2009 MASTERS THE COMPLETE 'LIFE WITH THE LIONS' EP
[Press the play icon of track 1 and the full tracks play in sequence automatically. They also play individually on the lyrics pages.]
- SWEET JESSICA (BE MINE) (Music: Marek Black/ Lyrics: Marek Black - Robin Millar) 4:42
Read lyrics & Musicians | Sweet Jessica (Be Mine)
I wrote the music and most of the lyrics of the verses and bridges of ‘Jessica’ in another lifetime. Two years ago I remembered the brilliant advice that, when you think you’ve written the chorus of a song, write another chorus which becomes the real chorus. So I did, and the song was called ‘Love Is The Storm’. When I played Robin the idea the song in its demo form earlier this year, we quickly realised that the song needed a girl’s name as a focus for the lyrics. Robin came up with Jessica and added some crucial lines. I know a Jessica. She’s on the BAD Paul E’s quiz team. Hence the foxy photo on the lyrics page ...
- LIFE WITH THE LIONS (Marek Black - Paul Watts) 4:40
Read lyrics & Musicians | Life With The Lions
Paul Watts gave me this fab set of lyrics in early 2006 and the music wrote itself really quickly, including the layers of BVs on the last choruses, which I would try to sing at the piano all at the same time. I imagined the chorus as The British Lions’ theme tune: “Is it for the money ... or is it for the pride?” Perfect! Three years later, I finally got the chance to record the song, and from the moment I started to ‘get’ Robin’s vision (as Mark and Alex started laying down the bass and drums as if Paul and Ringo were in the studio), I knew I was going to love the end product. The intro is as Robin worked it out later on in 2006, and the craziness at the end came out of my head as we recorded the track. The repeated ‘It’s all right’ phrase that’s a main feature of the end collage was taken from an OTT version of the last chorus of ‘When We Love’, the fourth track from these sessions, where I got to the line “Holding each other so tight that whatever was wrong’s all right, it’s all right” and then kept repeating the last phrase over and over until I collapsed in hysterics. (Not so funny in the re-telling.) Other phrases from the end bit include “What am I, a furrier?” and “She likes it up the Council, mate!”. Both from unrepeatable jokes. Thanks, Mark, for the second ...
- LET’S BE LAZY (WE’VE GOT TIME) (Marek Black) 4:42
Read lyrics & Musicians | Let's Be Lazy (We've Got Time)
A few years ago, I saw a girlfriend who was in another relationship looking out of a window in Soho and jotted down some lyrics the next morning. That’s verse one. A couple of years later, I had a seriously horrible break up with someone else. (Bad for the heart, but invariably good for music and lyric-writing ... and, for once, I tried to avoid that tedious self-absorbed downer style of output that seems to be the usual vehicle for exorcising pain through writing.) I always imagined this sort of easy, soulful treatment for ‘Lazy’, and Robin realised it perfectly ...
- WHEN WE LOVE (Marek Black – Richard Alexander) 3:48
Read lyrics & Musicians | When We Love
Another beautifully crafted production from Mr Millar, with Mark’s evocative bass leading the intro. Love Rob’s backing vocal arrangements at the end of the song. The games of love ... all the fun of the fair ... who’s the clown this week? ... oh, it’s me ...
