Goodbye Girl

Rereading 'Squeeze - Song by Song' (Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook with Jim Drury, Sanctuary 2004), Glenn Tilbrook said that Goodbye Girl was their breakthrough song in America. By changing the line 'My wife has moved to Guernsey' to 'My wife has moved to Boston', it opened up New York, Boston and the whole of the East Coast; though the Americans still didn't have a clue what lino was.
It was pointed out to Tilbrook much later that the tune is very reminiscent of the Muppets theme, a fact that still keeps him awake at nights. It's time to put on make up...🎵

Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook - Goodbye Girl

I mentioned Song by Song above, a compelling insight into Difford and Tilbrook's much lauded songwriting partnership. Another tome, a natural companion piece, is Chris Dfford's recently published memoir 'Some Fantastic Place - My Life in and out of Squeeze'. One of the (rave) reviews reads: 'Anyone who can read should go out and buy a copy.' Ah, Mrs. Difford, bless you.

Coffee?

He won't thank me for reminding him, but Glenn Tilbrook, 50% shareholder of Squeeze Ltd., said goodbye to his fifties today. I'm sure if you trawl the back issues of this blog you'll find plenty of references to both him and his common law songwriting partner, Chris Difford. To say their partnership has been rocky would be an understatement, but, not for nothing, were they once compared to Lennon & McCartney. And rightly so.

I've seen Glenn live in so many different permutations I really have lost count. And in all those times - Glenn solo, Glenn with Squeeze (with and without Jools), Glenn with the Fluffers, Glenn with Chris - I've only ever seen him play Black Coffee in Bed on the guitar. But, here he is vamping a few chords on the old Joanna:

Glenn Tilbrook: Black Coffee in Bed

Glenn Tilbrook - 60 today. Happy Birthday Glenn!

Hot

Jack Vettriano is no Hopper. But then again he'd be the first to tell you that. And his work may well be panned by serious art critics (whoever the hell they are); indeed his portrayal of women has been portrayed as crass soft porn. Come on, really?
But when I was looking for an image that summed up just how bloody hot it was today, I didn't have to look further than Vettriano's Heatwave.


And a big thank you to the young lady who joined me for a couple of dust-cutters this evening. Here's to a long hot summer; cue the Style Council.