“Since I was 17, I’ve wanted to write songs as good as Nick Lowe…”
Elvis Costello celebrates Basher’s brilliance
“if ‘Nick Lowe’ was just a credit line on a stack of dusty, gold waxings, then it might be easier for people to see him as a songwriter who walks in the rare company of Charlie Rich, Dan Penn, hank Cochran or even Kris Kristofferson. his geniality may have been at the cost of his legend. Perhaps that’s the way he wanted it. then i think Nick was originally writing a musical satire when he penned ‘(What’s so funny ’Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding’. it is time and events that have lent the song its power and melancholy.
“since i was 17, i’ve wanted to write songs as good as Nick Lowe. ‘Alison’ was the result of the chemistry experiment involving Nick’s ‘Don’t Lose Your Grip on Love’ and a song by the Detroit spinners. ‘everyday i Write the Book’ is a knock-off of Nick’s ‘When i Write the Book’ with a little Rodgers & hart thrown in. “Nick was also in two of my favourite ever rock’n’roll bands; Brinsley schwarz, to whom the word ‘pub’ is always attached, diminishing the fact they could play at a proximity that inferior bands couldn’t risk, and the ferocious and, at times, unnerving Rockpile, our touring partners during one particularly chaotic American jaunt. “over those first 10 years, during which he produced six of our albums, Nick let me go from being an utter novice to someone capable of wilful but occasionally inspired mistakes. it would be an error to think of Nick as a traditionalist just because he didn’t have a fashionable alibi. “to me he will always be a swinging modernist; just listen to his bass part on ‘Radio sweetheart’ (my first professional recording), ‘Clown strike’ or, for that matter, ‘hurry Down Doomsday (the Bugs Are taking over)’. “You mostly see Nick these days in the guise of the Gentleman Balladeer, but attending to the private voice of the dark and lonely hours within the following songs – ‘Basing street’, ‘Lover Don’t Go’, ‘i’m A Mess’ and ‘the Beast in Me’ – is to know why we are all still running to catch up.”