Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch: ‘Songs tumble out like dreams – you can’t control them’

Can you please explain what exactly an “Arab strap” is [as in the song The Boy with the Arab Strap]? Asking for a friend …Lennon

The funny thing is I can’t! I know it’s something vaguely sexual, but the reference was to Arab Strap, the band. I gave the gold disc for it to my mum, who put it up in her living room. When the minister came round for tea, he was looking at the gold record and reading the label, so there was an awkward moment. After that, she gave it back to me.

Are you worried about how only posh people have the time to make art now? Boredom is a key part of the creative process, and I can’t see another Belle and Sebastian emerging if the members have to spend 40 hours a week applying for jobs because of universal credit. jamesofwalsh

Being on the dole was a twilight subsistence. Stevie [Jackson, guitar] would make soup for anyone who wanted it. We were living as cheaply as possible, but in that void of life ideas came in, and spirituality. I found God on the dole! I do wonder how our band would exist nowadays. The slight upside is that, with technology, people can record themselves to an amazing degree. I’m not sure if that quite makes up for it.

If You’re Feeling Sinister and Tigermilk

helped save my sanity in the late 90s. Do you have any desert island discs fixed in time and place as a musical remedy?TeeDubyaBee

Before the band I had been a DJ in clubs and a raver, but in the early 90s I got sick [with ME] and just didn’t have the energy for music. After I came out of hospital, I wanted to take it one song at a time. Can’t Be Sure by the Sundays was the only song I wanted to hear. Then I went on to Felt, and Victorialand by Cocteau Twins. Because I was lying down resting, music felt like a meal or intravenous drip.

Is there a specific reason why most of the names of the characters in your songs start with a J – Jill Pole, String Bean Jean, Judy and the Dream of

Horses and so on?OSW111

I hadn’t noticed! I would imagine it was a phonetic thing or musical tic, but when the band started, my girlfriend was called Joanne and she was the inspiration for some of the songs. So maybe all the Judys and Jills were Joanne in disguise. String Bean Jean is literally Joanne.

How much of an influence was Nick Drake’s Hazey Jane II on your songwriting and sound?VerulamiumParkRanger

I had Nick Drake’s River Song or something on a compilation and liked it, but I didn’t love it. The big blueprint for Belle and Sebastian was Love’s Forever Changes. After our second record came out, everyone started talking about Nick Drake, especially Bryter Later, and I came to grudgingly admit that it was great.

What’s the meaning of The Blues are Still Blue and what does the launderette in the song have to do with it?

TheFundees

Songs tumble out like dreams – you can’t control where they’re going, but they’re a snapshot of what you’re thinking. That song is about the way things never seem to work out like they’re meant to and you’re still gonna be a little sad, but there’s definitely a launderette theme running through my life. I’m writing an autobiographical novel and three chapters are launderette