I don’t know how many songs I’ve written... I’ve been performing for 46 years
Acclaimed British singersongwriter Joan Armatrading has released 21 albums. She tells MARION McMULLEN why she likes to be hands-on in the recording studio
You have had many hits over the years like Me Myself I and Love And Affection. Have they become part of people’s lives? THAT’S the great thing about being a songwriter, people will say ‘Oh, we used your song at a very sad time, somebody died, it was their favourite song, we had to have it with them at the funeral.’ You can’t get a bigger compliment than that.
You get ‘We named our child after one of your songs.’ There’s a lot of Rosies and Willows out there! ‘We got married to that song, we met through that song, we went to a concert and we were both so into your music and we hooked up...’
I get all kinds of stories, all around these things that I’ve written. It’s the best feeling, I absolutely love it. And I do meet these people, because they want tell me that ‘I’m named because of your song,’ so I’ve met quite a few of them which is lovely. Did you write before you became a songwriter? I WROTE funny little limericks. But I started writing when I was 14 and as soon as the piano arrived – my mother bought a piano, thought it was a great piece of furniture – I started writing songs.
They were lyrics as opposed to limericks. I don’t remember any of the songs from that age, but I know I just switched over immediately and started writing lyrics.
Are you a fan of literature?
I LOVE words. I love reading Dickens. I read a lot of Dickens, all the classic stuff, Shakespeare and so on, just because the words are so nice, how it all flows, the language that they use. Do you know how many songs you’ve written? DO you know somebody asked me that not so long ago? No, I don’t. It’s hundreds.
This is the 21st album and I’ve been performing for 46 years. There’s usually at least 10 on each album so there’s a lot of songs just in the albums. How would you describe your relationship with your fans? IF it wasn’t for these wonderful people tagging along I wouldn’t have had such a great ride and if I didn’t have new people coming along it wouldn’t sustain. People do die and people’s tastes change.
Some might think ‘Oh, Joan was wonderful when she was 26 but now she’s 67, I don’t think so’. That can happen, so you can lose people like that or because they’ve just moved, or they’ve had children and their focus is on something totally different.
You need the loyal fans, and I’m happy to say I have some very loyal fans. And I love doing live shows because there’s always such a great mix of people. I’m very lucky.
Have you been involved in all aspects of your new album Not Too Far Away?
PRETTY much, yes. I wrote everything, recorded, engineered, programmed the drums, I’m playing everything, I arranged everything, I wrote and arranged all the strings and, yes, sang it all, did everything.
But that’s just because I can, and I love to do it, and it’s what I want to do. I’ve always done it. But when it comes to the mixing then I always work with a mixing engineer because I would never want to go through that whole process completely on my own, I think that would be not healthy. You need some other ears, you know.
How would you describe the album?
IT’S positive. I’m a positive person. In all my songs the words are pretty much positive and the music is always up. The music is always something that I think will try and make you smile. Any favourite tracks?
ONE of my favourites, actually they’re all my favourites, is the piano song, Always In My Dreams.
I love reading problem pages and there’s always somebody saying ‘Oh, I really fancy this guy, or I really fancy this girl, and I don’t know how to approach them, and I’ve said to my friends, this is the person I need to marry...’ But they’re never saying it to that person, and the advice quite often is, just pluck up the courage and talk to that person.
And this song is kind of the same thing – if you have somebody you really want to connect with, you can’t really afford to mess about, you’ve just got to get on with it. Do you still enjoy playing the big hits live?
ABSOLUTELY, I look forward to playing Love And Affection. I would never dream of doing a concert where I didn’t play Love And Affection. Why would I? That’s the song that got me known. So I can sing Love and Affection, Me Myself I, Drop The Pilot, Willow, Rosie, all the songs, and I’ll still have time to do all the new album!