[ January 1, 1997 ]
POP: It's Happy Hour Again
POP Magazine #22
Paul Heaton: It's Happy Hour Again
January 1997
By Jan Gradvall
Translation by L. Fischer (from Swedish)
If Cole Porter had grown up in Hull. If Morrisey had grown up and got himself a life. If Thomas Oberg in Bob Hund had written some lyrics for Vikingarna. It is not easy to pin down the strange phenomenon of The Beautiful South. It is not easy to pin down a band that combines the most bitter lyrics of northern England with the sweetest melodies of northern Europe.
The Beautiful South should not even be big. When the band released theirfirst single in 1989, in the scattered remnants of The Housemartins, it was "Song for Whoever", a satire on the double standards of the pop industry. Instead of the usual one-girl song such as "Diana" or "Oh, Carol", Paul Heaton went for them all: "Oh Cathy, Oh Allison, Oh Phillipa, Oh Sue / You made me so much money, I wrote this song for you."
If an artist such as Mark E Smith of The Fall had written such a song, nobody would have been surprised. Track nine on a critically acclaimed import album that did well for two weeks. But "Song for Whoever" by The Beautiful South was not an indie single among the others, but one of that year's biggest hits. "Song for Whoever" climbed all the way to second place on the English chart and was to become an evergreen on the radio.
Extremely cynical and almost offensive lyrics? Nobody cared when they heard the melody. An airy, soft pink melody made out of spun sugar that went down as friction-free as something by Jimmy Webb or Burt Bacharach. It was indie pop for housewives. Blur in a Dame Edna-wig. When The Beautiful South later released their debut album "Welcome to TheBeautiful South" they presented a string of glittering pop tunes, but at the same time they presented an album cover that could have been designed by Henry Rollins. One of the black-and-white photographs shows a woman with a gun in her mouth, preparing her suicide.
The Beatiful South have since continued to sell chocolates filled with arsenic. Their albums "Welcome to The Beautiful South" (1989),"Choke" (1990), "0898 Beautiful South" (1992) and "Miaow" (1994) wasconfusing the traditional rock press, but contained at least two or three songs each that became hits and taxi drivers and pub owners all over Britain were humming their tunes. The sublime love duet "A LittleTime" was to become their first number one hit.
Nobody could have predicted, however, what was going to happen when the band released their greatest hits album "Carry On Up The Charts" in the middle of the Christmas rush of 1994. The album went straight to number one and did not stop selling.
Today (Jan 1997) "Carry On Up The Charts" has sold over 2.2 million copies, which makes it the third best selling album of all time in Britain. It should be stressed that this applies for Britain only. The Beautiful South are big in their home country and nowhere else. In Sweden they have sold about 12 copies.
This autumn the band have released their fifth album, the excellent "Blue Is the Colour", and history repeats itself. Number one in Britain and zero reaction elsewhere. The rock audience cannot understand The Beautiful South's music and ignores them. The radio audience cannot understand The Beautiful South's lyrics and love them. Somewhere in the no-mans-land that stretches in between, the band's front man Paul Heaton is hanging around in a bar. Right now he is also ordering a beer.
It's happy hour again
What a good place to be
Don't believe it‘
Cause they speak a different language
And it's never been happy to me
("Happy Hour" The Housemartins, 1986)
Of course it is a bar. It is one of those un-mistakeable English hotel bars with vagely brown wallpaper, vagely brown furniture and definitely brown wall-to-wall carpet. It is also late efternoon, the time of happy hour. In one corner sits a businessman with a wedding ring very close to a woman with heavy make-up who is probably not his wife. In another corner sit an elderly couple looking around. They do not say a word to each other for the hour that follows. Someone is swearing over a non-functioning cigarette vending machine.
Paul Heaton has chosen the table closest to the bar. Nearby sit his two best friends, Kevin and Alfie, who have got nothing to do with The Beautiful South.
