(Nothing But) Flowers

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  Seven Songs for the Week #65 - 3rd July 24

  Jason Carty

  A lot of this week's list is influenced by Johnny Marr. Last week he was doing a speaking engagement in Dublin promoting his book, Marr's Guitars. I was offered a ticket and wasn't sure what to expect, but I found myself in the third row centre with two guitars and an amp on stage. JM was introduced, strolled onstage and did Bigmouth Strikes Again for 30 seconds before giving a very entertaining 2 hour intervieew. Occasionally he would pick up a guitar and give a few seconds of a riff you've known for ever, one what he wrote, and then he'd go back to chatting.

  Even though I bought Naked when it came out, because I was a cool kid, I didn't realise for some time that the twinkly, highlife guitar is by Johnny Marr. He only mentioned his Talking Heads dalliance very briefly in passing, but after The Smiths split in the summer of 1987, this track was the first thing Johnny Marr did. I love this song and video where an 8-person Talking Heads including Johnny Marr and Kirsty MacColl groove about behind superimposed words - imaging if that lineup had toured, a great "what if".

  The Atmos mix of this song is quite different, by the way. Drier mix with extra extraneous David Byrne vocal noises during the instrumental breaks. Tina Weymouth is a boss on this track: her dubby introductory notes, then her propulsive melody playing during the song itself.