Interview with Singer-Songwriter Steve Harley (2017)

 

Steve Harley, thank you for taking time out of your tour to do this interview. How is the tour going?
Life is one long tour, it sometimes seems! We play a lot of shows; some as the full rock band, billed as myself and Cockney Rebel, others as the Steve Harley Acoustic Trio, when only James Lascelles (piano) and Barry Wickens (violin/guitar) join me.

 

 I’d like to begin by asking about your childhood. You were stricken with polio at a very early age. Can you speak a little about those years?

Mostly, I was a happy child. Didn’t really feel the pain. You don’t when you’re young, do you? But then, surgery when I was fifteen – that hurt! I was in dreadful pain for days and close to tears 24/7. But when the pain subsided, I continued to study for my 0-Level exams. My Grammar school would send the curriculum down to the hospital, 15 miles from there, weekly, for my in-ward tutor to run through with me. I passed!

Your mother was a singer. Do you think you were you always destined to be a musician? Who were your musical heroes when you were growing up?

Growing up, I loved Elvis and Everley Brothers songs, but mostly I was rapt by the sound and image of Buddy Holly. That’s the late ‘50s. When I was old enough to buy records, in the early ‘60s, it was all Dylan and The Beatles. My mum would sing to the radio and she had a big swing jazz vibrato voice. I guess my lung power comes from her.

 

You initially worked as a journalist. You were clearly always a wordsmith.

I was reading mature literature from the age of 12 in hospital. It was always words, words, words with me. The sound, the feeling in my mouth as those beauties were enunciated. Mesmerising. Still is.

 

 In a music career spanning more than 40 years, you have been responsible for some of the most intelligent and literate lyrics in British pop. Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway make appearances in your songs. There are references to the Titanic and the Spanish Revolution, and other significant events. This is a far cry from the usual pop fare of boy loves/loses girl.

 

I can’t write bubble-gum. It’s a fine art that I have never acquired. Perhaps I should try harder. It sells. But I have a loyal fan base around the world and they still seem happy with the surreal and the romantic favour! Thank heavens!

I remember, in the mid- ‘70s, in the NME, or one of the other music papers, there was a photograph of you and your good friend Marc Bolan having a chat. I think the caption said something about the old pro giving the younger musician advice on the music biz. How did you feel about the whole Glam Rock phenomenon, which Bolan epitomised?

I always liked rock music to contain a touch of theatricality. But stack-heeled shoes and glittery make-up were more fads I would write about on The Human Menagerie than actually become part of. Marc was always “on”, never relaxed. Always performing, even indoors. He was obsessed with stardom and image and I loved him for it. He was totally honest with himself and about himself.

 

All the readers will be familiar with your million-selling hit, ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)’. It is still the most played song on British airways, forty-three years after its release. It’s been covered by over 120 bands. I must tell you that at the age of 16, when I saw you and Cockney Rebel perform it on Top of the Pops, I was mesmerised by your look of cool insouciance. Even when watched today, it is quite spellbinding.

So long ago. I’ve stopped the posing now.

 

It is now common knowledge that you wrote the song in response to the break-up of the previous band line-up.

It took may years before I was prepared to own up to that. I kept the world guessing for 30 years, but eventually let the cat out. It was cathartic.

 

Can you tell me what are some of your favourite albums by other artists/bands?

All and any Frank Zappa. Most Dylan. Many Beatles and Joni Mitchell’s Blue. Cat Stevens’ Greatest Hits is never out of my car CD changer. The Killers. Words, words, words and brilliant tunes will always come first for me.

 

How does it feel to be a grandfather?

I love being Grandad to such a sweet, amusing, bright kiddie as my son’s lad, Cameron. Can’t get enough of him, to be honest. We FaceTime two, maybe three times a week.

 

What are you currently reading?

The Spectator, mostly. I’m utterly baffled by Brexit and they are explaining it for me. An old Hemingway is beside my bed: Across the River and Into the Trees. Dialogue to die for.

 

Steve Harley, thank you once again. We love you!

Ha! You old charmer!