They are not there by coincidence. The man from the record company whispers to me that Paul Heaton has a tendency to be quiet for very long periods during interviews when he is alone, but he is usually more social when he is with his friends. The situation is somewhat absurd. They are not three schoolboys travelling around together. Paul Heaton is 34 and Kevin and Alfie are at least that old. Both his friends seem to think the the situation is embarrasing and try to keep their distance all the time. They are nice men with John Candy-stomachs, flimsy shirts and Bob Dylan-beards. Once in awhile Paul lets them into the conversation when he becomes uncertain:
"Kevin, what could you really say about Hull?"
Paul Heaton is bright and obliging, but you can tell that he has been in this bar for quite some time. You can tell that he has been to bars in general for quite some time. Some lyrics come to mind. "He was just a social drinker, but social every night" and "Old red eyes is back". The red-eyed Paul Heaton has written more lyrics about drinking than any artist since Tom Waits. Looking back, there were signs of it in The Housemartins' breakthrough song "Happy Hour". Happy, funny guys in a happy, funny video. But nobody really listened to the words.
We should have a baby
And then I wouldn't feel quite so sad
Then I'd feel like Paul The Saint,
And not Jack The Lad
A baby that'll make me feel so very glad
I've had a life of booze,
but that's all I've ever had.
("Have Fun", The Beautiful South, 1996)
POP: Many of your lyrics are about booze and drinking. Have you ever written songs in bars?
PDH: I once tried to write a son in a bar, but it is impossible. I am no natural songwriter. I only write songs when I have to and then it is concentrated work. But I always carry around a notebook. I write stuff down all the time that don't necessarily have to become lyrics.
Sometimes it's just small observations. Sometimes it's short stories."Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)" started out as a short story.
POP: Have you had any plans to publish your short stories?
PDH: I don't know if the same phenomenon exists in Sweden, but in England there is some sort of trend that says that everybody can do everything. Sport commentators write novels, weather report girls make pop records, politicians become TV entertainers. I myself become very cynical when I see that sort of thing. I'd rather wait until my career as a pop singer is over. all this will come to an end one day, and then it would be nice to try to write something else.
POP: In the lyrics of "Little Blue" on your new album, you mention both John Keats and Charles Bukowski.
PDH: I can't say I've read a lot of Keats, but I happen to be a big fan of Bukowski's. I think I've got most his books.
POP: How did you discover him?
PDH: When I was in the US for the first time, someone gave me a book with Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. "Here, read this, it reminds me of your black lyrics." The next time I went to the US, someone gave me a video with The Simpsons. "You have to see this. It is as cynical and ironic as your songs." At that time, someone also gave me the tip to read Bukowski.
POP: I can see that connection too. Similar to Edgar Allan Poe, many of your lyrics are very morbid. For example there are a lot of murders. Where does that side come from?
PDH: Maybe it's just sensationalism. I've never been criticised for it, but if there is any critique that you can give my lyrics then it's just that. Me using strong expressions, for example, murder descriptions, to obtain a higher effect. But that is how the world works. These things happen. I don't think I could write a straight and honest love song.
POP: A song such as the new one "Have Fun" seems very honest to me.
PDH: That one is really honest. It' about me. It's a love song about my life. There is nothing I can say about those lyrics that isn't already in there.
Diary entry 9th of May ‘62
We've had some ugly babies
but none quite like you
This is my life and this is how it reads
A documentary that nobody believes
Albert Steptoe in ‘Gone With the Breeze'
Mother played by Peter Beardsley,
father by John Cleese.
("My Book", The Beautiful South, 1990)
POP: In the song "My Book" from the album "Choke" you mention a date of birth. 9th of May ‘62. Is it your own?
PDH: Yes.
POP: How much of that song is biographical?
PDH: When I wrote it, it felt very biographical.
POP: What did your parents think of that song?
PDH: I don't speak with my mom and dad anymore. (silence) Well, I have talked to them from time to time, but not very often. It's a very hard song to explain. It feels like it's been a very long time.
POP: What was it like growing up in Hull?
