Part 1 – Kate's Interpretations

THANKS VERY MUCH to everyone for your response to the record, it means a lot to know you've been enjoying it – there were many times I thought it would never be finished so it is very exciting for me that it is completed and released. Thanks also for your notes of encouragement during the making of the record – they always seemed to arrive on just the right days. [I presume this is a reference to KBC letters - M.H.]

Although the previous album was four years before, not all this time was spent making The Red Shoes. All the songs apart from Eat The Music were written early on, and written quickly, but then a lot of time was spent on some of the arrangements and the structure of 2 or 3 songs which were particularly elusive. My original intention was to make it an album of "songs". No thematic approaches, to try to be more direct with lyrics and the production, to try to be more simple. I feel there are a lot of diverse styles on the album, making the running order the most difficult yet I think it is obviously a personal album but I also feel it has a sense of humour and a playful quality and that amongst some sad songs, the message is one of the fun and joy of life, of trying to make the most of it, which is always best felt when reminded of life's tragedies.

Rubberband Girl was a lot of fun to put together, the song was written quickly with a one chord sequence and it was written as a release from feeling completely inadequate. I was at a point in the studio where I felt I might "snap", so to try and make myself feel better I became a Rubberband Girl (sometimes creative frustration is useful). This is one of the tracks that I feel has a strong "band" feel and I was very pleased with the rhythm section. With Stuart on drums, John on bass and Danny on guitar I felt it had the right balance between very powerful and silly. It was also interesting working with a human brass section, it's always fun working with good musicians particularly if they're having a good time with the track. I always learn a lot from other people and I think there is generally more human impact on this album.

Early on in the writing, as I knew I wanted more of a band feel, I was feeling the loss of Alan Murphy who I had grown to think of as "our" guitarist, as quite a few of us did. I think almost in a way to avoid replacing him, I started thinking of possible guest guitarists for individual tracks, trying to think of the "Robert de Niro" of Strats, the Olivier of wang bars – to cast a male lead. That was the easy bit, but getting up the nerve to ask them took a little working up to.

And So Is Love, again was written quickly. With a drum sequence from Del, I wrote this song straight onto tape, duff chords and all. The original keyboards were kept and the drums and bass were done together, replacing the rhythm sequence. Working with Eric Clapton was really exciting for me, I love his playing and I hoped one day we'd work together. I think his performance is very moving and I felt he was very sensitive to the track. The idea of the song was a question/answer phrase, like a conversation between a voice and the voice of a guitar, I will always treasure the memory of looking over my shoulder and seeing Eric playing in our control room.

Originally the song was a minute longer and although I wanted the feel of the track to unfold, it unfolded and then fell on the floor, so the edit tightened the track up although only the other day I became aware it's over six minutes long – I thought it was about 3½!

"Life is sad and so is love" was a phrase I heard said by a man called Joseph Campbell, he studied a great deal of mythology and religions and was extremely lucid. It was a line he used as a conclusion and it didn't feel negative to me, just realistic and a powerful statement.

Eat The Music was inspired by Madagascan music which I was fortunate enough to hear through Paddy, who gave me some tapes that I loved listening to. The music is so joyous and full of sunshine and it's good to drive to.

Justin Vali came to Paddy's attention and soon after, they were both playing Valihas to a specially written "Madagascan" song. I wanted it to feel joyous and sunny, both qualities are rife in Justin as a person – so I just had to provide the fruit I hope the result is a colourful one. Again, this was a lot of fun to work on and it features Justin's first lines of sung English which he found hilarious. We found both his singing and his reaction to it delightful.

Moments Of Pleasure was written early on and we had finished recording the song and orchestra almost two years before the rest of the album was completed. It was written in the "old way" where I wrote it on the piano at home and kept it in my head rather than writing it onto tape. It was an attempt for me to get back to my "roots" where I had to see if I could still just sit with myself at the piano and write a song without having the outside influence of "technology". It was interesting for me.

I feel my dearest memories have been spent with people I love, those things that still make me laugh, the people that have touched me. The song is saying thanks to those friends of mine who were fun to be with, some of whom aren't alive any more – though they are still alive in my memories.

There was a wonderful moment when I was writing the song. I was working with the memory of visiting Michael Powell in New York when it had started to snow – I looked up while playing the song through and it was starting to snow ...

The Song Of Solomon had an unusual approach. In its original form it was based around the verse arrangement musically, using lines quoted from The Song Of Solomon in the Bible. I wanted this track to have a sense of deep rich colours. The song was left for a while and I came back to it and wrote different choruses and an end section, it was really turning three different sections from different songs into one and making it feel cohesive. It was interesting piecing it together, Del did some nifty editing and it was very pleasing to feel the edges blend together, particularly adding the end section with the beautiful voices of The Trio Bulgarka which had come from a completely different song that wasn't used – a bit like a jigsaw.

Texturally, this song was very fussy and it seemed the more that was left out, the better it became, leaving room for the atmospherics such as the spacy guitar and the strings and voices.

