Behind the Songs: It Goes On

A quote from Tim Butler on the song "It Goes On."

Tim Butler (on playing songs like "It Goes On" and "So Run Down" on the tour for Talk Talk Talk's 30th anniversary): "Those haven't been played since the original tour for the album in 1981. It's been fantastic." (CL Tampa Bay 2011)

Photo: Andrew Douglas

New Rich Good Interview

Photo: Matthew Reeves

Today on Rich Good's Instagram Story I discovered that he was interviewed by Pedal Of The Day, a website that's all about guitars, pedals, amps, etc., and this is a great interview because he mentioned Made Of Rain a few times. I would love to see more interviews with Rich, especially about Made Of Rain and its songs and I really want to hear more of his thoughts on them.

Here is the link to the interview: https://www.pedal-of-the-day.com/2022/01/30/weekly-interview-1-30-22-rich-good-of-the-psychedelic-furs/

Behind the Songs: Stars

A few quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "Stars."

Interviewer: "'Stars' tapes into nature, the great outdoors."

Richard Butler: "Yes. I was raised in the countryside, very aware of all these things. And I still am. My home was an hour southeast of London, so it was deep in the countryside. And I suppose that being chased by a bull once was the scariest thing I ever experienced there." (Spin 2020)

Tim Butler: "I particularly like the guitar sound and the solo on the song. I forget which effects [Rich Good] used. It's a really rare guitar effect that he guards with his life." (Cleveland Scene 2022) [The guitar solo was actually played by producer Richard Fortus.]

Rich Good (on one of the pedals he used during the Made Of Rain tour rehearsals): "I recently got an Elta PLL to play a solo part at the end of 'Stars'  – it was originally played by Richard (Fortus) using a Schumann PLL, but those are extremely costly and rare, so for the 1 minute part in the set I just got the Elta, which is very close-sounding. In rehearsal it sounded incredible, but then the song was dropped from the final set list." (Pedal Of The Day 2022)

Behind the Songs: So Run Down

A few quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "So Run Down".

Duncan Kilburn: "[Talk Talk Talk] didn't come easily, but it did come naturally. The first one took two years to write. Talk Talk Talk we wrote in less than three months, with the exception of 'Mr. Jones' and 'So Run Down', both of which had been around for a while." (Hot Press 1981)

Tim Butler (on playing songs like "So Run Down" and "It Goes On" on the tour for Talk Talk Talk's 30th anniversary): "Those haven't been played since the original tour for the album in 1981. It's been fantastic." (CL Tampa Bay 2011)

Tim Butler: "Some of the songs that are in the Talk Talk Talk set [for the 30th anniversary tour], we haven't played since the album came out. It's quite refreshing. It's been more than thirty years since we've done songs like 'I Wanna Sleep With You' and 'So Run Down.'" (Musoscribe 2011)

Photo: Ebet Roberts.

Behind the Songs: I Wanna Sleep With You

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "I Wanna Sleep With You."

Richard Butler: "I don't think its sexist to see a girl and think 'Wow, I want to sleep you. I don't want to stay with you forever', which is all the song 'I Wanna Sleep With You' says. To say it's sexist is ridiculous: that's sexist itself because you're putting women on a pedestal, you're saying women never feel like that. It's so naive to think that." (New Musical Express 1981)

Richard Butler: "I think [Talk Talk Talk] was looking at [romance] objectively. It's not romantic. I mean it's got songs like 'I Wanna Sleep With You' which is talking about sex and not wanting any type of relationship, but just wanting sex. On the other hand, it's got a song like 'She Is Mine' which is very romantic, if you like, and it's objective." (Overview 1981)

Richard Butler: "'I Wanna Sleep With You' is quite obviously about sex." (Trouser Press 1981)

Richard Butler: "There's a song about lust, 'I Wanna Sleep With You.'" (Unknown source, 1981)

Richard Butler: "I believe the songs [on Talk Talk Talk] to be about love, but they're not love songs; they're different points of view – they're not all my point of view. It's like when you write a book, you're not every person in the book; it's done from different points of view. It's like in 'I Wanna Sleep With You', it's quite sad, but that's the nice thing about love, isn't it? It makes you feel sad and at the same time it makes you feel great." (Unknown source, 1981)

