Why VHF?

click for lyrics

The longest song on the album and was a big favourite at the acoustic clubs when we used to play it. I was trying to see if I could deliberately write a lyric without meaning to see if anyone would fire back at me what they ‘thought’ it meant. Looking back on it however, I can see now there are memories of me as a teenager listening to late night radio back in the late 70s and early 80s (such as the Peel Sessions, The Friday Night Rock Show and the fantastic dub reggae fest that was Roots Rockers). What a curious thing.

Simon

I really enjoy the electrical mystery of this song. Also my best ever performance, at the Blue Posts in Soho. As usual, we were stuck on a stage a littler larger than Aunt Maud's favourite silver tea-tray, so I had to sit on the edge of the stage and play. Gosh a-mighty did we jam that night.
When recording the song, Simon reported back that Jem had felt extremely alone whilst working with my recordings. So if you feel whilst listening to this that you are the only person in the world, surrounded by a shrinking circle of light, you are not the only one.

Robert

The heat of the dial and the code of the word
The static of age and the knife in the air
Our memory of school and our hatred of you
Why VHF, tell me why?

The critic of sound and the stench of the coil
The sample of hair and the route of the nail
No money to burn on our jigs and our tools
Why VHF, tell me why?

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