MYTHS, MELODIES & METAPHYSICS: - Prefab Sprout

name, reveling in the sense of mystery of such a weird name, and opting away from
others McAloon had dreamed up like Chrysalis Cognosci, Dry Axe and The Village Bus.
It was 1977. Paddy still has the contract they all signed to this day, 'officially' kicking off
the band to 'fame and fortune'. He already had plans for their first album, too. That was if
you could ignore the eleven versions of a song entitled Goodbye Lucille (version #1
becoming a single entitled Johnny Johnny eight years later). The album was to include a
pair of songs about sport. The opener was to be I Never Play Basketball Now and to close
was the song And Chess is Beyond Me. However, the latter was later scrapped on the
basis that it was reconsidered as 'crap' by McAloon - so it was replaced with the song Cue
Fanfare, about how the drive that chess grandmasters like Bobby Fischer get from playing
chess compares with McAloon's reactions to phrases like "hair of gold", "Sweet Mary" or
"running to me" (taken from the song The Green Green Grass Of Home).
Paddy wrote to many record companies and music publishers, sending demo tapes in
the hope of drumming up some interest, but to no avail. He still has all the rejection letters
to this day, including one from CBS, rejecting Faron Young.
According to Paddy, they played Faron Young like a heavy metal number and Johnny
Johnny like it was punk, screaming all the way through. The band even wore wellies on
stage, according to an admirer, Wendy Smith. McAloon
never did want to play live - admitting that he'd have to be dragged "screaming and
kicking" to play gigs, but accepting the inevitability of having to if he was to get his songs
heard, get the band recognised in looking for a recording deal and, moreover, a
publishing contract for his songs.
As a 'garage bad', they rehearsed until they felt confident enough to play live. They
were soon playing pubs, clubs and colleges in the north east and did so for the next four
years, playing Paddy's compositions such as Donna Summer, Walk On, Tin Can Pot,
Spinning Belinda and Faron Young.
At the turn of the decade when punk had peaked and Paddy McAloon had just
managed to "scrape through" his degrees in English and History, he was contented in
working at his father's garage, biding his time, reading books, strumming the guitar and
writing songs, in between those damned customers. Unfortunately, the business folded
and the boys spent a while on the dole. The only other job Paddy could envisage was that
of a librarian in Durham.
It was at a local festival that the band were playing at that Paddy met local musician
David Brewis, guitarist in The Kane Gang, who said that the 'Gang' had watched them
and thought they were great live. This chance meeting formed the beginning of a long
friendship between McAloon and Brewis.
Both bands played side by side at several gigs, even holding a residency at a local pub,
taking turn to share the billing. Dave Brewis had bigger plans for both bands and
suggested they both record a song each (this was at the time that The Kane Gang had
written Brother Brother) and to put out a double A-sided single. The Kane Gang even
offered to pay for it, but it never happened. They did agree, however, in forming their
own record label, Candle Records, on which they would each have singles in their own
right.