Just A Girl
Written by Sarah Blackwood, Steve Hillier & Chris Wilkie
Date Written April 1984 & March 1994
Place Written Welling, London, Jesmond & Benton, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Released When October 1995
Originally Sung By Sarah Blackwood
Features Roland S-760, Yamaha TX81z, Korg Mono/Poly
Spotify Link
“I’m a person who thinks, but you hope I’ll forget if you ply me with drink”Just A Girl is a combination of a melody and chord sequence I’d written for my O’Level music exam and a poem from Sarah’s poetry book, some ten years between them. It works superbly, a defining Dubstar moment. Just A Girl was pivotal for us, the song where it was obvious that Dubstar wasn’t just another pop act, but something more considered. More intelligent maybe? The journalists loved it, so did the fans, and coming after Anywhere on Disgraceful, it was one of those nice moments when you discover an act can do something else, they’re not just about the singles.
I’m particularly proud of the arrangement. Of all the early Dubstar recordings, I think it’s Just A Girl that exhibits my passion for the Cocteau Twins most obviously. Some have pointed out that it bears more than a passing resemblance to ‘Monochrome’ by Lush. Purely accidental of course, although both Chris and I adored their Mad Love EP (and are friendly with Emma Anderson. I produced an early version of Lush’s comeback single Out of Control). I enjoy the fact that this song feels almost perfectly ‘of its time’, it’s a reflection of the music and acts on 4AD that Chris and I had obsessed over.
For some reason I thought it would be a clever to include funk breakbeat samples in a song written in 6/8. You can hear them most clearly at the end during the fade out. Daft really, but it was the 90s so I’m forgiven.
When I was playing Just A Girl on the piano last night, I realised that of all the Dubstar songs, this one is the defining moment for Sarah as a personality. It struck me as I was working out what to play that this is not the kind of melody I write, these are not my words…sure, the synth parts and the semi-chromatic chord sequence came from me, but ultimately this song is Sarah’s. I don’t think it would work if it wasn’t for her topline, it would be too ornate, even retro sounding. Another happy accident from 1994.
INSIDE OUTLINES, the first collection of solo piano pieces by Stephen Hillier is out now: