12. The Divine ComedyCasanova
Me and Moose had just started as a couple so I think it was 1996. He was really into The Divine Comedy. Lush were playing at Benicàssim Festival in Spain and we decided to drive while the rest of the band flew in because we were going to have a camping holiday afterwards. We drove to the gig and it was fucking insane. I don’t think we slept. We just drove through the night and through the day and there were these insane south of France storms going on. We only packed one tape, so we literally had a cassette with this on one side and Charlie Rich on the other, which we basically played all the way there. I know every word of this record because over a 36-hour period I listened to it about 90 fucking times.
A lot of the lyrics on this album are quite male. I may be completely misinterpreting this, but it felt like a nod to the sexism of the time, you know, ‘Enough of being a nice guy, it’s time to become a sexist wanker because at least you get laid’ kind of thing. I thought he did it quite archly where you could have the opposite reading. There were a lot of guys who were like, ‘I love that album, it’s all about shagging groupies and all that kind of stuff, and I thought, no, I think he’s actually having a pop at all that. I think it’s the opposite.’ I struggle with lyrics that are written from a very male perspective in that they really objectify women, but I actually think I’m quite happy listening to male lyrics when I think they apply just as much to women. At the end of the day, it is tongue in cheek because you only have to look at Neil Hannon. He’s hardly a sex monster is he. He’s pale, like a consumptive Victorian child.
