| In a way, it's a kind of a red herring; it does and it doesn't fit. It fits in my own theology, because I would see Curtis as a prophet, really, and I'm very fascinated with the prophets and with the books of the prophets, and with the idea of how these books were written thousands of years ago but really apply to nowadays, you know, but I think that Curtis was similar, had similar blood in him, in that he was writing about things that were going on in his time, but actually they apply, probably more so, now in our time. To me, there are links between this war that's going on and the escalation of violence among teenagers, you know. You can say that people like George Bush or Tony Blair, that they're father figures, they're the father figures of their nations, and they condone the use of violence as a way of sorting things. Of course, that's what the children are going to do, you know? So to me, that's partly why I included that song also, because, you know, it's a call to be more than society says you can be. And so for me also, on a personal level, why I did that song was really to talk to myself about my own sense of unworthiness of making a record like this, or my own sense of feeling useless, or feeling that...I identify also with the racism thing because I feel that the prejudice about famous people is a similar thing, particularly the Sinéad O'Connor thing, you know, that I've been dealing, you know, with a lot of prejudice about who I am or what I am or that can really cause a lot of self-esteem problems, as well; it can just make you feel, "Well, what's the point?" kind of thing, so in a way, that song was an encouragement to myself, actually, you know, not to stand around this town and let what others say come true, 'cause I'm not good for nothing. So it's that kind of thing, as well, you know, a kick up one's own arse. |
