Ride
I’ve always been very keen on collaborating with other musicians (an idea that has stayed with me ever since I heard Roy Harper sing ‘Have A Cigar’ on ‘Wish You Were Here’ by Pink Floyd) but the notion of getting someone well known in to strum a bit or do a solo just to help boost sales sticks in my throat somewhat so it’s a bit of a double edge sword.
I’d sung this on the live DVD and wasn’t really convinced I was really adding anything to it so I started to cast an eye about for singers that I knew and respected with the notion of letting them have a crack at it instead. I contacted an old mate of the band called Geoff Wootton who’d sung in Jim and Paul’s previous group Charlotte’s Web and asked him if he’d be up for giving the song a go. I think Geoff’s voice is sublime and his performance on the track is great. Couple this with Jim’s simply brilliant solo (the only part he plays on the song, which proves to me that our Mr Sanders understands the art of Less Is More), it just goes to show that good musicianship is all about picking your moment.
Simon
Bill Hicks has long been a hero of mine. I saw him on his last ever tour, and I remember thinking ‘he doesn't look well’ (he died of pancreatic cancer about a year later - but had kept it secret). He had a routine where he’d talk about life being “just a ride” and how we think that ride is real, because that’s how powerful our minds are. So that’s what the song’s about. Also contains Plato.