The song Miles Kane wishes he had written: ‘I just love everything about it’
A huge part of the songwriting experience is wishing you had come up with certain ideas before the geniuses who did, and Miles Kane can certainly attest to that.
Even the greatest and most original composers have their heroes, and it’s only natural to want to be as great as those who inspire us. After all, honing your craft usually begins with fantasies of doing what has already been done. It’s common for aspiring musicians to get their start in the shower, singing along to songs by titans who have reached every corner of the world, and hence, imagining ourselves in the same positions as those who moved millions is what motivates us to do the same.
What’s even more fascinating about this concept is seeing where artists come from, and how a lot of the time it’s not from where we expect. You have punk singers who were inspired by Miles Davis and rappers who grew up on Michael Jackson, and so it ultimately turns out that there really is no set pattern to how creatives come into their own.
Back in 2014, NME asked several accomplished musicians to name songs they wish they had written, and the results unsurprisingly demonstrated quite a contrast between what a lot of artists make and the songs they wish they were credited with.
Whereas Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre picking ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ by Bob Dylan would probably surprise nobody, Tinie Tempah going with Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ was quite the curveball. Stars such as Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, St Vincent and Slash all offered their admiration and regrets over tunes we all love, but Miles Kane arguably had one of the most interesting picks.
The English singer and guitarist has penned some of the most beloved rock songs of the 21st century across his solo career as well as his work with The Rascals and The Last Shadow Puppets, and yet there’s one piece that he is in complete awe of and wishes he could take credit for. Even though his résumé is stacked several feet higher than the average recording artist, Kane believes Ike & Tina Turner captured in one of their songs what he still hadn’t at the time (we don’t know if this has changed in the decade since).
Released as a single in 1973, ‘Nutbush City Limits’ perfectly encapsulates the raw and inimitable rock and roll energy of the husband-wife duo. Tina wrote the semi-autobiographical song about her hometown of Nutbush in rural Tennessee, which is far removed from Kane’s, yet the song is not only everything he loves about music but also what he aspires to as a writer. Despite the generational, geographic and cultural gap between the Turners and Kane, it’s obvious just from one listen why the latter is so amazed by the cut.
“It’s a tune that has the years in it. I heard it a couple of years ago, and just loved everything about it,” he said about the hard-hitting track, “The guitar and everything, it’s just cool as fuck, man”.
A timeless classic, ‘Nutbush City Limits’ is one of the last songs the former couple released together, which by no means was their biggest hit, but it is still a specimen of their combined genius as musicians and pioneers of the rock genre that Kane has since taken charge of.
