Hi and welcome to the latest Squire fan page newsletter. While we wait for the amazing weather to send some rain, we’re having another look at the Sugarplum album and the song ‘Holiday In England’!
The song captures the images of a holiday, actually in Cornwall, and the song was originally entitled ‘Holiday In Cornwall’
The peninsular is unique because if its raining on one coast, it’s usually sunny a few miles away on the other and the rain from the Atlantic can suddenly appear and end very quickly. So the lyric captures the experience of suddenly being caught in the rain and running from shop to doorway in the seaside town, and finding refuge in a seafront shelter!
These structures seem unique to the Victorian coastal towns where you will often find determined holiday folk dressed in plastic macs braving the windy weather and watching the world go by. The lyrics are:
Holiday In England
Maybe it will rain today
Overcast, the sky is grey
Hear the thunder rolling far away
Holiday in England in the rain
Puddles form in empty streets
Cars splash by and soak my feet
I don't mind feel like singing in the rain
Holiday in England once again
The lightning strikes above you
You run for safety to the welcome sight
Of an open door
Waiting for a new beginning
Newspaper held above you
You dash from shop to doorway in the rain
Bus shelter full of plastic macs
Old faces turned towards the empty sea
Storm is passing sky will clear
Rooftops drip their final tears
Cloud behind dissolves into the haze
Holiday in England in the rain
The album was recorded at Sun Shack Studios This was Anthony’s own studio and was also used for Passengers On Trains. The only other musician on the recording was drummer Vince Johnson from band Daisy Chainsaw, who was suggested by Ken Thomas who mixed the album - he also worked on Get Smart LP and Passenger On Trains LP.
Ken, above, sadly passed away last year and had an amazing career starting at R G Jones studio in Wimbledon, before moving to Ringo’s Startling studio at Tittenhurst Park, and on to Trident and Advision studios in London before moving to Jacobs Studios in Farnham, Surrey, where he recorded and mixed some of the Squire Get Smart album sessions, and where we originally met. His experience with more angular and left field artists such as Buzzcocks, Wire, The Bongos, Public Image, Cocteau Twins, Sigur Ros, Sugarcubes, Moby, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Nurse with Wound, Daisy Chainsaw, M83 et al belied his original pop sensibilities learnt working at the early studios, and he could conjure up a mix that evoked sonic similarities from as diverse artists as Cat Stevens or David Bowie and Queen as he had been in the studio with them in the early days! His son Jolyon Thomas now follows in his footsteps and produces Royal Blood, U2, Slaves amongst others.
The live Sugarplum band was formed of an amalgam of Squire and James band Speedkillers!
With James on bass, Henrik on guitar, and Thomas on drums, with Kevin on additional vocals and percussion, taking over on drums for the Squire songs, the band have continued to perform together over the years. For instance, Henric joined Squire for the 2012 dates in California!
You can see the band below performing the song Holiday In England at The Cavern, Liverpool!
Finally, we have been asked to publish some actual song lyrics and chord charts for some of the Squire songs. If you have any favourites you would like to see the music for, please mention by email as we are preparing a special page to include as many as possible in the future!
Next week we will be rehearsing in anticipating our next live concert at the 'This Is The Modern World' All dayer in Brighton on Saturday 27th August!
All the best from Squire!