It’s an absolutely beautiful album.
One that few artists would try and
even fewer could pull off.
Mike Scott’s love of poetry is ap-
parent through the band’s history.
The poetry and music of Patti Smith
inspired one of the band’s most
popular songs, “A Girl Called John-
ny” from their debut album. Mike
Scott explained the origin of the
song in an interview with New Jer-
sey Stage. “She had a song on her
first album called ‘Redondo Beach’
and I used to be such a Patti Smith
fan. I had all her bootlegs. I had re-
cordings of all her radio broadcasts
in the States and I had one record-
ing from WBAI in New York - Live
at the Free Music Store and she
sang that song before it had ever
come out. It had a verse she must
have scrapped by the time she
released it on her record. It men-
tioned a girl named Johnny. And
I’m afraid I was still young enough
that I would steal things from other
people’s songs. And I stole that
and turned it into a song kind of in
Watch a video for “A Girl Called Johnny” by The Waterboys
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 62
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