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“Can we make it clear it’s not a chart? It’s in no particular order. It’s more
of a first eleven” beseeches Jarvis Cocker, as he negotiates a Thai pie in
the South Bank branch of Eat? Here then is his football team’s worth of
songs, all by artists chosen by him to perform at this year’s Meltdown,
which have had a formative influence on him. Michael Jackson may be
disappointed to note he doesn’t make the starting line-up.
Motorhead: Leaving Here
My very first public performance with Pulp was at Rotherham Arts Centre on
July 5th 1980. Back in those days, we always used to start off by playing
that song. Of course, Motorhead didn’t write it [the original is by 60s R&B
combo The Birds], so our rendition of it was a cover version of a cover
version – which was very Will Young of us. It was quite thin and tinny when
we did it, but very enthusiastic too.
So, anyway, in some weird sense, it seemed right to have Motorhead kick of
Meltdown. It also turns out that, of all the bands we asked, they were the
first to confirm. I’ve always had a soft spot for Motorhead.
There’s something admirable about identifying the one thing you’re really good
at and sticking to it over your whole career.
Melanie: Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma
My mum used to have an album by Melanie called Gather Me, so we used to hear
Melanie playing in the house.
Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma is a song that hits a few nerves if
you’re a songwriter. I came back to it around the time that Pulp put out
This Is Hardcore, when I wasn’t feeling too happy about things. I was like,
‘Yeah Melanie, I really f***ing identify with you.’ What was the matter with
me? Oh, just fame, really. At that point in my life, I felt like something
that I had built since I was a teenager had been taken away from me. It
wasn’t my own private world any more. Then, of course, a few years later,
William Shatner recorded his version of Common People.
I didn’t really mind what he had done to my song though. As a kid, I was mad
on Star Trek and to have Captain Kirk covering your song – well, you can’t
really complain, can you?”
Devo: Gut Feeling
This is another song that reminds me of Pulp’s early days, because it was
another one we managed to learn how to play live. It’s got a good long
instrumental intro which builds in a good way. Devo were obviously a
conceptually interesting band, but none of it would have mattered if they
didn’t also write some really good songs. Even though the tunes have this
machine-like quality, he sings in quite an emotional way, which accentuates
the eccentricity of the enterprise. Did you know that they’ve formed version
of themselves with just children in it? They’ve done it in conjunction with
Disney. Isn’t that strange?
Dumbo soundtrack: Baby Mine
Talking of Disney, a few years ago, when I was watching Dumbo with my baby
son, this song tipped me over the edge – and, ultimately, set me off on a
train of thought that resulted in Disney Time [from 2006’s Jarvis album]. I
was thinking about these Disney songs and about how you feel so bad that
you’re emotionally affected by them. But really, there’s no denying their
power – especially compared to now, where you would jnust get someone like
Phil Collins doing a soundtrack to a Disney film. Anyway, all of this sort
of reminded me about an album called Stay Awake that came out about 20 years
ago, in which famous Disney songs were performed by people like Tom Waits
and Harry Nilsson.
So inspired by that idea, I figured it would be good for us to do something
similar. I want to go for that, ‘Not a dry eye in the house’ effect. I can’t
divulge the lineup as yet. Well, apart from me, that is. I rather fancy
having a crack at I Wanna Be Like You from The Jungle Book.
13th Floor Elevators: May the Circle Remain Unbroken
This was the last song that Roky Erikson did with them. He played with the
band only occasionally by this time, because he was already incarcerated in
a psychiatric unit. If you listen to it, it’s a wonder that it managed to
get recorded somehow. There’s a very strange atmosphere about it. You’re
always a bit worried when someone starts playing again after a long absence.
There’s always the danger they might get lots of bad session musicians in –
but I hear that the shows he has done so far have been great. I’m hoping to
meet him. In fact, I’m hoping to meet all the musicians I’ve asked to
perform at Meltdown. I’ll be there the whole time – introducing as many of
them as possible. You’ll see me everywhere, manning the tea counter, selling
programmes, – you name it.
John Barry: Theme from The Persuaders
This is a piece of music that became lodged in my mind at an early age. We
used to go to my grandma’s house because they had a colour telly, and we
would watch this. The thing I find about this piece of music was that it
didn’t really seem to fit with the programme it was the theme tune to. I
think it has a mournful quality that doesn’t sit easily with Roger Moore and
Tony Curtis going round the south of France solving crime and wearing
cravats. Years later, I discovered that John Barry had done the music and it
set me off discovering all his other soundtracks. We’ve got his orchestra
playing at Meltdown, but he’s not terribly well at the moment, so he may
only conduct a couple of songs. I’m hoping I may get to sing a song as well.
Hopefully we’ll do We Have All The Time In The World.
Alan Hawkshaw: The Theme from Grange Hill
We’ve got the KPM All-Stars doing a live set at Meltdown. Aficionados of
library music will know that KPM was the name of the label and studio that
put out many of the theme tunes that people grew up listening to in the 70s.
For that reason, you can get a little bit emotional listening to some of
these songs – things like Grandstand, Man About The Hose and even the
Countdown theme – because they’ve gone into your subconscious without you
necessarily owning it. And yet it’s a part of you. As for the theme to
Grange Hill, I’m particularly looking forward to that.
Everyone will be imagining the sausage from the opening credits. That has to
be one of the most iconic sausages of the 20th century.
Bonnie Dobson: Winter’s Going
Bonnie Dobson is a Canadian folk singer, probably best known for the fact that
she wrote Morning Dew. This song though, is from a self-titled album she
made in 1972. I think it’s been some years since she last performed. She
moved to the UK and ended up working in the Philosophy department at Berwick
University. But we’ve managed to persuade her to take part in an evening
called Lost Ladies Of Folk, alongside Wendy Flower and Susan Christie. I was
hoping to persuade Dory Previn to come along, but she won’t go on
aeroplanes. I said, ‘Come on a boat,’ but she said that the last time she
got on a boat, she hit a whale.
Jeffrey Lewis: Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror
I like songwriters who bring a bit of an outsider aesthetic to what they do. I
came along to see him when he played in London a couple of years ago and he
did this on that evening. Though, you couldn’t quite tell hearing it for the
first time, the song apparently developed from an encounter with an Oldham
on a train into a treatise on how all artists feel like imposters compared
to their influences. It touched a nerve.
Cornershop: 6am Jullander Shere
Cornershop have had a low profile in recent years, but they’re still around
and they’re a band you should never write off because they always have the
power to surprise you with something different. This is a good example. The
first heard it when XFM was just starting out and they were doing test
broadcasts and getting people to come in just play their favourite songs. Me
and Steve [Mackey from Pulp] went in to play some records and this was one
that Steve played. At the time Cornershop were thought of as this quite
lo-fi, amateurish indie band, and to hear them return with this 10 minute
sitar-driven wig-out was really inspiring – especially at a time when
Britpop had just started to get really boring.
Jesus and Mary Chain: Sidewalking
In the late 80s, I found myself in Sheffield having to help clear out my
grandad’s house after he died. I had the radio playing, and this came on. It
was so impressive that they had come back with such a strong single after
all the controversy that surrounded their first couple of albums. This song
sounded like a really strange T-Rex. They were actually playing on the same
day as me at the Coachella Festival a few weeks ago, and I got to see them.
They hadn’t poshed up their sound too much.
Interview by Pete Paphides Download Jarvis’s Meltdown i-mix from
timesonline.co.uk/southbank
