If you choose links we provide, we may receive compensation.
This is quite the concept album.
Can you explain the story behind it?
They actually got a couple of my songs on a TV show within pretty short notice.
And they had a few parameters, which were completely ridiculous.
The lyrics should be like this, but go with your gut.
Hint hint, nudge nudge.
They wanted something totally perfect.
But they kept saying, Go with your gut!
Im not going to say what the shows were, by the way.
Thats a smart idea, albeit a boring one.
It is pretty boring, yeah.
Im being extremely dull.
Better late than never?
What came first, the plots or the songs?
I didnt write a whole show.
I came up with snapshot ideas.
[you could read the plot ideas behind the songs in the PDF linked here.]
I wrote the songs.
Instant, out they came.
That happened every time.
And the plots are on the album instead of lyrics.
It may put a smile on my face, and thats good enough for me.
Is two months an average amount of time for an album for you?
Ive been doing this for years.
And somehow people call me prolific.
Well, Ive always thought as TV show tunes as being brilliantly catchy.
I do not denigrate the art at all.
I think some adverts, jingles, are fantastic.
I really could do without listening to Somebodys Watching Me on the Geico ad.
That is really awful.
I dont need to hear that.
Or John Mellencamps This Is My Country.
There are things that I would really rather not hear over and over again.
So I dont denigrate the art.
But its very strange.
My dark side came out in the plots.
And my more frivolous, fun side came out in the songs.
The song is quite dark.
Its really about loneliness.
So theres a few little jags in there.
Head On Straight is a fun song its about coming out of darkness.They are very bright pop songs.
I think its good to have some dark lyrics in a bright bright pop song.
I think theres a few knives thrown in for good measure.
Its also interesting that you are not American, but almost all of these shows take place in America.
Is television a quintessentially American art form?
Theres one thats like the BBC shows, Its My Party.
Thats the only one where I picked an actor, cause I thought hed be perfect.
But yeah, the rest are American, because I spend my time here.
It was just before the Beatles and the Stones came.
77 Sunset Stripwas one of my great favorites.
So thats what I grew up watching.
And then these English shows came out, which were like the Michael Gambon thing here.
Really grim, existential one-act plays.
Even if they worked, they were not filmed with glamour.
And the English stuff always looked like it was live.
All the sitcoms had this really depressing live feel, like you were watching a play.
A lot of them were very clever.
And American films were in the cinemas.
So that was locked into my system.
America is TV, and TV is America.
We are horrible cultural imperialists.
Yeah.I Love Lucyis in my psyche.
What do you watch now?
Most of the time Im pretty boring.
I think shes brilliant.
Sometimes I watch Fox News if I want a real belly laugh.
But basically Im watching Keith Olbermann.
And thats getting to be a bit like a belly laugh, too.
Its like, Oh, Keith, where are we going here?
The other news isTheDaily ShowandColbert Report.
The best news source!
For real news, BBC America is fantastic, if a little depressing.
Other than that, I watch lots of nature shows, cooking shows.
Now your aesthetic makes sense.
I think thats where these plots came from.
I like that the Somalian pirates wont even take her.
Desperate Horseflesh is what I used to call it.
Do you want to be involved?
Just give me the money.
Do what you like.
But actually, it would be a great deal of fun.
AndIm just writing a blurb now which will go on my website, explaining the album in great detail.
And in parenthesis at one point Ive got, Judd Apatow, call me.
So Im waiting for the call, baby.
More from EW.comsMusic Mix:
The Lonely Island and Julian Casablancas Boombox comes toSNL(finally!)
