Songs: (insert title here)

notes / gigs / releases

Do you remember when we used to go to
(fill in your own pub name here)
The people we'd talk to when we used to go to
(fill in your own pub name here)
We were so happy then - can't we go back again?
We would have nothing to fear
If we could go back to where we were happy at
(fill in your own pub name here)

My friends/my colleagues/the people I fancied
(delete that which does not apply)
Used to end up in there/Started the night in there
(delete that which does not apply)
That's where I saw her, the last time I saw her/
The first time I looked in her eyes
It started/It ended/We said we stay friendly
(delete that which does not apply)

Now I look back and think "I'm glad it's over"
(do you agree or disagree?)
Towards the end it wasn't half as good anyway
(do you agree or disagree?)
Though it was wonderful I wouldn't want to go
Back to that old way of life
Nostalgia's all right but that's like living in the past
(do you agree or disagree?)

And do you remember when we used to go to
(fill in your own pub name here)
The people we'd talk to, when we used to go to
(fill in your own pub name here)
I wonder where they all are, propping up different bars
Do they remember my name?
Or is it lost to them, now that they're drinking in
(fill in your own pub name here)

Published by Wipe Out Music Publishing

When I embarked upon the GRATE SONG DEBUNGING (see Further Information for details) I thought that there were four songs waiting to be finished on the Kitchen Cassette. What I DIDN'T know was that this song was also lurking in its depths. It was SAVED!

The basic GERM of the song had been there from the start - that it would be a multiple choice questionnaire about missing a favourite pub - so it just needed some HARD THINKING. The final verse is sort of a repeat of the first one, but with a TWIST, which is something I once read Neil Tennant boasting about doing in an Interview somewhere, and is therefore A Good Thing.

Keen Listeners might note that there are rather a LOT of songs on this album about Pubs, in particular The Durham Ox and The Magazine (see FACTMAP). I was a bit of a REGULAR in the Ox for many many years, and it closed down in early 2001. This was sad, as it had been part of my life for an awfully long time, but did AFFORD me the opportunity to Actually Go Into Other Pubs (some with GIRLS in!), and caused me to do some THINKING. e.g. to wonder where old regulars actually DID go to. Around this time Merlin (a chap who used to drink in The Magazine all the time) started appearing in the Pump & Tap (see FACTMAP), and I guess that rather set me off.

Originally this song was called "Generic Song Of Nostalgia", but I came to think that it was actually quite a GOOD song, actually actually (especially as that second verse always MOVES me), and deserved something a bit better and less Smart Arse as a title. Yes.

Recording was a bit weird on this one. I sat in The Control Room playing acoustic guitar, whilst The Mighty Rhythm Section played in the Live Room, whereas most tracks were recorded with the three of us in the same room, as it's much more fun and means I can go "NOW! Change NOW!" when needs be. One of the guiding principles of these SESSIONS was to have lots "bits" in everything. For example, on "Say It With Words" there's a LOVELY bit in "Where Is My Torch" when the violin and trumpet sort of duet, and I wanted this album, and especially this song to sound as nice as that all the way through. Emma's "la la la" bit in the sort-of-choruses is, I think, LOVELY, and when it all gets going with the trumpet and strings it makes me a VERY Happy Hibbett.

Homage also here to Messrs Reverb and McClure, an UNLIKELY combination I'll WARRANT. Tom had hurt his wrist, so, after the Usual REMARKS, I suggested he spend his convalescence working out a Big String Arrangement for this one on the computer. BLESS, he got WELL in to it, even ringing me up one night to shout "Listen! LISTEN TO THIS!" then playing it down the phone at me. When we arrived in the studio on the night of recording, however, Kev did not take the news of what we intended too well, he was AFEARED that it would be a lengthy dreary prosess to record FOUR tracks of strings, but as the night wore on he and Tom both got IN to it, and chatted merrily about pitch, timbres, and "The PIZZ bit". It was a joy to see.

I managed to read four Asterix books that night too, it was BRILLIANT.