SUEDE

Sitting here nearly 20 years after it was made, what do I feel about this flawed, strange butsometimes beautiful album? Even though it failed to capture the visceral scream of those earlygigs I think it’s quite an honest picture of what the band was like at the time; restless, angular,ambitious, drunk on the arrogance of youth. The sweet lunacy that convinced us that putting‘Animal Lover’ and ‘Moving’ on the album rather than ‘My Insatiable One’ and ‘To The Birds’was coursing thru our veins … but it was a different time I suppose and there were these thingscalled b-sides which for some reason really mattered to us.

This really was a band that could do anything, we were going to write our page in letters 20 feethigh and this was our moment. It’s hard to explain how special and unique it felt being in TheLondon Suede at that time. There was no scene to be part of and no gang to belong to except ourown. It felt like we were writing on a clean, blank, fresh page; slowly carving the line that wouldeventually define the decade.

So what do I remember about making it? Well, I remember sitting one dark afternoon withBernard in his flat in West Hampstead writing ‘She’s Not Dead’. I remember the almost chemicalrush when I put down the vocal to ‘Animal Nitrate’ in the vocal booth at Master Rock. Iremember thinking it would be funny if no one could really understand what I was singing on theopening lines of the album. I remember the frisson of pleasure when Bernard came over to myflat in Notting Hill and played ‘The Next Life’ to me on my ancient pre-war piano. I rememberhearing with elated disbelief the monitor mix of ‘Breakdown’. I remember sitting with endlesscups of tea cooling to ‘Pantomime Horse’s fragile, elegiac intro. I remember watching the suncome up over west London as me and my friend rewound the rough mix cassette of ‘So Young’just one more time. I remember waking up with the bruises of last night’s gig on my legs andjumping on the bus to Kilburn with sharpened pencils and holes in my shoes and a feeling like that day could be the day that we made magic.

And now the rush has past, the dust has settled and we’re left with this; the album where it all began. This was our music, this was our lives; flawed, strange but sometimes beautiful.

Brett Anderson, 14th January 2011

ALTERNATE ‘SUEDE’

Listening back to all this stuff makes me want to re-write history. If I could do it all again I’d do it slightly differently.

So Young The DrownersAnimal Nitrate Metal MickeyShe’s Not Dead Sleeping PillsMy Insatiable One BreakdownPantomime Horse To The Birds

The Next Life

SUEDE NUDE 1 CD, 29 March 1993

The London Suede: Guitars and piano – Bernard Butler Singing – Brett Anderson Electric bass – Mat Osman Drums – Simon Gilbert

Phil Overhead – percussion Simon Clarke – baritone and tenor saxophones Ed Buller – keyboards and synthesizer Trevor Burley – cello Lynne Baker – viola Caroline Barnes – violin Shelly Van Loen – violin String arrangement on “Sleeping Pills” – John Buller Session co-ordinated by Suzanne Bramson

Produced and engineered by Ed Buller at Master Rock Studios Assisted by Gary Stout

Photography – Tee Corinne Portraits – Pennie Smith and Pat Pope Original sleeve design by Peter Barrett and Andrew Biscomb

All songs written by Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler(Universal Music Publishing Ltd/Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd)

SO YOUNG 3.38

Because we’re young, because we’re goneWe’ll take the tide’s electric mind, oh yeah?, oh yeah

We’re so young and so gone, let’s chase the dragon, oh

Because we’re young, because we’re goneWe’ll scare the skies with tigers eyes, oh yeah? oh yeah

We’re so young and so gone, let’s chase the dragon, ohLet’s chase the dragon...

...from our home high in the city where the skylinestained the snow, I fell for a servant who kept me on the boil

We’re so young and so gone, let’s chase the dragon from our home!

ANIMAL NITRATE 3.26

Like his dad you know that he’s hadAnimal nitrate in mindOh in your council home he jumped on your bonesNow you’re taking it time after time

Oh it turns you on, on, now he has goneOh what turns you on now your animal’s gone?

