Do you remember the first time you heard one of the PSB Records?
"West End Girls" was the first one. I thought it was really good. I was really surprised. I think Helen played it to me. Then for a while I wasn't really sure about their music, and then I went to the show at Wembley - the one with all the Derek Jarman footage. I think the Derek Jarman footage really turned me on to them. I thought it was really funny. I was sitting next to these women with their kids, and this shot came on of two men kissing and I thought "that's fabulous", and I remember this women moving her child's head in the opposite direction, and it kind of made me want to stand up and cheer. I thought the show was really good, the worst thing about it though [laughs] was the tapes.

Well of course they don't exactly use tapes...
Well, technology. It's the same thing. Lets not split hairs. It's only semantics at the end of the day. It would all be the same thing to Eddie Van Halen, wouldn't it?

Actually Van Halen use backing tracks.
Exactly. So everybody does. So it's all a load of old bollocks really. What you resist, persists in life. It's just whether your shows are good, and your records are good.

When they were first having hits, and you only really knew them from their videos and so on, what did you think they were like?
I thought they really calculated everything they did. That it was all strategically planned. And I thought that they were very precise about everything like the artwork, the way they looked on TV, the videos. Kind of cold in some ways but that changed when I saw their gig. And also the other things is, I'm a bit like a 14-year old girl when it comes to music. Once I've met the person, and I know that they're alright, then the music become very different for me.

Which of their songs do you like the best?
I like Domino Dancing best. I love the video to it. And I love [sings] "Love Comes Quickly whatever you do". And "I like Go West" - I had an exclusive preview of that. And the new single is good and "West End Girls" I like. And "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" and "Being Boring".

Is there any songs that you don't like?
I don't like the way that U2 song goes into that other song. Didn't like that at all. It's camp, but I don't like it.

How did you fist hear about the idea of you working with them on "The Crying Game"?.
My manager called and said that he'd spoken to Neil, and asked me how I felt about working with the Pet Shop Boys. I said I'd love to work with them, it had never sprung to my mind before, but when Tony mentioned it I thought "yeah, that's really interesting" and I got really excited about it. It wasn't like I was thinking "will the film be big?" or "will it be a hit?". I just thought it was a nice thing to do, and I wondered what it would sound like.

Did you know the song at all?
No, I didn't, but when I listened to the cassette I thought "yeah, I can do this, I can make it my own". But I wondered what the Pet Shop Boys' music for it would be like, because the original was quite slow.

The first thing you did was go out to lunch together wasn't it?
Yes and we didn't really talk about the record. We gossiped about everyone else in the music industry: "You know who's doing what with whom?" It was a bit like that, really, my manager came, and I don't think he could handle is at all. Neil and Chris are like a double act. Neil's the Oscar Wilde-ish Cecil Beaton type, very dry and whitty and Chris is kind of a little ragamuffin; naughty hands-in-the-money-jar type. I remember thinking "these two are mad". The things Chris was coming out with...

Then you saw the film?
Yeah. Neil said that I'd definitely love the film so I went to a preview. I though they must like it to be involved, because they seem to be pretty fussy about what they do. I liked it, but it wasn't until after the record had been out in England, and then had been released in America, and I was doing at interview with the Washington post, that this guy started pointing out the parallels between my life and the life of Jaye in the movie. I can't believe that I had never thought about it, but I honestly never had, and then suddenly I realised: it's me and Marilyn! There we are in the movie!... And then I thought that Neil Jordan must have done it deliberately: that I was the cherry on the cake.

What was it like when you recorded the song?
It was so relaxed, it was ridiculous. It was overrelaxed, almost. I was really surprised Neil could play the piano. I though he was just the singer. I was really impressed. What was funny was that I spent a lot of time on the vocal, because I wanted it to be really good, and then I said to Neil "I think it's done now". And he said "I'll call you tomorrow, and maybe you can come in and do some more". and I thought "No! I've done it!", and when he phoned me I said "I like it - I don't want to do it again". And then he was out in a club and he said to fat Tony: "Well, I asked him to come and sing it again and he said no!". But then he said "but he was right"

You weren't sure about the finished song at first, were you?
I thought it was really weird. I thought my vocal wasn't loud enough, but then that's what I always think when I hear a mix: typical egomaniac. But then I listen to it a few times on a good system and I really like it. And everyone I played it to loved it.

Are there plans for you to do a song with the Pet Shop Boys again?
Yeah, I hope so. A couple of songs, if they have time. I'd like to write some stuff with them. I think that would be interesting, because I've never written with another artist of their calibre. I'd like to do another ballad, and I would like to do a fast song. I've got one idea which I think would be really good. But at the moment I'm working on my autobiography and that is my priority, every thought I'm being hassled by everyone to make a record. I'd rather wait and make sure that I get it right. I've spent too much of my time doing things, and my new year's resolution was to finish things and do them properly.

Have you written anything about Neil and Chris in your book?
Yeah. They will be mentioned at the end, when I say what I've been doing, and when I give my thoughts about everything that's has happening while I've been writing it.

You Have also been doing some DJing , haven't you?
Yeah. There's a thing called Pushca and they do these raves every so often, and I do the chill room, I play pop.

Do you ever play any Pet Shop Boys records?
Yeah, I play "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", and sometime "West End Girls" and "Domino Dancing". I try to do my set all on seven-inch and so I hunt around, building up my collection. Most Sundays I go off to different markets and see what I can get on vinyl. I brought the "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" seven-inch last week at Camden market. For two quid. But it wasn't scratched.