Farmed out

It should have come as no surprise to anyone that when Squeeze recently went into the Radio 2 Piano Lounge to play the tried and tested format - a three song set comprising two originals and a cover - that they should have chosen a Beatle related number; Glenn Tilbrook & Chris Difford have carried the surrogate Lennon & McCartney tag around with them for well over forty years; so when they saddled up to play a Macca penned power pop classic all bets were off. Junior's Farm is a diamond in the rough. At the back end of 1974 McCartney had just recruited Jimmy McCulloch on lead guitar who would go on to play on the Venus & Mars album followed by the mammoth Wings Over America tour and accompanying triple live album. This sounds like it was a contender for V&M but Macca put it out as a single instead. And what a single. If this doesn't get your pulse racing then you're probably dead.

Squeeze - Junior's Farm (2026)

Beach boys

Squeeze c.1975

One of the most enjoyable - and brutally honest - biographies I've read was Chris Difford's 'Some Fantastic Place - My Life in and out of Squeeze'. His relationship with Glenn Tilbrook, alcohol and drugs is laid bare for all to see. And as an insight into what it's like being one half of a mega successful songwriting partnership that's often been compared to Lennon & McCartney, look no further; it's all contained within its 317 pages. I've been meaning to reread it for ages but since moving house back in 2017 I've not been able to find it. It's here somewhere, it's gotta be. But I'm buggered if I know where.

So it was a serendipitous charity shop find earlier today when browsing the bookshelves in Oxfam and I stumbled upon a signed copy! "Hi Brian", it says followed by Chris' trademark scrawled moniker. And this copy includes a new final chapter. So, thanks, Brian. And Chris, obviously. I'll get stuck into it next week over a glass of eggnog and a tin of Quality Street.

Two of a Kind

I have absolutely no idea if today's highly unimaginatively titled post will be a blink and you miss it one-off or a jumping-off point for a feature I'll wheel out on high days and holidays. Or, even, Mondays. 

I've been going through my photographs and theming them. At the risk of telling you how to suck eggs they can be by subject, location, time, colour, texture; you name it - it may even just be a feel. So what I thought I'd do today is give you a couple of photos I took in Nottingham recently. The first is a tunnel which is cut into the sandstone not far from the city centre; it's still one of the best kept secrets that many Nottinghamians are blissfully unaware of. This shot is quite literally the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tunnel Road, Nottingham NG1 (2021)

Its photo buddy for purposes of today's 'Two of a Kind' was taken in the pub (quelle surprise) last week. The light streaming thru the open door was too good an opportunity to miss.

The Abdication, Daybrook, Nottingham NG5

...

To round up this one-off/feature (watch this space) I'm also looking at two records that are thematically linked. This brace are both well known Top 10 UK singles from the 70s and have been joined at the hip thanks to a rather lovely pub quiz question. I'm sure you all know the answer, tho' I will slip it in at the bottom of the page*.

Roxy Music - Virginia Plain (1972)

And then a mere seven years later these lads from Deptford in South London came up with a perfect three minute kitchen sink drama. From the Difford & Tilbrook songbook -

Squeeze - Up the Junction (1979)

And finally, a further bit of connectivity that joins the dots between Roxy and Squeeze - both Chris Difford and Phil Manzanera have recently been guests of David Hepworth and Mark Ellen on their splendid antidote to lockdown, Word in Your Attic. Give them a coat of looking at if you get a spare minute.

* The title of both songs are mentioned only once, and in the final line.

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!

Tempted. Again

Justin Currie calls Nothing Ever Happens by Del Amitri his list song. That's not a bad thing. I love a list song - Come Together, California Girls, Route 66. There are hundreds of them out there. There is, I'm sure, a list of all the list songs somewhere in the cyber world. Gotta be.

However, as good as the songs I've mentioned above are, and as good as the countless others that I've not listed are, they are all eclipsed by this divine offering written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook.

Tempted

Tempted. Again

Talking about Squeeze, the answer to yesterday's quiz was b. Shanghai Squeeze.

Coupling

Husband and wife

Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, commonly known as Squeeze, have had more bust ups and reconciliations than Burton and Taylor. They can't live with each other, can't live without each other. They've recently been taking their two man show, The At Odds Couple, around and about and you may well have caught them in a provincial theatre near you telling (and retelling) their personal stories and playing their wonderful songs.

They've also written some brand new material for fellow Deptfordite Danny Baker as the soundtrack to the new comedy Cradle to Grave (starring Peter Kay as Spud - Baker's old man) now showing on BBC 2. Baker's life story pretty much centres on SE16 and, in particular, the south east London where Danny, Glenn and Chris grew up in the 1960s and 1970s - much of the landscape that made up that part of the capital just isn't there anymore.

Father and son

When the pair aren't writing or recording (or bickering) they can often be found, unlike, say Ant or Dec, playing solo gigs. And as good as their own songs are and as great as Squeeze's repoirtoire is, every now and again, Tilbrook in particular, will slip anchor and throw in a tune he wished he'd written: this one, however, Weather with You, he sort of did. Crowded House owed a lot to Squeeze - a sort of SKiwis if you will. And anyone who knows Woodface will tell you it plays like a Squeeze Best Of.

Anyway, here's Tilbrook going nowhere on his mantelpiece.