PDH: I didn't really grow up there. My friend Kevin here can tell you exactly what it was like growing up in Hull. We've known each other since I was 14 years old. It was about that time I finally ended up in Hull. Growing up was a strange thing. When I was 16, I had lived in 26 different houses.
POP: Why did you move so often?
PDH: It was my father's work. He was in the roof industry. We were a working class family that tried to become middle class. The first time we moved, I was five years old. Then we moved around in Liverpool, Sheffield, and London before we finally ended up in Hull. It was in those days when people looked at their neighbours' hedges and lawns. If the neighbour cut his hedge, we had to do it too.
That's probably why I've become quite a good songwriter. I've experienced all these phases. I've experienced change. Just ask Kevin. I know a lot of things about people. I may not know a lot about history or geography, but I know people. I know how to handle them, know their motives.
POP: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
PDH: We're three brothers. One ended up a construction worker, one became a truck driver and one became a pop musician.
Ooh, you care, you really care
From the first 12" I made
to the colour of my underwear
You're my friends, my only real friends
But I'd like to know where you'll be
when the party ends.
I remember your face, the dance was slow
"Easy" by The Commodores, and you said ‘no'
("Love Is" The Beautiful South, 1989)
POP: When you listen to The beautiful South you notice a theme. A number of songs such as "Straight in At 37" sound like an attempt to break down the rock'n'roll myth. You seem to genuinely hate it.
PDH: Pop exists as one form of music and rock exists as one form. Everything else is a myth. People in rock bands seem to carry around a lot of luggage stepping in to this world. They come here loaded with image. They've got their bags full of dreams of fame. A friend of mine said "Try to step into the lists naked instead". That's what I've been trying to do.
Going through it all once with The Housemartins made it easier for me to do well without luggage starting The Beautiful South. I know exactly what this life is about. I know I may not be a star anymore in two years, maybe not even next year. I'm mature enough to realise that there will come a day when I fail. All the young bands seem to think that it lasts forever. Just look at the way the British press treats them.
POP: According to the traditional rock'n'roll myth, you're supposed to be 19 all your life. Instead, you have tried to write songs like a grown-up person. Someone is ageing.
PDH: I want to write songs about people. Not about stereotypes. I'm not interested in teenybop. My goal for the future is to try to write straighter and simpler. To write about love, unhappy or happy, the way I experience it.
There's no more little secrets
we haven't yet disclosed
We bore the living daylights of anyone too close
And all our cards at Christmas
are written to us both
Count them up, who's got the most?
("We Are Each Other" 1992)
There's something very English about "forever"
"Hugs and kisses" are English too
"Forever and a day" has to be American
But "hold me close" is me and you
"hold me close" is me and you
("Hold Me Close" 1994)
The Beautiful South is a special band with a special setting. Three musicians and three singers. The hub of the band is Paul Heaton and David Rotheray who write all the songs togehter. Heaton/Rotheray is not just the best songwriting team since Morrisey/Marr. Heaton/Rotheray is also the most succeasful British songwriters since Lennon/McCartney.
The first is a very personal opinion, the second is a statistical fact. Paul Heaton is also one of the few British pop singers that can really sing. He is not hissing with attitude, he sings. The Housemartins aways ended their concerts with a cappella versions of soul songs like Luther Ingram's "I'll Be Your Shelter," Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready," or Isley Jasper Isley's "Caravan of Love".
Despite his blessed voice, Paul Heaton only sings about one third of The Beautiful South's songs. The rest he gives to Jaqueline Abbott and Dave Hemingway.
Jaqueline Abbott has been a memeber of the band since 1994 and the album "Miaow". She replaced Briana Corrigan who did not appreciate Paul's worst cynicisms. Abbott does not seem to have any problems with that. She sings "Don't Marry Her (Fuck Me)" on the new album like a Patsy Cline descended into a Mike Leigh film.
Dave Hemingway has been hanging around ever since he played the drums in the second version of The Housemartins. He replaced the original drummer Hugh Whittaker, but he soon realised that he was better as a singer. Paul Heaton's and Dave Hemingway's voices sound very much alike, even if Hemingway's is actually clearer and purer, which is used elegantly in the choruses.
