"The lyrics were personal, about a relationship and how I was feeling. I like to use visual metaphors. The breakdown section, about breaking a heel on a shoe, came from this old 1950s film I'd seen on TV. An image of a woman, walking along the road in a tight pencil skirt, limping because the heel had broken. That stuck with me. I had a book of Baudelaire poems hanging around, so I got him into the lyrics somewhere, too."
"Portishead's Adrian Utley, a friend of ours, came in to play guitar, which was quite a departure for us because for ages we wanted to stay clear of guitars. He's so instinctive the way he plays, incredibly lean with the notes. He got the right tone immediately. For the video, I thought it would be fun to have an imaginary glam rock band. Dawn Shadforth was director, the late Cathy Edwards the stylist."
The song was an ode to glam rock, inspired by Marc Bolan and vintage vocal and drum sounds. The chorus settled on Ooh la la after a trip to France and layered voices plus vocoder harmonies to blend synthetic and natural textures. Lyrics were personal about a relationship, incorporating visual metaphors such as a broken shoe heel from a 1950s film and a line referencing Baudelaire. Guest guitarist Adrian Utley provided lean, instinctive tones, marking a rare guitar inclusion. The video featured an imaginary glam band with director Dawn Shadforth and stylist Cathy Edwards. The song receives varied licensing requests and was performed on US television near Simon Cowell.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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