The defining anthem that Paul Weller wrote drunk: “It was so easy”
‘A drunk mind speaks a sober heart’, is an adage often trotted out by the perpetually hangover-stricken in a vain attempt to avoid ‘the fear’ brought on by the night before, but there must be some truth in the ability of alcohol to lower one’s inhibitions and speak from the (albeit overly emotional) heart. After all, it worked for Paul Weller.
Since the invention of cheap and abundant alcohol, musicians throughout history have used its numbing powers to self-medicate their sorrows, but also to free themselves from the shackles of self-doubt and create some true masterpieces. The ‘Modfather’ himself, Paul Weller, thankfully falls into the latter category, having written some of the greatest songs of his career with the aid of liquid courage and the lingering smell of his local boozer.
Although Weller’s musical sensibilities have always been far more expansive than a few simple barre-chords and guitar distortion, it was during the explosion of punk that he first made a name for himself alongside The Jam. During the age of safety pins and hepatitis, the drug-du-jour tended to be solvents and heroin, both readily available in the squats and underground punk hangouts of London. However, in the same way that The Jam didn’t share much in common with the sound of punk, their substance choices differed as well.
Owing to his fascination with the northern soul scene of the early 1970s, Weller found a natural affinity for amphetamines during his younger days, and it’s easy to imagine speed having an impact on the driving fury contained within a lot of The Jam’s more confrontational anthems. At the same time, the trio’s discography had its fair share of more vulnerable, mellow moments. As it turns out, one of Weller’s finest songwriting efforts, ‘That’s Entertainment’, owes at least part of its origin story to a night spent in the pub.
When listening to the 1980 single, it is easy to envision Weller pouring over the lyrics for days or weeks on end; some writers have spent their entire lives trying to strike upon as profound a reflection of alienation and modern life as that particular track.
In actuality, it took the songwriter mere minutes to carve out the basis of the song, while still half-pissed. “It’s one of those list songs really,” the ever-understated Weller declared in a 2015 chat with Mojo, “It was so easy to write. I came back from the pub, drunk, and just wrote it quick. I probably had more verses, which I cut”.
Although by the time the 1980s rolled around, he was already riding high on the pop charts with his mod-revivalist mastery, that success hadn’t translated into his everyday life. “It was just everything that was around me, y’know,” he shared, drawing parallels between the rather depressing realities of ‘That’s Entertainment’ and his day-to-day existence, “My little flat in Pimlico did have damp on the walls and it was fucking freezing”.
When you take that Pimlico flat—which probably still exists today, with the same damp, only for multiple thousands pounds added onto the monthly rent—into consideration, it is easier to imagine a drunken Weller scribbling out his magnum opus. After all, the depressing realities of everyday life have a tendency to reveal themselves more readily once you’ve had a few pints and stumbled back to your flat, guided only by the sodium light of lamp posts and your rapidly declining sense of direction.
