SONG BY SONG
SQUEEZE’S NEW TOUR,
THE DIFFORD AND
TILBROOK SONGBOOK
2019, AIMS TO GO
DEEP. AS WELL AS THEIR
CLASSICS, CHRIS DIFFORD
AND GLENN TILBROOK
WILL OFFER SOMEDEEP-CUT FAN FAVOURITES
THAT UNFAIRLY DIDN’T
JOIN COOL FOR CATS,
UP THE JUNCTION OR
SOME FANTASTIC PLACE
AS RIGHTLY REVERED POP
MASTERPIECES. WHAT
BETTER CHANCE,
THEN, FOR CHRIS AND
GLENN TO REVEAL
THE STORIES BEHIND
SOME OF SQUEEZE’S
MIGHTIEST SONGS?
JOHN EARLS“
Glenn and I have a complicated
relationship – I think that’s
why our songs are so brilliant,”
says Chris Difford, summing up his and
Glenn Tilbrook’s partnership that’s lasted
for 46 years, with the occasional gap,
since Glenn was the only person
to answer Chris’ advert in a South
London newsagent’s window looking for
band members.
Over the course of two lengthy phone
calls with the pair – Chris at his home in
rural Sussex, Glenn from his studio on
an industrial estate in Charlton – Chris
seems right about those complications.
Glenn is roughly as you’d expect from
Squeeze’s songs: jovial, talking in a
good-natured stream of consciousness,
affectionately teasing his songwriting
partner while also making clear both his
frustrations and admiration. Chris, as
befi ts a lyricist, chooses his words with
care, his conversation more intense and
serious than Squeeze’s melody writer.Chris: “Glenn and I have got divorced
three or four times, but we’ve never
fi gured out who’d get to keep what
from our record collections. It’s been
a diffi cult coming and going with him.
Ultimately, there’s an underlying current
of admiration – from my end, at least- for Glenn as a writer and performer.
That will always last. The way Glenn
and I weave in and out of our lives, it’s
a love story.”
Glenn: “I do love Chris.
I’d agree with him that our
relationship is a love story.”Both make it clear their
mutual respect doesn’t
extend into a friendship.
Having released two
albums since reforming
in 2007, they also seem
united that Squeeze’s
future songwriting plans are
unlikely to be extensive.Glenn: “Chris and I exist in degrees
of light and dark. What we have isn’t
a friendship, it’s a partnership. There’s
some sort of love in there somewhere,
but it’s a love with next to no contact.”
Does that complication make for
great songs?“No. Our best songs
are written when there’s heart and
engagement. When Chris has that, it’s
brilliant. When Chris is on form, he’s
so funny. There’s no one to top him.”Chris: “We were never in each
other’s pockets like some friends are.
I couldn’t go for a curry with Glenn
and laugh about old times. That’s
maybe because there’s been a rumble
of competitiveness between us through
the years. There have been things
unspoken, and some have unravelled.
With Jools [Holland, ex-Squeeze
keyboardist] and Gilson [Lavis, former
Squeeze drummer], possibly because
I don’t see them as much, I can plonk
myself straight back down and feel
they’re the same person. Glenn and
I can’t do that.”