Well he said he’d show you his bedAnd the delights of the chemical smileSo in your broken home he broke all your bonesNow you’re taking it time after time

What does it take to turn you on, onNow he has gone?Now you’re over 21?Now your animal’s gone?...animal, he was animal, an animal

SHE’S NOT DEAD 4.33

She’ll come to her end locked in a car somewhere with exhaust in her hairWhat’s she called? I dunno, she’s fucking with a slip of a man while the engine ran

And he said “She’s not dead, she’s gone away, gone away” he saidHe said “She’s not dead, just go away go away” he said

In the car he couldn’t afford they found his made up name on her ankle chainSo don’t call, don’t call her at home, she’s fucking with a slip of a man while the engine ran

And he said “She’s not dead, she’s gone away gone away” he saidHe said “She’s not dead, she’s gone away, gone away” he said “Just gone away, gone away,” he said

She’s gone away to someone else’s bed

MOVING 2.50

Shame on me well I had the beast you seeAnd if he can take it I can take him home with meShame on her she’s a lovely little numberAnd when we go lassoing you get lassoed, all of youIf you can take it, I can take it

And we’re moving, so moving, so we are a boy, we are a girlSo moving, so moving...

Shame on the girl, she’s got a big black dog in herAnd while tough kids sing about tough kids she just skins the world

We’ll never never play the harp, and we’ll stick like sick on the starsAnd if you can take it I can take these stones from my heart

If you can take it, I can take it

If you can take it, I can take it, all of meIf you can take it, I can take it all

PANTOMIME HORSE 5.50

I was born as a pantomime horseUgly as the sun when he falls to the floorI was cut from the wreckage one dayThis is what I get for being that way

Well did you ever, did you ever go round with them?Well did you ever, did you ever go round the bend?

I was conned by a circus handTragic as the son of a superman“I would die for the stars” she saidThis is what I get for my beautiful head

...ever tried it that way, have you ever tried it that way?

THE DROWNERS 4.10

Won’t someone give me a gun?Oh, well it’s for my brotherWell he writes the line wrote down my spineIt says “Oh do you believe in love there?”

So slow down, so slow down, you’re taking me overAnd so we drown, Sir we drown, stop taking me over

Won’t someone give me more fun?(and as the skin flies all around us)We kiss in his room to a popular tuneOh, real drowners

METAL MICKEY 3.27

Well she’s show showing it off thenThe glitter in her lovely eyesShow-show-showing it off thenAnd all the people shake their money in time

She sells heart, she sells meatOh dad, she’s driving me mad, come see

We shake-shake-shake to the trumpetAnd through the slippery city we rideSkyline swine on the circuitWhere all the people shake their money in time

SLEEPING PILLS 3.50

Angel, don’t take those sleeping pills, you don’t need themThough it’s just time they killAngel, give me your sleeping pills, you don’t need themGive me the time they kill

You’re a water sign, I’m an air signGone gone to Valium, can you get me some?

You’re a water sign, and I’m an air signToo Siamese to catch the leaves from those trees

Angel, don’t take those sleeping pills, you don’t need themThough it’s just time they kill

You’re a water sign, I’m an air signPumped up with Valium, could you get me some?You’re a water sign, I’m an air signWith sweet F.A. to do today, with sweet F.A. to do today...

...Angel, don’t take those sleeping pills

BREAKDOWN 6.02

Back where the dogs bark, where still life bleeds the concrete white, try not to go too far inside your mindBack where the cars decide, where the lame star limps an endless mile, have I gone too far inside my mind?

Oh, if you were the one would I even notice now my mind has gone?Oh, if you were the one, would I even notice?

Back where the car was parked where the canine in the A-line stole your timeyou can only go so far for womankind

Does your love only come does your love only come does he only come in a Volvo?

ANIMAL LOVER 4.17

I see you’re moving, see you’re moving, moving in with herYou’ll pierce your right ear, pierce your heart here, this skinny boy is one of the girls‘Cos around my neck and around her neck hangs everything you areI know you’ve been inside but what were you in for?