There were several phases to making the album, musicians being brought in periodically – on quite a few of the tracks we re-did the bass and drums two or three times as the tracks evolved. They do seem to evolve ... a lot of time is spent sorting things out, piecing together performances, playing with ideas, with different sound effects. A lot of it is fun but a lot of it is tedious.

Del was involved all the way through the project, which keeps the whole feel of it close and personal for me and I am very comfortable with him, it also encourages "productive argument" and I am really pleased with all the sounds of the instruments. I found that at a certain stage there were a lot of vocals to get through, backing vocals and lead vocals. There were a lot of ideas I wanted to play with and it seemed sadistic to make someone sit through experimentation like this so we fixed up a remote in the studio so I could record myself. I wish I had done this years ago. I really learnt a lot and it gave me the luxury of working to my feelings, I could stop and have a think for half an hour, then carry on or try a different song.

Lily is a song about a friend of mine, there are a lot of friends "present'' in these songs and is part of why it is a personal album. I met her years ago and she is one of the nicest people I've ever met She is very giving and I love spending time with her. She believes in the powers of Angels and taught me to see them in a different light, that they exist to help human beings and are very powerful as well as benevolent forces. She taught me some prayers that I found very useful (particularly in my line of work), she helped me a lot and I guess I wanted to pass on her message about our Angels – we all have them, we only have to ask for help.

The Red Shoes was not such a quick song to put together, I wanted this to feel Madagascan but not so much sunny and colourful, as hypnotic. With Stuart on percussion and Paddy on mandola we laid down a circular based pattern with strong influences from Madagascan rhythms. The original melody ideas I had were not terribly interesting so I left the song alone for a while but came back to it and came up with the Red Shoes theme – which started as the idea of something running away with itself. I am a big fan of Michael Powell who directed a film of that name and I'm sure I would not have come to the idea had I not met him. I wanted the track to be hypnotic, but also to build and build. Stuart came back and put a real kit to the track the backing vocals "she gotta dance" helped to take the song up another gear. I laid down a set of vocals and then Paddy and Colin Lloyd Tucker sung with them (a combination we used again on Constellation Of The Heart). I was very pleased with the uplifting effect of their voices and the sound quality.

Top Of The City was written early on and quickly. Like Moments Of Pleasure I wrote it on piano. I wanted the effect of the verses to sound very heavy and "bustling" like a city and in contrast, to create as much space as possible in the choruses to make them float – the more we left out, the better it got. Again it had more of a band approach and we were particularly pleased with how this track mixed.

Constellation Of The Heart was the idea of a voyage into inner space, into the emotions – having feelings as the navigator. It was fun to do, giving it a kind of funk feel and playing with the idea of the conversational backing vocals at the end. There was an idea to repeat the theme of "just being alive can really hurt', but to reiterate the importance of it being "wonderful, beautiful. . . "

Big Stripey Lie is a law unto itself and nearly didn't make it onto the album. It was originally a very early song which I'd written to a drum sequence of Del's and I suddenly decided I was going to play guitar all over it – I'd only had one lesson and couldn't get the chords together that I'd been taught so I put up the backing track and thrashed. I had a fantastic time – completely indulgent but I loved every minute. Because the guitar was so wild, the song took on the shape of wandering into someone's emotional world which is jungle-like and "wild". It was very experimental but people seemed to like it. It was lovely to work with Nigel Kennedy again – interesting that he didn't need to ask what the track was about. Takes one to know one ...

Why Should I Love You evolved from an R&B type song. I thought how wonderful it would be to have Prince play guitar... little did I know. I was so excited that he was interested in working on the track, we sent the tapes to him and he sent them back. It appealed so much to my sense of humour when we put up the tapes and there was bass, keyboards, guitar and backing vocals, all working to a funk groove. Some elements of the song were left but we put a lot of work into retrieving the structure I wanted and working with Prince's performances, yet keeping my original conception of it. It was extremely interesting for me and I think the result is quite unusual. Prince is an extraordinary talent ... and a bit clever ... In the time it took me to make one album he had released three albums, completed two world tours, a TV special, various videos and is still a better guitarist than me ...

You're The One was written very quickly but the backing track was very elusive. We wanted a slow band feel to the song and found it very difficult to keep the balance of slow (without letting it drag) and keeping space, yet feeling the track was being driven along. After re-approaching the drums three or four times, the feel was found. I was very pleased with the textures of the Trio Bulgarka's shimmering chords against the fantastic Hammond playing by Gary Brooker. There is a line in the song "doing cart wheels 'cross the floor" in tribute to Gary's involvement in A Whiter Shade Of Pale. I love Jeff Beck's guitar on this song – he is a big fan of the Trio and was very keen to work with their melodies in the song. The idea was for him to gradually "step into" the track and slowly make his presence felt, to end with an outspoken solo. I was really honoured to work with all the people on this album, I am so proud of their performances and I hope they all feel we served them well.

Well, I'd better go and get on with "The Red Shoes II" . . . it worked for Meatloaf!!

p.s. thanks to everyone who came to the screening at The London Film Festival – your response was overwhelming. It was a very special event for me, you all made it unforgettable and I'll treasure that memory forever.