. . . Continued

POP:  What was it like growing up in Hull?

PDH:  I didn’t really grow up there. My friend Kevin here can tell you exactly what it was like growing up in Hull. We’ve known each other since I was 14 years old. It was about that time I finally ended up in Hull. Growing up was a strange thing. When I was 16, I had lived in 26 different houses.

POP:  Why did you move so often?

PDH:  It was my father’s work. He was in the roof industry. We were a working class family that tried to become middle class. The first time we moved, I was five years old. Then we moved around in Liverpool, Sheffield, and London before we finally ended up in Hull. It was in those days when people looked at their neighbours’ hedges and lawns. If the neighbour cut his hedge, we had to do it too.

That’s probably why I’ve become quite a good songwriter. I’ve experienced all these phases. I’ve experienced change. Just ask Kevin. I know a lot of things about people. I may not know a lot about history or geography, but I know people. I know how to handle them, know their motives.

POP:  Do you have any brothers or sisters?

PDH:  We’re three brothers. One ended up a construction worker, one became a truck driver and one became a pop musician.

Ooh, you care, you really care
From the first 12" I made
to the colour of my underwear

You’re my friends, my only real friends
But I’d like to know where you’ll be
when the party ends.
I remember your face, the dance was slow
"Easy" by The Commodores, and you said ‘no’

("Love Is" The Beautiful South, 1989)

POP:  When you listen to The beautiful South you notice a theme. A number of songs such as "Straight in At 37" sound like an attempt to break down the rock’n’roll myth. You seem to genuinely hate it.

PDH:  Pop exists as one form of music and rock exists as one form.  Everything else is a myth. People in rock bands seem to carry around a lot of luggage stepping in to this world. They come here loaded with image. They’ve got their bags full of dreams of fame. A friend of mine said "Try to step into the lists naked instead". That’s what I’ve been trying to do.

Going through it all once with The Housemartins made it easier for me to do well without luggage starting The Beautiful South. I know exactly what this life is about. I know I may not be a star anymore in two years, maybe not even next year. I’m mature enough to realise that there will come a day when I fail. All the young bands seem to think that it lasts forever. Just look at the way the British press treats them.

POP:  According to the traditional rock’n’roll myth, you’re supposed to be 19 all your life. Instead, you have tried to write songs like a grown-up person. Someone is ageing.

PDH:  I want to write songs about people. Not about stereotypes. I’m not interested in teenybop. My goal for the future is to try to write straighter and simpler. To write about love, unhappy or happy, the way I experience it. 

There’s no more little secrets
we haven’t yet disclosed
We bore the living daylights of anyone too close
And all our cards at Christmas
are written to us both
Count them up, who’s got the most?

("We Are Each Other" 1992)

There’s something very English about "forever"
"Hugs and kisses" are English too
"Forever and a day" has to be American
But "hold me close" is me and you
"hold me close" is me and you

("Hold Me Close" 1994)

The Beautiful South is a special band with a special setting. Three musicians and three singers. The hub of the band is Paul Heaton and David Rotheray who write all the songs togehter. Heaton/Rotheray is not just the best songwriting team since Morrisey/Marr. Heaton/Rotheray is also the most succeasful British songwriters since Lennon/McCartney.

The first is a very personal opinion, the second is a statistical fact. Paul Heaton is also one of the few British pop singers that can really sing.  He is not hissing with attitude, he sings. The Housemartins aways ended their concerts with a cappella versions of soul songs like Luther Ingram’s "I’ll Be Your Shelter," Curtis Mayfield’s "People Get Ready," or Isley Jasper Isley’s "Caravan of Love".

Despite his blessed voice, Paul Heaton only sings about one third of The Beautiful South’s songs. The rest he gives to Jaqueline Abbott and Dave Hemingway.

Jaqueline Abbott has been a memeber of the band since 1994 and the album "Miaow". She replaced Briana Corrigan who did not appreciate Paul’s worst cynicisms. Abbott does not seem to have any problems with that. She sings "Don’t Marry Her (Fuck Me)" on the new album like a Patsy Cline descended into a Mike Leigh film.

Dave Hemingway has been hanging around ever since he played the drums in the second version of The Housemartins.  He replaced the original drummer Hugh Whittaker, but he soon realised that he was better as a singer. Paul Heaton’s and Dave Hemingway’s voices sound very much alike, even if Hemingway’s is actually clearer and purer, which is used elegantly in the choruses.

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