Animal lover, animal lover, animal lover?

I see you’re moving, see you’re moving like wildlife from the waistBut when your name’s scratched in on a shiny ring your waist is my resting placeAnd around my neck and around her neck hangs everything you areI know you’ve been inside but what were you in for?

THE NEXT LIFE 3.32

See you in your next life when we’ll fly away for goodStars in our own car we can drive away from here

Far away, so far away, down to Worthing and work thereFar away, we’ll go far away and flog ice creams ‘til the company’s on its knees...

...see you in your next life when we’ll fly away for good

DEMOS

THE DROWNERS [Rocking Horse demo] 3.57

METAL MICKEY [Island demo] 2.36

PANTOMIME HORSE [Island demo] 5.37

HE’S DEAD [Rocking Horse demo] 4.09

MOVING [Rocking Horse demo] 2.59

TO THE BIRDS [Rocking Horse demo] 5.16

SLEEPING PILLS [East West demo] 3.57

THE B-SIDES

MY INSATIABLE ONE 2.57 Originally released as a b-side of “The Drowners”

In the high life, I’ve got this feeling nowI’ve got this horrible feelingOn the escalator they took it out on himAs the ridiculous world went by

Oh, he is goneHe’s my insatiable one...

On the high wire, dressed in a leotardThere wobbles one hell of a retardOn the escalator we shit paracetamolAs the ridiculous world goes by

Oh, he is goneHe’s my insatiable oneAnd he was my inflatable one...

TO THE BIRDS 5.23 Originally released as a b-side of “The Drowners”

Don’t take your life, ‘cos your bicycle won’t flyYou could be going to heaven tonightDon’t spoil the show for the love of some albinoYou won’t be going to heaven alone

I see her by the window waiting every nightSo I wouldn’t give a shit if my bicycle’s in bitsI think I’m going to heaven on it

I see her by the window pour the poison for youI’ll go there through the window in my sixteen-hole bootsAnd I’ll sing to the birds here at my sideAnd I’ll sing to the birds who will save my life

Don’t take your life ‘cos your bicycle won’t flyYou could be going to heaven tonightAnd I wouldn’t give a shit if your bicycle’s in bitsI think I’m going to heaven on it

I see her by the window, and I see there’s a dayWe’ll walk out through the trafficAnd pour the poison awaySo I’ll sing to the birds here at my sideAnd I’ll sing to the birds who will save my life

I will lie down for her

HE’S DEAD 5.11 Originally released as a b-side of “Metal Mickey”

I wake up every day, but I don’t want it that wayTake my thoughts to the roundabout‘Cos me and them, we like to get out

Oh, what you do in your headYou do in your headOh, if he is dead

He said he had a horrible houseI looked in and learned to shut my mouthHe said I had the look of a sonWith all the love and poison of London

Oh, I’ll watch you do in your headYou’ll do in your headOh, if he is dead

WHERE THE PIGS DON’T FLY 5.33 Originally released as a b-side of “Metal Mickey”

Out in the sticks, out in the stickinessThey’re chasing round in stolen ice cream vansThey’re sparking up with someone, ohThey’re covering their jumpers in roses, oh

Where the pigs don’t fly, oh...

Out over there, out in the sticky wire fireYour royal stickiness, your highnessI’ve heard there’s someone saying “I do”And banging out an old piano tune

Where the pigs don’t fly, I doWhere the pigs don’t fly, I do

I do

PAINTED PEOPLE 2.48 Originally released as a b-side of “Animal Nitrate”

Painted people get you goingand I’ll smother that pig in a holy sceneIt ain’t too hard to seeThe paint, my lovegets you going like you wanna begot for the next world sceneIt ain’t too hard to sing

The pills taken everythingThe pills you’re takingThe pills taken everythingIt’s in your skinIt’s in my skin

Painted people get you goingand I’ll smother that pig in a holy sceneIt ain’t too hard to seeYeah well I can striptease with you like asilly old cow in a touching dreamIt ain’t too hard to see

THE BIG TIME 4.25 Originally released as a b-side of “Animal Nitrate”

I watch the slow hand kill the dayI see my starring role tick awayI watch the skyline for him to comeAnd when he comes along, we’ll be gone...

