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Neil
This was originally written and recorded simultaneously in Bobby 'O"s office studio in spring, 1984.1 was working in New York at Star Hits and Bobby '0' flew Chris over- he only got his ticket on the morning of the flight- and then Bobby '0' left town for three days and we only recorded in his office, which really pissed us oft because we liked going into a proper recording studio. My way, we started writing a song, and Chris had thought of this drum pattern and Bobby '0' loved it. I couldn't really think of a chorus- Chris kept saying it was a rip-off of Shannon.

But it was never finished at the time. The twelve-inch version [CD2, track 1], released as the b-side of the 'West End girls' twelve-inch, is the Bobby '0' version, but because he never completed it, we finished it. We did it the same night

as we did our twelve-inch of 'West End girls'.
'West End girls' took all night, and at about four in the morning we started this. We didn't spend long on it, and we were never totally happy with it so then we agreed to do a different version, a completely new recording [CD2, track 7]. The seven-inch version, which was the b-side of the 'West End iris' seven-inch and which is actually the longer of to two, is a really Eighties pop production by Steve Spiro, who Tom Watkins was managing. We spent a week doing it with him. We changed the structure and the order of the verses.

Neil The bass player of Status Quo is playing on this. He was a nice guy, actually.

Chris This version has got a great middle section. The brass section is like Sharon Redd, and we also get a fantastic Sharon Redd bit with the handclaps and a complete breakdown.

Neil The song was inspired by an incident with a friend of ours where we ended up being chased by these lads through Russell Square and onto Kings way. Bottles were thrown; there were bottles smashing in the street.

Chris and Neil nearly did get arrested. It's always Neil that has scrapes with the law-I don't know if anyone's noticed that. He's always high and mighty about it, but it's always Neil.

Neil The rest is a portrait of Bobby '0'. Bobby '0' told us he would never have sex with a woman unless she went to the doctor's first, because he was obsessed with herpes. He said to me in the studio: "'If you've got your health, you've got everything", that's what my doctor said.' It went straight in there. and the chorus is totally Bobby '0"s approach to life: 'if you want to earn, learn how to do it'. There's another Bobby '0' line too, about his girlfriend: 'of course I told her I loved her- not just 'cause she insisted'. She was nice, his girlfriend. But I made the song into a story about someone who is trying to get his girlfriend to have it off with him, basically, and he's so frustrated that 'a man could get arrested'. He's driven to distraction. It's a song about sexual frustration