TB: So, the process of songwriting for you is a process of discovery?
CM: Yeah. You don't know specifically what it's going to be about, but when you pick the bones, you can say, "Oh yes, I see where this is going," and then you know why it came about.
TB: Once you've found that direction, are you saying you can then guide it to completion?
CM: You could guide it to finish it off, I suppose. I know what you're saying. But I don't like to manhandle it that way. Sometimes I'll just say, "Well, it's not finished at the moment. I daresay the subconscious will buck its ideas up and we'll finish it off when these missing words spring forward." Otherwise, it takes on a different flavor to what's already gone down. It usually ends up too literal if you try to finish it off with what you think, you know? I prefer when it's slightly ambiguous, and that ambiguous stuff really springs from the subconscious.
TB: And the kind of ambiguity you're talking about can help provide some depth to the lyrics, I would think.
CM: They're always more thoughtful when they don't come from your sense of reasoning. I've come to accept that now. I didn't use to accept that -- I thought you could surely write a song without having to wait for divine intervention, you know. But I've done that, and the songs haven't been as good. I much prefer to kind of wait until it's flowing and strike while the iron's hot.
TB: So, you found this circular guitar riff, and it made you think of Toytown...
CM: And I was in the landscape. A bit like "Sacrificial Bonfire" -- I'm describing a landscape, and I'm in there, along with the missus. She used to have a job at a printer's, actually. I would meet her for lunch. We'd go to the pub, and perhaps go to the park bench and have a bit of a funny five minutes, you know [laughs].
TB: [laughing] Make each other late for work.
CM: That kind of thing, yeah. The whole thing about being "late for 1:30" is etched on my mind, I think. At school, you know -- you knew you had to be back at school for 1:30, and when you didn't make it, you'd think, "Let's play hooky -- let's not go back." That feeling of fear that makes your balls go tight. [laughs]
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