Telling Stories by Tim Burgess

Author:Tim Burgess [Burgess, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Music, History & Criticism, Entertainment & Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780241957981
Google: YO1Bap-dJ1gC
Publisher: Penguin Books Limited
Published: 2012-04-26T21:24:05+00:00

6. 2–0 to Music

Throughout my time with The Charlatans I have always had a girlfriend, and for twelve years a wife. I never saw the music as a fleeting thing, so I never saw the need to go round grabbing what I could – some people see their time in the business as a kind of sex ’n’ drugs trolley dash, doing as much as they can before it comes to an end. I was in it for the long haul.

And anyway, I’m a terrible liar! My face goes red when I’m not telling the truth. But that’s not to say I would do any of that sort of thing even if I was an accomplished fibber – I just wasn’t built for it. I won’t deny that I have had some sexual encounters with friends who made it available to me with no strings attached when I was girlfriendless and at a loose end. After all, what are friends for? With friends who offer you casual sex, at least you know where you stand.

But I have always been sensitive to heartbreak and the feelings associated with a broken heart, and I wouldn’t want to do to someone what I couldn’t handle being done to me. I can’t imagine a lonelier feeling than watching a person whose name you can’t recall awkwardly leaving your hotel room. And the thought of someone using musical achievement (or actually no achievement at all!) as a means to some kind of conquest really turns me off.

I always wanted to be in love, and enjoyed nothing more than the experience of falling in love; the idea of losing that for the immediate gratification provided by a post-gig encounter was just unthinkable. (My first tutoring in the world of rock ’n’ roll came from the school of Crass and, in particular, their album Penis Envy, which carried the message that women were to be respected, not sex objects to be exploited. The album was sung, written and performed by women and a boy named Penny.)

Some people do join a band to improve their sex life – girls can’t resist a narcissistic frontman, all ego, sweat and leather trousers, with whom to pursue their rock ’n’ roll fantasies. I was too in love with the idea of love and being in love. Like when Groucho Marx proclaimed that he wouldn’t want to be a member of any club that would have him, I wouldn’t want to be the crush or sexual fantasy of anyone who would throw themselves at the singer in a band.

Not that I didn’t run into trouble sometimes. Customs in Japan for example can be a little confusing. On one occasion I was led to my room by a girl who I presumed worked for the promoter or our label. She escorted me to the door, and I naively thought she was coming in for some kind of tea ritual or maybe a late-night shoulder massage. Nope. She whipped off her clothes and jumped under the covers.

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