Lucky Jim

This was in an interview a while backI was born in Edinburgh but I actually grew up in a place called Penicuik about 10 miles away . It was quite pretty in parts but had a small town mentality and could be very rough. I first got into bands at about the age of 15. most of my friends were in the Latin class which meant that they were very bright , I was in the lowest classes most of the time but shared a common interest in music with most of them. I actually hated school with a passion. I felt like I was running the gauntlet every day I went .My parents were very into music when they were younger , older stuff like Sinatra and Johnny Mathis and West Side Story and Jesus Christ superstar would be played around the house a lot . But once I got serious about music you didn't tend to hear them play it a lot. I always had this effect on people because I was so willful about music it tended to use up everybody elses space. It probably didn't help that I wasn't very good for ages and completely oblivious.My first real musical influence (consciously) would have to be Lou Reed . Until then i had no sense of direction or where i wanted to be but after I bought 1969 live - attracted to the cover picture of a womans rear but then blown away by the inside shot of Lou with his Gretch guitar and his leather jacket- I knew exactly what I wanted to be. This was what I had been waiting for. His lyrics especially seemed to wash away everything that came before.Not as you might think because of the provocative nature of his songs but because of the directness and simplicity of them.Lou Reed ruled for about 3 years!I was in the lost Soul Band for about 6 years ( I think). We started out as a kind of Waterboys Van Morrison thing but our first release was a country rock album called Friday the Thirteenth and Everything's Rosie. It was very well received and quite ahead of it's time as there was no real Alt Scene at that time but we didn't sell shit and i lost focus because of smoking hash all day.We did three albums - all in different styles which didn't help our careers and were dropped after about two and a half years. Looking back I can see that i haven't changed really, I would be just as happy doing an electro album as an acoustic album as long as it works, as long as it has ... substance. We continued after we were dropped ( by silvertone records ) for about a year and a half but I was blind to the indifference of the industry around me . The Scottish music scene tends to want to forget very quickly any "embarrassments" in it's history books. It was a very depressing time . I couldn't get any gigs- I couldn't get arrested.After this I went traveling with my girlfriend to Amsterdam and then Paris then Andalucia and finally back to Paris. In Amsterdam I played on the street and in Paris I played in the bars and in spain I worked in Captain Jumbo's washing dishes. We returned to Edinburgh and finding out that we were about to have a new arrival ( a son ) took a place in Glasgow for two very hard years . at the end of this time we moved back to Edinburgh. About two months later i went for three months to New York. This was a very important time for me. There are a thousand reasons why. I had not been involved in the music scene for years and thought it was all over . I just wanted a chance to do some thing that might stir things up ( deep things )in me. I thought I would begin by playing the open mikes and see where it would take me. How could I afford this ? I took rent payments - housing payments from the government and bought a ticket. My partner knew I had to do it - I was ready to jump out of a window. I had taken a room on in which someone was going out of the country for a while and needed the rent covered . It was completely random I had no idea who i would be living with . I arrived in New york In the Snow on the 30th December 2000. I called the apartment and spoke to Matt , whom I would be sharing with and said " Hi this is Gordon I'm the room mate I've just arrived!" "Well you better get over here quick cause I'm going out" This could be a bad start i thought as I rushed across town with my rucksack and guitar but when the door opened and i saw that on the wall was hung three guitars i knew I was in luck. I had know idea who i would be sharing with and here i had landed in a flat with another musician! He completely changed his attitude when he saw my guitar and invited me out to a party. As I sat in the back of his jeep and he ran out to get some booze for the evening his girlfriend who i had just met turned round to me from the front seat " so gordon what are you doing in New York" " I'm just gonna check out the open mikes and see what happens" " you should talk to Matt about that-he's the king of the open mikes!" What Luck!The songs are either written from a melody or words first. from a melody is harder 'cause you have to fit the words around the tune . But then again so is finding a tune for pre written words. I write from what i know - or think I know . Songs are almost always personal. for example i was on the train on a solo tour recently and an old drunk guy fell asleep next to me and was leaning against me . At first I felt trapped but the as I sensed his weariness and lifes toll I felt like mothering him . I took out my book and wrote lay down , rest your tired soul If there are no diamonds , there might be coal.I had become interested in Don Quixote after hearing Jacques Brel singing La Reve from the musical. Especially his relationship with the harlot Dulcinea. I was thinking for a long time about doing something with this idea and after a few months I picked up a news paper about the novel where the words " Don Quixote has a vision of Dulcinae as Mother Mary" I don't know why but I wept and then i wrote the song. I didn't really know what it was about but I knew it was deeply personal to me . I let my girlfriend hear it and she said she didn't like it especially the ending part about " One day I'll show you that i am no fool" She had never been so critical before' She left me a few days later. We had been together 13 years.I use the language that i am familiar with . I read a lot of old books - I read the bible I read mysticism i am not writing for today i am writing forever . sometimes .It was always Brel for me and only now have I spent any time listening to Scott Walker . But there is nothing you can find a song like Ash - dynamically - that you cannot find in Jacques BrelIf the Americans want it they can have it I would love to break my music over there and tour But it is really up to them ie Sony in AmericaTo shine a light into the dark and to give form to what was ugly is the job of an artist To return everything to beauty And to remove what is dead Songwriting is a process My songs are not thought sad by people who are sad , they often lift the spirits and give comfort Music is a healerAm I sad person? No I don't thinks so I have a lust for lifeSophia is my wife The song is about our life together , that we will have our dreams and come to dust so don't hide your light or your passion from me for life is too shortMy career is already a success Since i mastered playing a song - by my standards- I didn't need the approval of other people. Playing to six people in a bar in Paris i reached heights I may never reach again in performance and nobody saw! How can I fail?I would love to wake up and think "Everything is alright You don't have to fight again today"I would like to meet Bowie or Lou Reed but I can be very shy and might just go red.Lucky Jim is an old expression for the guy that gets the girl or has an easy time of life or who gets money without having to work for it A lot of people think I'm lucky but that's only cause I keep smilingMy next goal is to record another album that I have written and when I get the chance to finish a concept piece which I have written about living in Paris and which is very long then comes the electo album...