Picture Sleeve This!

No 2: PAUL JONES on the 1967 EP Paul Jones Sings Songs From The Film Privilege

"Look at the state of this! You paid four pence for this in a junk shop yesterday, I know you did. This is a French issue but it’s the same as the British EP. I remember it well. (My Poor Heart Is Surely) Breaking is on this. That was me trying to write a Four Tops-type song. I could hear Levi Stubbs singing that. I was madly under their spell at the time. They were absolutely wonderful, the Four Tops, I love them. I’ve Been A Bad, Bad Boy, that was Mike Leander of course. I didn’t really like the song at the time but it has sort of hung on in there.

Privilege, the title track, sums up the story of the movie quite well. I played a pop star, Steven Shorter. The story was by Johnny Speight and Jean Shrimpton was in the film too. The lyrics are quite good on the subject of fame and the artificiality of that: ‘it’s an honour to see me, it’s an honour to be me’, and all that sort of stuff. I mean, it was very ironic. It’s a decent song, and Free Me is pretty good as well.

I got very excited once when I read that Patti Smith, the New York punk singer, had covered Privilege, because Mike Leander wrote the music and I wrote the words. It turned out she hadn’t – she’d covered Free Me which was by Leander and Mark London. Mark London was a very witty American – or he just might have been …

by Pierre Perrone
<< Back to Issue 336

You must be a subscriber to view the full article, subscribe now for full access to all online content.

Already a Magazine Subscriber? Register now for online access.

Login Here

Free Newsletter


Subscribe to
our email newsletter by emailing:

anna.bowen@
metropolis.co.uk