'When it comes to song-writing influences there isn’t enough space to mention all of them, but there are a few key individuals – there’s some value in all of the lyrics I like, perhaps some kind of vocal rhythm or a clever linguistic twist of some kind, or just some plain emotion which only has meaning when it’s delivered by the right voice.
I can't really generalise when it comes to what I like about some lyrics, there are a few people who have consistently influenced me, but there are so many great songs out there and so many aspects of the lyrics that I like - some kind of linguistic twist, a joke, a deep poetic observation, or just raw emotion. Of course it depends who it's delivered by too, that can transform a song. I reckon I've got a good voice for backing vocals, and that's why for some of my songs I've got other people to record my them.
In terms of actual song-writers, if there’s one person that stands out as a regular source of inspiration, it’s Tom Waits. There’s an effortless intelligence about his writing, but it might take him a long time to write them, I don’t know. One thing I like about his work is the fact that he likes to avoid clichés, and I love his sense of humour too. I don’t like everything he does, but some moments are just beautifully poetic, like ‘I lost my St Christopher now that I’ve kissed her’, for me has so much meaning packed into it, and ‘He didn’t love her except at night and then he’s drunk and never even told her that he cared, so he took the registration the car keys and his shoes, and he left her with an invitation to the blues’, reveals such poignant disappointment.
Another main single influence would have to be Neil Young, who combines the lyrics with the melodies to create single coherent chunks of meaning. Powderfinger, for example, has to be one of the greatest songs ever written, lyrically and musically, because for me it’s full of significance, pride, personality, honesty, doubt and commitment. Young’s life is an inspiration too, he just carries on doing whatever he wants to do with his music, it doesn’t always work, but it’s always his, the most successful uncommercial artist around.
And J J Cale’s stuff is annoyingly great – the lyrics aren’t really that clever, or deep, but every time I listen to the guy I want to start creating something of my own.
Other influences are all the old blues guys (Muddy Waters, BB King and the rest of the tribe) for their hard work and honesty, and Bob Dylan for the poetry of some of his songs, and the melodies too. Jimi Hendrix, much underrated as a song-writer, had some astonishing lyrics, the best being Axis: Bold As Love. Joan Baez’s Sweet Sir Galahad is a classic, glad I saw her in concert a few years ago although she didn’t play that one. I like the Beatles for writing in British English, and so cleverly, I love the Stones for not really caring which language they wrote in, and a lot of the Latinos I like because it seems you can get away with writing really soppy stuff that sounds poetic to an English ear'.