POP: One thing that distinguishes The Beautiful South is that you have three singers. Where did that idea come from?
PDH: It's a result of the time with The Housemartins. When we split up, I was convinced that I didn't want to be famous anymore. My idea was that Dave and Brianna would be like Womack &Womack and that I could just lean back and write the songs. A song like "You Keep It All In" was for example my version of Womack & Womack's "Teardrops". Unfortunately Dave and Brianna didn't have any perosnalities on stage ... Especially not Dave (big laugh). So I had to get back in.
POP: There is a lot of gospel in your voice. Have you taken any lessons? Did you sing in a church choir?
PDH: Never. I've never taken singing lessons. Well, yes, once I went to a singing teacher during the time with The Housemartins. I had these terrible pains from singing, and I needed help with my technique. We gave everything at our concerts. She stuck a mirror down my throat to take alook. It was bloody well black and blue. She took a picture of it that I kept. It looks as if I had bruises down there.
POP: You sing in a totally different tradition than other British pop singers. Your aim seems to be to sound like Al Green or Sam Cooke.
PDH: It's what you aim for that counts. it's what you aim for that determines how close you will get to the target. If you aim for Sam Cooke, which is a very flattering comparison, you're aiming as high as is possible.
That's what bothers me about our bassist. He likes The Smiths and Bluetones and stuff like that. Totally fucking pointless. What kind of role models are those? I keep telling him to go and get some Stevie Wonder records instead. Try to play like the bass sounds on those records. Then we can talk.
POP: Which singers have you been listening to the most?
PDH: I've got 26 albums with Al Green. I've got 23 album with The Isley Brothers and 19 albums with Aretha Franklin. That's what I've been listening to. It's all soul. But I like some white artists too. I have for example about 15 albums each with Van Morrison, Neil Young and Tom Waits. But as I said it is important to try to stretch yourself. I can't settle for being just white and presbyterian.
For example I don't want to sound like that guy in Oasis. I don't wantto sound like a narcissist. I want to sound like Paul Heaton singing as good as he can. That bugger in Oasis despises his mother, singing that false all the time. If I would sing as badly in front of my mother, she would beat the hell out of me.
My mother used to play records for me. She wanted me to sing like Paul Anka or Neil Sedaka.
POP: The new album contains a version of Bobby Darin's "Artificial Flowers".It is almost kitsch, but you sound honest and sincere when you sing it.
PDH: Bobby Darin's own version is crazy. He's singing the sad lyrics and it's not a ballad, it's a jazzy up-tempo song. But I like the text. I even think it's beautiful and my goal was to make it even more miserable.
Someone told me that REM is the world's most miserable band. I told him "No fucking way, we're the world's most miserable band.
Countries will be countries
Borders will be borders
Some have lost their folk at war
Some have given orders
Don't wag your angers at them
And turn to walk away
Don't shoot someone tomorrow
That you can shoot today
("Get Up Off Our Knees," The Housemartins 1986)
If you open the cover of "London 0, Hull 4", there is a slogan: "Take Jesus - Take Marx - Take Hope".
The lyrics were filled with the same aggressive yet hopeful combination of Marxism and religion. The hit single "Sheep" is about the frustration of seeing the people being led like a flock of sheep.
Sometimes I get so angry
with the simple life they lead
The shepherd's smile seems to confirm my fears.
"The Beautiful South have continued along the same path. "I Think the Answer's Yes" from the second album "Choke" is a melody cuter than The Stylistics, but the lyrics has lines such as "No amnesty for the murderers of poor old working class" and "I want to execute". Just as in The Housemartins, Paul has chosen to split his royalties between all the members of The Beautiful South. The songwriter in a band is making more money than the rest of the members, but of all the money Paul makes, everyone in the band gets an equal share. Paul Heaton has even written a will that will give the rights of his songs to the other band members when he dies.
