Lee Remick

I picked up Robert Forster's autobiography Grant And I, his memoir of his life, his time as one of the two songwriters and frontmen in The Go- Betweens and friendship with the other one, Grant McLennan (who died at the early age of forty eight in 2006). Forster is a witty, reflective and very literate writer and he describes the birth of the group and their subsequent trials and tribulations- critically lauded albums but very few sales- in a breezy but detailed manner. The 1980s and it's insistence on big studios, big producers and drum machines doesn't come out of it well, several albums full of fine songs being scuppered. His writes vivid portraits of London in the mid 80s and of the music and social scenes in several Australian cities.The chapter at the end of the first half where he deals with the band's breakup is open and honest about his and Grant's reasons and mistakes (especially when telling Lindy and Amanda, the other band members, one of whom was living with and in a  relationship with McLennan who then regrets this and pays for it for some time afterwards).

Early on in the band's history Robert writes a song called Lee Remick, a tribute to the American star of Days Of Wine And Roses, The Omen and Anatomy Of A Murder, and it's clear this song is a breakthrough for him, a love song written by someone who at that point hadn't been in love, a love song for someone he doesn't know, his feelings projected onto a film star. The music, folky post punk crossed with 60s bubblegum, is stripped back, taut and amateurish and all the better for it. It's clearly indebted to Jonathan Richman and The Monkees. The Go- Betweens pressed up 700 copies on 7" released by Australian label Able in 1978, which are worth a small fortune now. The subject of the song, Lee Remick, owned three copies of the single, one sent to her by Forster in 1979, another he gave to her in 1988 and a third bought by the production team when she appeared on an Australian chatshow.

Lee Remick

The book cost me a fiver in the Waterstones sale, five pounds well spent. You can barely get a pint for a fiver in some parts of town now.

Then I got thinking about songs where the title of the song is the name of a famous person. Sadly The Wedding Present's George Best album doesn't count as it's an album not a song and the boy Gedge didn't include the word William in the title of his song Shatner. But I've got a couple of others which I'll put up over the next few days.

Big Windows To Let In The Sun

Until yesterday I didn't know that Grant Hart's song 2541, his solo debut in 1989, was covered by Robert Forster (of The Go-Betweens). Forster put it out in 1994 on a four track e.p.

I like it, Forster's voice is good but he sticks largely to Grant's song, it's a pretty straight cover. When I found it on Youtube and then played Grant's own version afterwards, I found that in the trail of comments beneath Grant himself had logged in and left a comment saying he preferred Forster's version.

The song is a beauty, full of great lines and hard won wisdom. It tells the story of a couple getting together, moving into a new home and then the break up and the leaving. Grant builds in small details that root it in personal experience- Jerry and Jimmy in the first verse who find the place and the phone number, moving in and having to keep the stove on all night long 'so the mice wouldn't freeze', putting their names on the mailbox. The dream turns sour in the second verse though as Grant admits 'it was the first place we had to ourselves, I didn't know it would be the last'. From there the only way is down but all the while through the chorus we get the reminder of the attraction of the home, the big windows to let in the sun. The final verse sees the couple apart and moving out...

'Well things are so much different now

I'd say the situation's reversed

And it'll probably not be the last time

I'll have to be out by the first'

Story telling, moving and real, painting pictures with words, Grant had the full package as a song writer. He recorded the song twice himself, once for an ep 2541, a largely acoustic version (the one I posted yesterday) and then a fuller, band version that came out on his 1989 album Intolerance (which is my favourite). So here's that version too...

Twenty-Five Forty-One