Interviews Actually You know where you went wrong
w

Neil Like so many producers we've worked with, Shep Pettibone always wanted to do another 'West End girls'. He'd say, 'why don't you do another record where you talk, because everyone loves that in America?' It started off as a story Chris told me-that he'd been walking through Covent Garden and there were two tramps in this doorway and one of them turned round to the other one and said, 'well, you know where you went wrong'. He told me this and we thought it was really funny. It was like a New Yorker cartoon.

Chris I thought it was rather more Glen Batter myself.

Neil  That was about a year before we wrote the song: I'd always remembered it. Then the 'you 'know' came from our friend Pete.

Chris You'd say something and he'd go 'y'know'.

Neil  It's to agree with what someone is saying but to emphasise it in a slightly sarcastic way. Chris had written all the music. Shep Pettibone arranged the introduction and then later went and used more or less the same kind of arrangement for the introduction to 'Vogue' by Madonna. It was originally a rap song but Chris didn't like the rap and so I think he suggested this tune I should do. The words are just examples of people saying 'you know where you went wrong'. For the verse about 'the girl says, "admit admit"', I was reminded about when my sister; as a girl, used to get magazines like June and School friend, and in them the girls would say things at the back of biology classes like 'admit admit'. The second verse is about someone disgraced by a way, an old statesman totally out of favour who can't understand why people are upset. Helena Springs, who had sung on 'West End girls', sings on it.

Chris She gets the best bit of the song.

Neil We spent ages working on it. I think we thought it might be a single, but it became the b-side of 'It's a sin'.

Chris That happens so often with us, and then the song barely makes it onto a b-side.
 
Weather supplied buy
South Hereford Weather Center ©


Get Firefox!

This website, including all text and images not otherwise credited, is copyright © 1997 - 2005 Markie Price
No part of this website may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the Webmaster..
All details are believed to be accurate, but no liability can be accepted for any errors.