Dubstar: BROWNMOUTH aka IT'S CLEAR

Brownmouth is the last song that we recorded in my front room in Jesmond with me singing. Shortly after this recording was made I met Sarah for the first time in the Barley Mow pub in Newcastle and the story of The Joans became the story of Dubstar.

This song, like Wearchest before it, was written and recorded specifically for an appearance on the radio. It was a big deal, we’d managed to get a prime time interview with Metro FM legend Nicky Brown (as was usual around this time I’d blagged this for us because I knew Nicky’s producer Jim Brown).

Unfortunately I don’t have recording of our interview but I can’t believe we actually told him the song was named Brownmouth in his honour.

Metro FM lineup from 1989, but which one’s Nicky? Clue: who does your eye linger on most in this pic…?

So how did Brownmouth end up on Goodbye as It’s Clear? As I’ve mentioned before, Goodbye was essentially a second pressing from the repertoire we had as The Joans plus a few new songs I’d written specially. Consequently we recorded a demo of Brownmouth with Sarah singing at Jacob’s studio in Surrey, and as everything we put forward for the second Dubstar album was released, it ended up on the album.

I’m not sure it should be on the album though, it’s very clearly a song from a different time with a mood that jars significantly between My Start In Wallsend and Ghost. But in this age of playlists and streaming you can skip right over it, so it’s no longer problem.

A couple of thoughts: I’m struck by how strongly my accent comes over in this recording, I have a feeling I might have been putting it on a little. It was clear (!) to me that when we came to record it with Sarah the lyric would have be adjusted for her accent. Plain sounds fine when the ‘a’ sound is stressed and open, like we do in the South. But with Sarah’s West Yorkshire accent the word sounds quite different, the ‘a’ becomes more like a longer version of the Swedish ‘ä’ and sounds like ‘air’ rather than ‘ay’. If you try it you’ll find a whole world of Northern England accents open up to you.

So I reworked the lyric and renamed the song. And inevitably I prefer Brownmouth, no act other than Dubstar can have song entitled Brownmouth.

And of all the piano versions of the Dubstar songs I recorded for Lost & Foundland, It’s Clear has a special place in my heart. I think this version throws a different light on an old friend, I love it.

This article includes excerpts from DUBSTAR.COM. Want more? You can find the story behind every Dubstar song ever recorded including dozens of unreleased songs right here at Dubstar.com

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