Blog: Wednesday Rewind - The Story Of My Life

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Now that almost EVERYTHING we've released (through AAS at least) is available on our bandcamp page i thought it might be nice to have a poke into some of the LESS well known songs (NB yes i realise that there is a pretty microscopic division of FAME between those and our MORE well known songs, but let's not spoil it so soon eh?) in our back catalogue. Listening back to Hibbett's Superstore lately I've been reminded of some rather ACE tracks (i am my own BEST critic) that I'd like more people to hear. THUS we begin with this one:

The Story Of My Life


If you're thinking "This is a bit DYLAN-ESQUE isn't it?" then you are a) POLITE b) CORRECT in your suspicions, as I wrote it just after watching "No Direction Home" and thinking "That looks easy, I'll have a go at that!" I love songs like "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream", not least because it's Bob being DAFT at a time when he was worshipped as Protest Man, Serious Statesman Of ImportantNESS. SIDEBAR: the fact that songs like this were freely available on his proper records makes me AMAZED that people were so STUNNED by his electric stuff a few years later.

So yes, I thought I'd have a go with taking the first idea that came into my head and FOLLOWING it and, as we'd just got back from the tour to promote Regardez, Ecoutez et Repetez, the spelling of my NAME was quite near the top of my BRANE.

All through my career in ROCK people have mispelt my name, with people often going to great lengths to do so - the story about being billed as "Simon Hibbett" is entirely true, for instance. I don't mind so much when it's on gig posters, especially in OLDEN TIMES when you used to book gigs by TELEPHONE (imagine! and a land-line too!) but I do get PEEVED when online reviews do it, ESPECIALLY when it's a cut and paste from a press release where the spelling of my name appears to be the ONLY thing changed or, as happened with that album, when the mispelt version is dwarfed by a large picture of the album cover with it CORRECT.

And with that in mind most of the song just FLOWED out, NICKING chunks as it went from a SECRET THEME TUNE of mine. What? Doesn't everyone have a secret theme tune? I have SEVERAL - "Hibbettanian National Anthem" is a favourite, but this was a simpler ditty called "H.I.B.B.E.T.T." which was PLUNDERED WHOLESALE for the choruses.

Following Bob I decided to let my imagination RUN FREE for the story and thought I'd finished when I got to the final chorus... until I later realised I could tie the whole thing up rather nicely with a GAG, and it's that GAG that makes it for me rather. I know it's INDELICATE to sully oneself with self-praise but I DID reward myself with a good CHORTLE and EXTRA CUPPA when I came up with that bit.

The REASON I sat down to write it is that I'd been asked by Sorted Supremo Dave Dixey to submit a song for his latest compilation CD, which became Hollow Smoke. This was at a time when he'd got RE-ENTHUSED by The Leicester Scene at the time and , as far as i remember, wanted to do something to a) MARK this exciting time and b) LINK it to some of the other acts on the label, hoping to bring the two together and thus RE-IGNITE some interest in the back catalogue.

I don't think it really DID, unfortunately - Leicester is, shall we say, not exactly NOTORIOUS for having great scenes where the bands really stick together (and apparently never HAS been, i wonder why? It's so much lovelier than, say, Nottingham, but never EVER seems to foster its bands properly) and the LAUNCH GIG I went and played would never have been accused of needing more SECURITY. It was a lovely night though - I've just looked it up and remembered playing with an amazingly YOUNG, ADEPT Local Band who were MASSIVELY PROG, and afterwards we went to The Orange Tree for LASTIES. Such things are what ACE gigs are made of!

According to THE DATABASE OF ROCK that was the ONLY time I ever played this song live, not even getting played at the London Launch of the compilation! I'm trying to do as many songs from Hibbett's Superstore as possible during this run of Totally Acoustic, so maybe that'll get changed before Christmas!

posted 3/11/2010 by MJ Hibbett

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