‘We had a seance to channel John Lennon’: how Wah! made The Story of the Blues

Pete Wylie, singer, songwriter

The early singles by Wah! Heat were indie hits because John Peel championed them. I went to meet him at a Fall gig in Manchester. The Fall were fantastic, but it felt like the gig was full of all these people who were there just to be seen. Suddenly, indie wasn’t a scene I wanted to be in.

I’d read Alvin Toffler’s books Future Shock and The Third Wave, about the impact of technology, and was becoming interested in drum machines. I was also obsessed with Phil Spector, Tamla Motown and the Chi-Lites and wanted to do something soulful. The other key moment was watching Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff, about the effects of mass unemployment. I’d grown up in a dysfunctional household where money was always an issue and it resonated with me. I wanted to write songs expressing solidarity that were a force for change.

I was having a drink with Clash manager Kosmo Vinyl when he suggested I write a “drinking song”. I sat at the piano and channelled Frank Sinatra’s One for My Baby (And One More for the Road). I began: “Here in my pocket I’ve got the story of the blues …” But once I started thinking about the world I was living in – unemployment, Liverpool, the fact that I’d just had a break-up/breakdown – it changed into this big, anthemic thing about what was going on.

I loved what the producer Mike Hedges had done with the Associates and wanted my voice to be equally central. I met Mike and we got on instantly. In the studio, we got violins, backing singers – and even had the mad idea of performing a seance in there, to get the spirit of John Lennon on the track.

When the single came out [in 1983], Peel and David Jensen played it on Radio 1, but the record company had almost given up on it. Then we got on this TV show, Pop Goes Christmas. I wore a black dinner suit and they made my quiff look huge. Bet Lynch from Corrie was sat in the makeup room with me watching me being pampered and said: “I haven’t seen one that big in years.”

The single charted – at No 59 – on Christmas Day and started climbing. I said I wouldn’t have a drink until it started slipping down the chart – and in fact I stayed teetotal until it left the charts completely. It peaked at No 3 on 16 January 1983 and I went on Top of the Pops. I’ve been told The Story of the Blues is the “greatest single ever made” and stuff like that. I’m just glad to have done something people found helpful.

Mike Hedges, producer

You could tell Pete was a star within five minutes of meeting him. “Life and soul of the party” doesn’t begin to describe him. He was crazy, mouthy but funny, bouncing off the walls. He was always at every party and wanted his gravestone to read: “Here lies Pete Wylie plus one.” When he fell and broke his back and the fire brigade asked his name, he told them: “You should know my fucking name.” I thought he was amazing and believed we could definitely do something together.

When we went into the studio, Pete sat down with an acoustic guitar and played me The Story of the Blues. It was obviously going to be an important song. We didn’t have a drummer, so I got hold of a very early Linn drum machine, but there was no manual. As well as the main beat on the single, there’s also a weird conga pattern, which wasn’t intentional. It was left in because we didn’t know how to delete anything.

I wanted the song to sound epic and overloaded the acoustic guitar at the mixing desk so it distorted on the chorus. Everything was very quick: we only had a couple of days in the studio. I was mixing another artist as well so wasn’t getting much sleep, as usual. I found the three-woman string section busking in Covent Garden, London. They were wearing punk outfits with mini skirts, stockings and stuff, which I thought was brilliant. Pete wanted soul singers so I got the Chanter Sisters in to do a session and Kate Robbins – now better known as an actor – sang backing on the choruses. [Wylie subsequently wanted a regular Wah! “girl group”, so London trio Sylvia and the Sapphires joined him for TV and live performances.]

I always thought the finished recording was a bit slapdash, because we didn’t have much time or many instruments, but the vocal was fantastic. Pete just carried it. The Story of the Blues is social commentary and anthemic, my favourite kind of music.