I think all songs should have weather in them. Names of towns and streets, and they should have a couple of sailors. I think those are just song prerequisites.
When I was a kid and I bought a record, I ripped that thing open, I wanted to know who was playing what, what studio it was cut at, who was the string arranger, who was the engineer.
Take '39 Steps'. When I finished writing it, I counted the number of measures in the composition. I always do this because I am interested in the length of a song. So I counted this one a couple of times because 39 is an unusual number of measures for a song.
I pay such close attention of the record making process that most people would assume are very little and wouldn't be that big of a deal; the packaging, the title, and the harmonies, I think, are arguably as important as the lead vocals.
My UK fans are quite similar to the States but they pay much more attention to the details, that I like. They listen, party, and dance moving through the changing moods of the music with me.
It infuriates me that stuff from the Internet routinely doesn't include all the credits. Because as soon as I listen to something, if I like it, I want to know, "Who's the bass player?" "Who did that?" "Who's the engineer on this?
I love making records. That's my favorite part of the whole process. And I love playing live, but certainly getting the music on a disc that's going to live forever and be there forever, just every little detail drives me crazy.
It's great when you can just focus your whole attention on the music and hear all of the decisions and choices that were made.
