The Libertines song Pete Doherty wrote for Carl Barât
Carl Barât and Pete Doherty were introduced to each other in the mid-1990s by Doherty’s elder sister, Amy-Jo. The pair made like a house on fire before forming The Libertines to channel their mutual fascination with the contemporary Britpop surge. The two budding songwriters soon moved into a flat together and began to write music.
Through the late 1990s, the band struggled to find gigs in the bustle of London, often taking on managerial duties and promotional leg-work themselves. During this formative period, the group frequently played to an underwhelming congregation at the Islington pub where Doherty worked pouring pints.
One of The Libertines’ earliest and most cherished fan favourites, ‘You’re My Waterloo’, was written by Doherty about Barât during these humble years. Following his drama degree at Brunel University, Barât began working at several London theatres, including the Old Vic, near Waterloo.
“Initially, it was a chance to get a grant and get out of your home town,” Barât said of his drama pursuits in a 2010 interview with The Times. “And all the good-looking girls seemed to do drama, so it was an obvious choice. But, although I always paint a bit of a blagger’s picture of studying drama, I did take it seriously.
“I just got disillusioned with the course — I got frustrated with all the queenie types, you know, empty vessels making the most noise, but in reality, I just lacked their confidence. I didn’t star in any productions. I read lots of theory — Artaud, Stanislavski, Meyerhold — and I directed a Harold Pinter play. I really got my teeth into that. I wanted to make it as nasty as possible.”
“When I moved to London, I supplemented my music income by working as an usher in several theatres — the Old Vic, the Aldwych, the Lyric,” Barât continued. “There’s that family vibe and togetherness in the theatre that I love. There’s a poetry in the whole collaborative system of it, the hierarchy, the directors, the old hands, the shared wisdom. It’s all rather more civilised than music. You can’t just roll out of bed into a rehearsal stinking of alcohol. Well, not officially. It doesn’t work quite so well when you’ve got to learn a script. But I like that discipline.”
After noting that Doherty wrote ‘You’re My Waterloo’ as “a touching song of brotherhood,” in a past conversation with Q, Barât explained that the song was written, “back when I was working at the Old Vic and going to theatre bars all night.”
The track was initially recorded as a demo during The Libertines’ early Odessa studio sessions and became a fan favourite during live performances. Despite its popularity and personal nature, the band neglected to give it due attention until 2015, when they included a refined studio version of the song on their long-awaited third album, Anthems for Doomed Youth.
‘You’re My Waterloo’ was accompanied by an official music video directed by Barât and photographer Roger Sargent. Contrary to the song’s initial “brotherhood” angle, the video starred Freddie Highmore and Marama Corlett as a pair of lovers navigating the streets of Waterloo at night.
Sargent explained the video’s conception in a 2015 press release. “Carl was keen to show a glimpse of the London he and Peter knew before The Libertines: a kind of nocturnal netherworld, beautiful, intense, romantic,” he said. “We decided not to feature the band and to tell a story through the eyes of a fictional boy and a girl. It was a perfect opportunity to work with Carl, to make the story and the setting come alive… I wanted it to hold a mirror up to Peter and Carl’s relationship, but with more purity and beauty than is usually portrayed.”
Watch the official music video for ‘You’re My Waterloo’ below.
