The writing and recording of a classic

How we wrote ‘It’s Hard To Get Up (When You’re Bringing Me Down)’ - By Harley Taylor

In many ways this was one of the easiest songs that we wrote for the album and it was an obvious choice for the first single as well. Antonio had suggested that we write a straightforward slab of power-pop-punk. I already had the chords and melody for a tune that I’d provisionally titled ‘Talknaboutlove.’ A couple of days before we were booked into Weller Towers [Unbreakable Records studio], I’d been standing in the queue at the checkout at the supermarket and a man behind me was on his phone. I don’t know who he was talking to, but he was getting increasingly annoyed, and finally uttered the immortal words: ‘It’s alright for you, but it’s hard for me to get up when you keep bringing me down.’ That registered in my sub-conscious and I started re-working the scraps of lyrics that I’d already written to transform them into a whine-fest of frustration. 

The ’original’ song only had four chords in it, but as soon as Antonio got hold of it, he added some brilliant additional jarring chords that made the song darker and angrier. Then he had a stroke of genius. ‘This song needs some weird backing vocals,’ he said. ‘All well and good, Ant, me old mucker,’ I said. ‘But where are we going to find a weird backing vocalist?’

Well. I brooded a bit and then had a wheeze. At Weller Towers there’s a resident artist, the well-known ceramasist [Yes – that is an actual word] Miche Follano. ‘Right,’ I told my guitar-wielding comrade. ‘Let’s get Miche up here to do the backing vocals. She’s probably just knitting a slipper or something.’

So we dragged the Miche from her studio and into ours. ‘Your weird,’ I told her. She didn’t demur. Antonio did a quick arrangement, based on Mily Balakirev’s ‘Song Of The Volga Boatmen.’ I have to admit that the lad Moretti has superb if eclectic taste in music. Miche was happy to get on the mic, and those are her dulcet tones you can hear on the finished version of ‘It’s Hard To Get Up.’ ‘The Chorus Of The Vulgar Boatpeople,’ I christened the results.

Ant also got to channel his inner riff-rocker with a blistering guitar solo and the whole thing was in the can within a couple of hours. Ta-Da!

And that’s how we wrote ‘It’s Hard To Get Up (When You’re Bringing Me Down).’

Harley Taylor - Tin Cry