Behind the Songs: The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll

A selection of quotes from Richard Butler on the song "The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll".

Richard Butler: "Last year we did a tour in North America with James, and we did get to play 'The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll' live, and that was a thrill." (Electrypop 2020)

Richard Butler: "It's saying rock 'n' roll was born out of feelings like these: 'the ticking veins, this godless dark, the druggy days, the pointless pain... a bag of tears where love is gone.' In a way it's about Elvis Presley and all those people, but not just any individuals – it's the feelings which rock 'n' roll, for me, comes from." (Record Collector 2020)

Richard Butler: "It's funny, because the title has nothing to do with, really, the boy that invented rock and roll. I think when anyone thinks of that, they think of Little Richard or Elvis Presley, perhaps. But it was more that I loved the title. As soon as I came up with the title – the title came first – it became a string of things that might engender somebody to make rock and roll music, like rebellion and disappointment and anger. Then it became very impressionistic, the writing. 'A flight of crows, my insect heart.' It just became this series of things that could lead up to somebody saying, 'I'm the boy that invented rock and roll.' It wasn't really about anybody in particular." (Rock Cellar Magazine 2020)

Richard Butler: "I love 'The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll.' It's kind of a list song of different feelings. I thought, 'What are these feelings about, what could they be, what could I make of them, how could I tie them together?' And I thought, 'Well, they are the kind of feelings that could have engendered rock and roll or the blues for that matter.'

"It starts out with the lyric:

A flight of crows, my insect heart

These ticking veins, the godless dark

"It's got this very pessimistic, very blues-sounding bass, not in a blues music way but in the feeling, and I thought that could be the sort of feeling that engendered rock and roll, so that's where the title came from." (Songfacts 2020)

Richard Butler: "I started off with the verses and thinking this very down, depressive, angsty vibe, and thinking that's what rock 'n' roll comes out of a lot of the time. It certainly does for me. I kind of thought this could be the feelings of the boy that invented rock 'n' roll. It wasn't directly about Little Richard or Elvis. It just felt like that was the feeling that rock 'n' roll could come from, or possibly did come from." (Tidal 2020)

Richard Butler (on being asked which song he remembered writing first for Made Of Rain) : "It might have been 'The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll.' I generally get inspired by the feel of the music and just start writing. I wrote down these words, 'A flight of crows, my insect heart', and thought, 'That could be a place where rock 'n' roll comes from.'" (USA Today 2020)

Richard Butler: "We wanted it to be eerie and dark, but if we'd wanted it to have a big heralding opening we might have done something a little more like the beginning of 'India' for instance." (Vive Le Rock! 2020)