'Urbane' track by track - 05_ Brits in exile...

This song was inspired by last year's holiday in Greece. We go to a place called Fiscardo which is a (now) rather poncified fishing village right at the top of the island of Cephalonia. It's a beautiful place - lots of orginal Venetian houses massed around a stunning natural harbour, loads of pine forests spreading over the surrounding hills. The place we stay at is a lovely old three storey house with about 8 rooms, right on the waterfront. There's a big terrace at the rear (from the street) of the building so if you're lucky enough to have one of the middle floor rooms, you can just stroll out through your french doors, glide past a few sozzled bathers crashed out on their sun loungers and dive into the harbour and watch the squadrons of swallows flitting and soaring about above you. We've been there many times and it feels rather like a second home, so I can understand people feeling somewhat proprietorial about the place. But last year there were a group of three senior British folk - two ladies and one gent - there who really did seem to think that they owned the place. They were perfectly nice, but there's just something about some British people when they're on holiday - as if they bring some of our normal weather induced gloom to even the sunniest spots. They'd venture out occasionally but would spend most days getting quietly sozzled on the terrace, a little slice of rainy old home amongst the majesty of the rugged haze of the Ionian Islands. Musically I'm indebted to last year's Marbella Sessions compilation. I don't usually listen to a lot of dance music but this stuff is perfect sun/sea/sand holiday listening - quite transcendental in fact, when consumed with light flickering on water in the daszzling sunshine. There's a cultural debt too - to TOWIE, which is where I probably heard the Marbella stuff in the first place. I love the show - no idea why, I just do. So I suppose lurking behind those old gits on the terrace are the bright young things of Essex, bronzed and eternal, also banging 'em back in the brilliant summer sun.