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Baker's Dozen

Foundations Of Rock: Buzzcock Steve Diggle's Baker's Dozen
Stephanie Phillips , January 20th, 2021 10:40

Steve Diggle guides Stephanie Phillips through the records that shaped him, from the girl across the road who introduced him to The Beatles and Bob Dylan to the sensual allure of late era Supremes

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The Beatles - 'It Won't Be Long'
Across the road there was a girl, my mate's sister, who was 16-years-old when I was seven-years-old. Watching her dry her long blonde hair in the mirror, listening to the first Beatles album and the first Bob Dylan album, I thought 'I get the Beatles harmonies and there's this bloke called Bob Dylan' - that crystallised who I became really. I didn't realise until years later but that moment changed my life.

That song was The Beatles 'Please, Please Me', but this one, 'It Won't Be Long' is from the second album [With The Beatles] and the reason I chose that is because it was the anniversary at the time of choosing this list. I just bought a few black Polo necks and me and my mate had a joke about the cover, you know the whole shadow on the album and they've got the black Beatles polo necks. I've returned to my teenage days by buying that.

I could have chosen any Beatles song really. I love them all, I was a child of the Beatles. 'It Won't Be Long' just has the smell and flavour of those polo necks and the time when the Beatles were starting to move a little bit. When they start to find the feet. This album, and all the Beatles albums, inspired me and changed my life. I stopped listening to my dad and the school teacher, and I listened to what John Lennon was saying.