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So What's It All About Then ? In
this new section you can find out what the songs are all about. The songs can take on a whole new meaning, once you know what they were actually written about, rather than perhaps the interpretation and assumptions the listener may have made. If anyone has any further information then 'please' let me know. chris@boomtownRats.co.uk To kick things off is Bob Geldof's album:
Deep
in the Heart of Nowhere
Whilst in Paris with Dave Stewart, Bob wrote about 30 songs in one night. They then went to L.A to record some demo tracks during the Amnisty International Festival. U2 recorded one of Bob's songs for the album, but he didn't use it. It wasn't used because Bob didn't really like the song he'd written, rather than not liking their playing. The album took 6 weeks to record. Rather than there being bonus tracks on the CD and cassette, the vinyl version is short of 3 tracks. Bob says the LP should be heard in it's complete form. This Is The World Calling Bob has no idea who 'The operator' is. "That was after Live Aid and I needed to get back into doing music. It was good for my sanity. But I was very nervous because the Rats had broken up and I was by myself. I really didn't know where to start, but I was at some awards Do and Dave Stewart, who had just won producer of the year, came over and said, if you ever want to make a record, I'd love to do it with you. I didn't know if he was joking, but I nervously called him and he invited me over to Paris where he was mixing Mick Jagger's album. And I got a bit drunk at the flat in Paris and started playing him these scraps of songs. Maybe he was being kind, but he said they were fantastic. "Then Dave and I went out to play this Amnesty gig in LA as the Brothers Of Doom - Dick and Raymonde, guess who was Dick? Backstage that night we heard Peter Gabriel doing Biko and I was saying to Dave, I'd really love to do something around that beat. So I started playing some chords and the next morning, Dave played a keyboard thing over the chords, the words came easily and I think they're nice, and in three hours it was done. "Everyone was convinced that it would be a drop-dead sure-fire Number 1. Which it was. In Norway." In the Pouring Rain It was one of the first songs written for the album. It's mainly written with the Cheynoble disaster in mind. Catch
their death The song is also about providing an emotional shelter. Sometimes
you'll have to pick me up August was a Heavy Month Eric Clapton was at Geldof's stag party. Eric was talking to Bob about his book Is That It? Bob said sod the book, do you want to play on my record? Geldof only had a couple of lines written, and said them in the studio whilst Eric Clapton recorded his guitar part in one take. Geldof asked Clapton what what was wrong and Clapton replied "August was a Heavy Month". Producer Rupert Hine said "I can't believe I'm being paid to listen to this". Love Like a Rocket Recorded at 2am after a night out. Was written with Waterloo Sunset in mind. Bob wondered what had happen to the couple after 20 years of watching the sunset every Friday night. She's late, then says that she thinks they shouldn't go there anymore. The Sunset doesn't work for them anymore. I Cry Too The
song is not about Bob. It was written by Bob on piano. Sounds like a
love song, which it is.. sort of. When I Was Young The intro was written by Geldof as far back as 1977, and is partly about the death of Marc Bolan. Live
fast "At
school I tried to distract myself because I was bored. I used to go
into the school assembly hall and pretend I was Pete Townsend." The Beat of The Night "My father would tell me how in the 20's at parties, everyone was expected to do a party piece. His was to recite a Robert Service poem The Shooting Of Dan McGrew or The Cremation Of Sam McGhee. I loved the rhythms of those doggerel poems. I love the story telling nature of them. "One October night, the wind was whistling outside my window and the branches tapped the glass." It
was cold that night when the crows flew West "I followed my mind and walked out into those imagined streets and wrote a sort of Hitchcock murder story of fear, panic, blood and horror." The Hitchcock line was what inspired Bob to write the rest of the song. He started to ask himself about what was going on behind the door. Bob actually lived in a house at "No. 48", and could hear the neighbours playing Beatles records. Eric Clapton plays guitar with a Wah-wah peddle effect in tripple time. Words From Heaven 6 girls (4 sisters) did the backing vocals. The song was intended to be a sassy song, but the girls were anything but. "An old song, I didn't know what the hell it was about. Not a heap of fluff. The least serious track on the LP." Night Turns to Day Bob was in a hospital during a civial war in Africa. Part of the hospital was an assylum. Every window bar one was bombed. Deep in the Heart of Nowhere Bob says this song sums-up the mood of the whole LP. "An emotial diary about my state of mind". It's not about anything in particular, but Bob says "It sounds like it means something". Amazingly, Bob Geldof came up with the song whilst strumming at home to 'Little Red Corvette' by Prince. All materials
and content on this website © BoomtownRats.co.uk unless otherwise stated.
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