The inspiration for song writing ⌠hmmm ⌠I think it starts with this capacity to respond to sound, to rhythm, to melodic line, to chordal progressions. And also at the core of it is something about needing to express something. I think that human beings are like sponges for all the externals that are affecting them. Sometimes I get ideas â they just come into my mind and it could be when Iâm waking up or it could be when Iâm the back of a taxi cab â thatâs a very good place to be â why? Or the back of a train â why? Because I think youâre just sitting there and thereâs a moving landscape around you where youâre able to be introspective, almost going into the dream world, but not quite. Iâm checking out of the logical world and Iâm moving into another kind of consciousness.
âSweet dreams are made of this â Who am I to disagree? Travel the world and the seven seas âŚâ
If you look at the video for âSweet Dreamsâ which was all completely Daveâs â totally his conception â which is, I think, personally I think itâs brilliant. We put ourselves in the core of the music industry. We were in a board meeting room, with a table and chairs all around and the gold discs on the wall. We were just on the cusp of explosion in a way into the international arena of fame.
I donât know how well we knew that at the time, but certainly thatâs where we were poised. There are all kinds of sub-texts, when you look at âSweet Dreamsâ, what it refers to and the planet and the natural world and taking the cow and having this creature juxtaposed within this ⌠on the one hand itâs like nature and on the other hand itâs industry and the other hand itâs entertainment. âSweet Dreamsâ is like a mantra. âSweet Dreamsâ is not really like a normal song. Itâs a statement about humanity and the human condition and itâs just saying weâre all in this dilemma, weâre born and we exist and we have our motivation which will take you here or it will take you there and everybodyâs looking for something. That is a truth. Itâs something that will last for ever.
âTravel the world and the seven seas. Everybodyâs looking for something âŚâ
I was trying to figure out, you know, as a performer and as part of a duo with a man â with Dave Stewart â I was trying to figure out how do I present myself? Who are we? And we were very inspired by Gilbert and George â amazing performance artists at the time. I loved the sense that when I stepped on stage there was an ambiguity - can I say about my gender or my sexuality â Iâm not sure â but itâs very easy to say âAh, she must be gayâ. But Iâm not gay and that was interesting to me because Iâm wearing a manâs suit it doesnât mean Iâm gay. Iâm using this form of clothing to assert myself and to be as good as a man and to sort of neuter down the passivity of my own gender.
I never intended to have an archive, but it started really in the 70s with the tours. We were doing gigs and we were travelling and people were writing some horrific reviews and some great reviews and weâd be in the papers. And I would cut out these little cut outs and stick them in a scrapbook, really just as a keepsake. An archive really is a retrospective â I think thatâs whatâs lovely because all through my life Iâve always been onto the next, so just to have the opportunity to take stock and have it held in a space that people can come to and see the accumulation of all these things in one space is almost like a big breath for me. Itâs like I can look back and go âThatâs part of the essence â part of my lifeâ. And I can share it with people and thatâs quite a unique thing.