Richard Butler (on this song and "Into You Like A Train"): "Those are lust songs. Actually, 'Into You Like A Train' is a lot less lewd than it sounds." (Star Hits 1984)

Richard Butler: "I remember when I came up with the title 'Into You Like A Train,' they said, 'You can't do that, you can't write that song! People will consider it sexist.'" Exactly the same thing happened with 'I Wanna Sleep With You.' That kind of got my back up, and I thought, 'Well, why the heck not?'" (Musician 1987)

Richard Butler: "[Talk Talk Talk] is anti-relationship and anti-the idea of love and very pro-sex-for-sex's-sake, with 'I Wanna Sleep With You' being the prime example." (Billboard 1997)

Richard Butler: "I always loved the anti-love-song spirit of 'I Wanna Sleep With You.' That, and the kind of Rockabilly drum feel that really prodded the song along. This was recorded for the Talk Talk Talk record at R.A.K. Studios in North London with Steve Lillywhite. It really blossomed in the studio from what I remember as a very minimal idea." (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Tim Butler: "Some of the songs that are in the Talk Talk Talk set [for the 30th anniversary tour], we haven't played since the album came out. It's quite refreshing. It's been more than thirty years since we've done songs like 'I Wanna Sleep With You' and 'So Run Down.'" (Musoscribe 2011)

Photo: Peter Noble

Behind the Songs: Aeroplane

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "Aeroplane."

Richard Butler: "That was made up because of people like Bow Wow Wow saying, 'We don't want to worry about the world's problems. We want to celebrate.' So we decided to write a song you can dance to about the bomb dropping. I just like the absurdity of seeing a floor of people dancing to a song about a bomb dropping." (Creem 1983)

John Ashton: "The line in that which always gets me is 'I'm coming down if you want me.' That's sort of like saying well, the bombers are flying around in the sky, but we can make them stop—if we want to. At least, I'm assuming that it's possible." (Creem 1983)

John Ashton: "We lumped ['Love My Way'] in with the demos that we were doing [for Forever Now], and none of the record companies saw it [as being a single]. They saw 'Aeroplane.' They saw a version of 'Alice's House' that we did that they liked a lot, which came later." (Popdose 2012)

Tim Butler: "If I can remember way back to Forever Now, Todd [Rundgren] did a dance mix of a song called 'Aeroplane.' He'd never done a dance mix before. It was a bit strange. But it was an experiment." (Westword 2013)

Behind the Songs: Midnight To Midnight

A quote from Tim Butler on the song "Midnight To Midnight."

Tim Butler (on the Midnight To Midnight songs The Furs had when they first worked with Daniel Lanois): "We had the track 'Midnight To Midnight', I think we had 'Heartbreak Beat'… and a couple of other ones, I can't remember which ones now!" (This Is Not Retro 2010)

Behind the Songs: Ash Wednesday

A couple quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "Ash Wednesday."

Richard Butler: "I love the title 'Ash Wednesday', and I love the pomp and circumstance of Catholicism – the rites and rituals. But I was actually drawn to the title 'Ash Wednesday' by TS Eliot." (Hot Press 2020)

Rich Good (on being asked what were his favorite songs from Made Of Rain to play live): "'Don't Believe', 'No-One', 'Ash Wednesday'… 'This'll Never Be Like Love'. Again, 'all of them' would be an accurate answer." (Post-Punk.com 2022)

Photo: Matthew Reeves

Behind the Songs: House

A quote from Tim Butler on the song "House."

Tim Butler (on the choice of songs being played on The Psychedelic Furs' 2016 tour): "We are also doing 'House' which we haven't done in a while off of the Book Of Days album." (Equality 365 2016)

Photo: Gene Shaw

Behind the Songs: All Of The Law

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "All Of The Law."

