Graham Coxon found becoming a songwriter 'hard work'
Graham Coxon found it "hard work" to develop his songwriting skills alongside Blur bandmate Damon Albarn.
Graham Coxon found it "hard work" to develop his songwriting skills alongside Damon Albarn.
The Blur guitarist - who is finally releasing his 'lost' solo album Castle Park this month - brought out his debut solo LP, The Sky Is Too High, in 1998 between his group's self-titled fourth record and follow-up 13, and he admitted his bandmates virtually ignored the project, though he was pleased when the frontman seemed to like one track in particular.
He told The Sun newspaper: “They didn’t talk about it. Though I did once catch Damon singing R U Lonely? He said, ‘That’s quite a catchy little tune’.
“Attempting to develop as a songwriter when Damon Albarn is your best mate is hard work. I mean, he’d already written some bloody good songs by then.”
The solo record came about when Graham was asked to write some songs for a film about Victorian bare-knuckle fighter Tom Sayers.
He noted: “That request turned into an addiction to writing songs and releasing them.”
Castle Park is Graham's eighth solo album, and the 57-year-old musician thinks his records show how he has changed over the years.
He reflected: “I think it has had a lot to do with my development as a person.
“You know, that anxiety-ridden creative weirdo who puts all this stuff out there.
“I guess that’s why I like Castle Park coming out — because now there are no secrets. You’ve got it all.”
The songs for Castle Park were left over from the recording sessions for Graham's 2012 album A+E and he isn't sure why he has taken so long to release them, particularly as fans have been aware of the missing record for all that time.
He said: “It was really odd because I recorded 20 songs and ten of them became A+E, which was based around improvised bass lines.
“The other ten were weirdly different — more trad indie, jingle-jangly, with a bit of Sixties influence.
“I’m really not sure what happened. Maybe it was lack of confidence. Maybe I thought these songs weren’t fashionable and who would give a s***?”
One of his favourite songs on the record is called Isn't It Funny.
Graham said of the track: “It came to me in the dream. I had the chords and half of the chorus, I heard some words — and then I woke up. I thought, ‘My gosh, I need to make a quick note of this.’
“I realise that there’s always been this elusive feminine spirit or a goddess of nature in my work.
“I don’t write songs about this entity for my own excitement. They just come out.”
