Hello Lloyd,
Courtesy of Fiona Walker’s _Snap Happy_, I just discovered your music this spring. Don’t know if you read the book but thought it belonged in lit/trivia.
To summarise, Juno, a zaftig comedienne, has just seduced Jay, a photographer whom she has just met but fancies wildly. He refuses to tell her anything personal so she decides to put on a CD. ‘She settled for Lloyd Cole as he was safe and mellow.’ Jay starts actually listening to the lyrics. ‘Forced to listen along, Juno decided that Cole was neither safe nor mellow. She must have played the CD a thousand times, loving the mood, picking up on the odd witty soundbite here or clever phrase there, but she had never listened as she did now.’
Walker comments briefly on ‘Rich’, ‘Why I Love Country Music’, ‘Pretty Gone’, ‘Grace’, ‘Brand New Friend’, ‘Lost Weekend’ and ‘James’.
After accidentally giving Jay food poisoning by feeding him mince meant for dog food, Juno patches the relationship up many pages later by singing a song as part of her act, with the chorus:
The Lloyd Cole CD on the stereo was singing ‘Lost Weekend’,/
As I cooked a dog’s dinner fit for Man’s Best Friend.
See pp. 98-101 and 556-558 of the Coronet paperback for details.
Anyway, I love your music (much more than I liked the book, which is mental popcorn), and have been happily catching up on the past 20 years’ worth. Thanks for being neither safe nor mellow–I think in songs and you’ve given me a whole new set of metaphors.
Link to original article online
Publication: Snap Happy
Publication date: 31/12/1998