Richard Butler: "It's funny, but 'All Of The Law' was one which didn't work as well live as we wanted it to. It works well on record, but we've had to cut it down for the stage show. There's something not quite clicking right with it." (Rock Express 1987)

John Ashton: "The others had gone to dinner. Paul Garisto and myself were messing around. I started the riff. The others returned, the tape was rolling. The most spontaneous moment I can recall on the whole project. Live, the song was always kicking. Always well received, especially in the Midwest!" (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Tim Butler: "We were avoiding songs from the Midnight To Midnight album except of course the 'Heartbreak Beat' for quite some time. On this tour, we have dusted off 'Angels Don't Cry' and 'All Of The Law'. (Equality 365 2016)

Tim Butler: "We were listening to Midnight To Midnight recently and we haven't played those songs in recent years. 'All Of The Law' and 'Angels Don't Cry' have made their way back into our repertoire [for the 2016 tour]." (Orlando Weekly 2016)

Concert Ads #27

The Psychedelic Furs, under the pseudonym "Book Of Days", played a sold out show at the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden, England on November 17, 1989 during the Book Of Days tour. Tickets were £6.00.

Via @nothingelseon (Twitter)

Melody Maker 1982

In October 1982 Richard Butler appeared on the front cover of the British music magazine Melody Maker.

 

Paper Magazine Photo

Here is a "new" photo I hadn't seen before, and it was taken when The Psychedelic Furs performed at the former New York club CBGB's on January 16, 1990 during the Book Of Days tour. The photo is a cool one and it was featured in an issue of some magazine called Paper Magazine during that year I think.

Photo: Michael Levine

Concert Ads #26

During the Book Of Days tour The Psychedelic Furs performed these three dates in the UK from November 11–13, 1989. This concert advertisement is an interesting one because on the poster The Furs were called Book Of Days. The reason why was because they played secretly under that name while they were performing at the smaller clubs in England. And if you look under the "band name" at the top it says "(sic!)". Tickets were £6.00.

Concert Ads #25

In 2006 The Psychedelic Furs were touring in Australia and they performed at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on June 24, and at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne on June 27. The support acts for these shows were Rat Cat and British India.

David Bowie's Top 10 (1983)

Photo: Fiona Hamilton

Today would have been David Bowie's 75th birthday, and as all of us PFurs fans know, he had been a loyal supporter of the band, wanted to produce one of their albums, and there's even a rumor of Bowie doing a cover of "Pretty In Pink". Yesterday I found some old article from an unknown magazine and it was some readers choice awards for the year 1983. On the page there were top 10 lists by seven artists who had chosen their favorite albums and singles. David Bowie was one of them and he put The Psychedelic Furs' song "Love My Way" in third place! Here's his full list.

1. Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits, by Marvin Gaye

2. 1999, by Prince

3. "Love My Way," by The Psychedelic Furs

4. "Tour de France," by Kraftwerk

5. "Little Red Corvette," by Prince

6. Duck Rock, by Malcolm McLaren

7. "Wanna Be Startin' Something," by Michael Jackson

8. "Bring It On, Bring It On," by James Brown

9. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)," by Eurythmics

10. "We Free Kings," by Roland Kirk

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. I know I'm sort of late with this but I had been under the weather lately and so I didn't feel like posting anything. But right now I am doing okay and I want to talk about 2021, what it brought, and a couple things about my blog.

Last year was pretty much the same as 2020 with the whole pandemic thing still going unfortunately, but in my opinion, it was a tiny bit better, mainly to do with The Psychedelic Furs. They were finally able to go out on tour and I was so happy for them, and they released the latest song "Evergreen". Since it's 2022 now I wonder if there will be any news about The Furs releasing another new album but we will have to wait and see.

As for this blog I am going to write about Forever Now's 40th anniversary in September and I am planning on doing a tribute to one of the most greatest songs ever, "Love My Way", for its 40th anniversary too. So stay tuned for those posts!

Last but not least, my favorite moment that happened in 2021 was when The Psychedelic Furs shared my blog of my top 10 PFurs songs on their official Twitter back in April. I'll never forget how I felt when I saw it, I was so honored.

Screenshot by me.

Happy New Year!