guilty pleasure" is often used to describe music that is supposedly so bad or cheesy that people feel embarrassed listening to it. The way I see it, if you're enjoying a song on any level then the artist must've done something right! For me,‘Mull of Kintyre’ by Paul McCartney’s Wings is one of my guilty pleasures - and I must admit I’ve still got the 7” single that I was bought as a Christmas present way back in 1977. 

McCartney’s Writing
Paul McCartney always seems to me to be at his best when he’s writing about things that he really cares about, be it a place or someone special. It’s almost like he feels he should put more effort into his writing rather than some of the half-baked, unfinished ideas of songs he has in the middle of most of his albums. I know it’s back in his Beatles days but ‘Hey Jude’ was a really good example of what I’m saying. Written about John Lennon’s son, Julian, it start as a compassionate word to Jules and ends up a no limits anthem for positivity. Similarly, on Penny Lane he takes a beloved Liverpool street from back in his childhood and transforms it into a nostalgia filled idyllic scene.

Mull of Kintyre 
 ‘Mull Of Kintyre’ was written by Paul and Denny Laine back in 1977. The Mull of Kintyre in Scotland is obviously a place very close to McCartney’s heart and as such continues this tradition he has of writing good songs about things he loves. Its lyrics describe the Scottish countryside around the Mull of Kintyre and, while I know that it’s a spectacular landscape, it’s not really the place itself that provides the magic, it’s Paul’s connection with it - or to be even more accurate, Paul’s undeniable love for it.

Somehow he manages to transpose that stunning landscape into the melody, lyrics and overall general atmosphere of the song. You can tell the way he sings “my desire is always to be here” that it really is heartfelt. It feels like he’s putting the place above anywhere else. Now under normal circumstances I’d be pretty irked by someone sticking a load of bagpipes in the middle of a song, but on ‘Mull of Kintyre’ it works, they create a feel for the place almost an atmosphere that draws you into Paul’s own tranquil feelings, the effect when those bagpipes kick in still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Close your eyes, and you’ll feel like you’re stood on those “Dark distant mountains with valleys of green”- but without the howling gale force wind of course.

McCartney manages to communicate his own memories and feelings so vigorously, that they transcend any particular landscape. The accent is not put on the Mull itself, but rather on those “smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain”. And that’s why the track resonates with us from the start. In reality, ‘Mull of Kintyre’ could be about any place that you want it to be - just like ‘Penny Lane’ could. And like ‘Hey Jude’, it can hold any personal connotations you might want to attach to it. 

Despite what some naysayers might say, in my opinion it’s a timeless classic in the same way both ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Penny Lane’ are. It’s a song whose meaning goes way beyond most of the fake folkie labels that seem to get attached to it. So for me, it will always remain one of my guilty pleasures.