Neil It started with a knock-off of one of Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopedies. We'd had the idea that there was going to be a Neil track and a Chris track on the 'Suburbia' single; Chris's track was 'Paninaro' and this was mine. The idea of calling a song 'Jack the lad' came from Big Audio Dynamite, whose song 'E=MC²' had a very similar chord change to 'West End girls'.

On 'EM0²' there's a sample from the film Performance which says, 'who do you think you are- Jack the lad?' and I had been reading about Lawrence of Arabia at the time, and about the spy Kim Philby: people who go too far, and people who practice deception. The second verse refers to the fact that Lawrence of Arabia is supposed to have been homosexual - 'telling lies in public, breaking codes at home, underneath the blankets...' When I say, 'Are you only Jack the lad?',

I'm saying: are you just messing about? 'To feast with panthers...' isa reference to Oscar Wilde who said that when he was going out with all these rent boys it was like feasting with panthers because they were all so dangerous and it was all likely to destroy him. Which, of course, it did. Lawrence of Arabia, Oscar Wilde and, in the third verse, Kim Philby-they each lived as an establishment figure but lived another life at the same time.

The song is asking why they're doing it. It is just for bravado? 'Are you only Jack the lad?' Or another Suggestion, 'They must have hurt you, Jack'. Is it some kind of resentment against your fellow upper class people that makes you want to betray them? It's a sort of anti-bravado song in a way. It's saying: why not come to terms with all this resentment you have? 'We all fall' - everyone makes mistakes.

When I sing 'this is your only religion' I'm suggesting that to not be restrained has become the main point of their lives. To never want to grow up and face responsibilities. I'm kind of talking about myself there as well.