POP: In songs like "Get Up Off Our Knees" and "I Think The Answer's Yes" it sounds almost as if you're preaching a marxist revolution.
PDH: I am. I can't say that I'm encouraging a violent revolution, but a think that Marxist revolution is the only way to make the world equal. The capitalist system is based on the fact that some people succeed and some people are knocked out. That is how capitalism works.
See what the world is like. We have a ruling class and a class that is out in the cold. The ruling class tends to get smaller and smaller. In the future there will perhaps be ten people ruling the whole world.
POP: What do you think of Tony Blair who says he can bring Labour to avictory?
PDH: Tony Blair can go and fuck himself with a broken bottle. The new Labour is a big fucking joke. It's not a left-wing party anymore. How far right can you go and still claim to be on the left wing? The groundwork was made already under Neil Kinnock. He got rid of all the people who were considered too far left.
That is by the way something I can't forgive Billy Bragg for. He supported Kinnock throughout that whole process.
I'm considering voting for John Major instead. Who would you rather took care of your bank business, John Major or Tony-Fucking-Blair? The Tory-gang are professionals at being capitalist bastards. If we get a new Labour leader that is a Conservative at heart, isn't it better to vote for those who have got the competence and stand for what they're doing.
POP: What do you do with your money? Is it true that you go to Milan just to see San Siro?
PDH: It's true. I happen to be a big football fan. Sometimes I go down to see Inter's games. It's my favourite international team. My national favourites are Sheffield United. I use most my money on travelling. Recently I invited five friends to the north of Spain and we travelled around for a while.
It cost me an obscene amount of money, but it was worth it. I don't have a lot of other expenses. Travelling was one ofthe main reasons that I started playing in a band. I wanted to see America. I wanted to see Japan. I wanted to see the world.
In that regard, this has been the perfect job. On the first international tour The Housemartins made, they played at Fryshuset in Stockholm. It is still one of the best concerts I've been to. The first album "London 0, Hull 4" had just been released and there was a certain electricity in the air that I've experienced on concerts with The Clash, Kraftwerk, and The Fugees, but not on many other occasions.
The Housemartins split up after two years and two albums. The band felt that they had accomplished what they wanted to accomplish. Stan Cullimore has since written an ironic book about the art of being a pop star and also a few children's books.
"Stan is okay. I spoke with him last week," says Paul. Norman Cook has become a central person on the British dane scene under different pseudonyms. The drummer Hugh Whittaker did not do very well.
As I interview Paul, Hugh has just been released after five years in prison.
PDH: Hugh was sentenced for hitting a guy straight in the head with an axe. It started with Hugh lending the guy a large amount of money, around 10,000 pounds, and didn't get it back. First he was obsessed with getting his money back. Then he was obsessed with getting back at the guy who stole his money. One year after the loan, Hugh planted a firebomb in the guy's house. On the second anniversary, he did the same thing, and got away with it. The third year he rang the guy's doorbell and pretended to be a postman or something. When the guy opened, Hugh stabbed him with the axe in his forehead.
When I think back, I can see that it was during that concert in the warehouse in Stockholm that we realised that Hugh was going over the edge. He was manically obsessed with different things. For example he travelled around with a special set of toothbrushes. He had about twelve different toothbrushes, and he used all of them, following a complicated program.
The day after that great concert, we were all in a very good mood. We were going by bus to Copenhagen. It was a hell of a drive and we had got quite far when Hugh had a breakdown. He had left behind his set of toothbrushes and was totally crazy. We said ‘What the hell, Hugh, we can't go back'. But he insisted and we had no choice. When we got back we found the caretaker who unlocked the door. Then we searched the whole place. Backstage, dressing room, everywhere.
POP: Did he ever find his toothbrushes?
PDH: No. And he was never really himself after that incident. It's actually quite natural to be obsessed with something. You can be obsessed with a football team. You can be obsessed with a woman. But not Hugh. He was obsessed with things you shouldn't be able to be obsessed with.
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