...And we’ll go into the city, into the lightWe’ll be there in the headlines, there overnight‘Cos this is the big time, this is the wayNow he’s in the big time, he’ll show you the way

This is the big time, this is the wayNow he’s in the big time...And you’re in the way

HIGH RISING 5.55 Originally released as a b-side of “So Young”

You’ll hide among the covers and wave as the aeroplanes go byThere’s nothing to say when you sleep all day, but “bye-bye”

Your mind will find another, and that’s where the days have goneAnd all you can hear is a stereo somewhere playing a pig-of-a-song

And you’ll know her, know her, when she comesWhen you turn the light out, light out, she’ll come

She called you from across the city, you hired a car to crawlBut with the high rise still in your eyes you wonder who’s out there at all

Stop making me older, start making me new

DOLLY 2.42Originally released as a b-side of “So Young”

See my dolly she’s over there, see her grooving on downDressed in thought she is real yeah, her real hair is what countsTaught my baby the alphabet, ABC don’t let you downDressed in thought we are set in jet, the jet set messed us around

I’m so so downAre you never coming round?So so downAre you never coming round?

See my dolly on three wheels yeah, see her grooving on downDressed in thought she is real yeah, her real hair is what countsBought my baby an ambulance, driving her mad around townShe’ll take the hand of a lucky man, in dogshit land

We’re so so downAre you never coming round?So so downAre you never coming round?

All songs written by Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler (Universal Music Publishing Ltd/Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd)

EXTRA TRACKS

MY INSATIABLE ONE [piano version] Originally released as a b-side of “The Drowners” 2.45

BRASS IN POCKET Originally released on “Ruby Trax - The NME’s Roaring Forty” 3.39

DIESEL [instrumental] [previously unreleased studio outtake] 3.54

STARS ON 45 [previously unreleased rehearsal room recording] 2.29

JUST A GIRL [early demo, featuring Justine Frischmann] 2.59

Just a girl North of England way Came to me one sweet December dayIs your heart, dear as cold as your room?And I told her several times that I didn’t like her tunes Come to me softly, come to me sweetAre we so pale because we don’t eat meat?Are your arms, dear, as warm as mine?Things could have been so different if we’d only had more timeAnd as I turn the page of my favourite book‘Sweet Gene Vincent ‘ was never that goodCan you see dear as clear as meThat ash-tray eyes and boot-lace ties won’t ever set you free

Just a girl North of England waySang to me on the darkest dayIs your heart, dear as cold as your room?And I told her several times that I didn’t like her tunesSing to me softly, sing to me sweet,Your grin so wicked and your dress so neatWere your clothes, dear as cheap as mine?Thing could have been so different if you’d only had more wineAnd you’ll probably never hear these lines Although I’ve meant to say them so many timesCan you see, dear the way that I do For times like these you must agree it’s really up to you

SLEEPING PILLS [strings] 1.16

All songs written by Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler (Universal Music Publishing Ltd/Kobalt MusicPublishing Ltd), except “Diesel” by Bernard Butler (Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd). “Brass In Pocket”written by Chrissie Hynde and James Honeyman Scott (EMI Music Publishing Ltd).

Project co-ordination – Val Jennings, Brett Anderson, Vanessa SandersPhysical package – Jools at ED&P LtdMastering – Chris Potter assisted by Phil Vernolt at Electric MasteringPhotos – John Cheves, Phillip WilliamsSpecial thanks – Bernard Butler, Simon Gilbert, Alan Fisher, Ian Grenfell, Didz Hammond, Dave Akerman

DELUXE EDITIONS ON THE EDSEL LABEL: SuedeDog Man StarComing UpHead MusicA New Morning

www.suede.co.uk

Visit www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk for the Edsel catalogue and the many other fine labels that make up the Demon Music Group.