Meet
Tony Hadley, the former lead singer of the British band 'Spandau Ballet'.
In their day, 'Spandau Ballet' were amongst the most successful performers
of the 'New Romantics' style. As a singer, Tony's talents have been
recognized for many years. But his songwriting skills have only been
demonstrated fairly recently, as he decided to become a solo artist.
Today's song, simply called She,
comes from Tony's first solo album 'Tony Hadley'.
Tony,
why did you decide to write your own lyrics?
Being the songwriter, you know exactly what the subject's about.
Sometimes, when it's other people's lyrics, you have to make
up your own stories. In the song, 'she' is obviously someone you admire. But
who exactly is 'she'?
She is my daughter, Toni. Toni with an 'i'. I'm Tony with a 'y',
she's Toni with an 'i'. She's growing up so fast! I don't know,
if you're a dad it kind of... Girls, they're always like... they
are absolutely sort of beautiful and, I don't know, kind of pristine. 'Pristine', 'heaven', 'soul'... You're using many words
to do with spirituality and religion in this song. Why's that, Tony?
I actually went to a Church of England's school. It was a fantastic
school. But it's quite a religious school. I mean, we weren't kind
of bamboozled
with religion all the time.
But we had a couple, you know, two or three nuns who were there
and everything... Yet, this doesn't quite explain why you choose to use these
words when singing about a child...
When they're born, I think, children, especially, they're so beautifully
innocent. And that kind of justifies mankind - or womankind, if
you like. Your daughter is very lucky to have such an admiring dad!
She doesn't have to do very much and she's got me twisted
'round her little finger. You know, I think all girls
are like that with their dads.
Did
you get all that? Well, here's a chance for you to check if you know
exactly what some of the words and expressions Tony used mean.
1:
If you make
something up, it means...
you find out
what it consists of
you put powder,
mascara and lipstick on your face
you invent
it
2: 'Pristine' is...
a formal word
meaning 'pure', 'extremely clean', 'undamaged'
an informal
word meaning 'respected and admired by people'
a formal word
meaning 'respected and admired by people'
3: If you
bamboozle
someone, you...
invite them
to have a few drinks with you
try to mystify,
confuse or deceive them with lots of information
threaten them
with a bamboo stick
4:
Someone has/gets you twisted around their little finger,
if they...
misquote you,
deliberately change the story you have told them
influence
you in an unexpected, yet significant way
