●Away from Deacon Blue,
Ricky Ross has written songs
for, or with, James Blunt,
Ronan Keating and Jamie
Cullum. He also anchors his
own show, Another Country
With Ricky Ross, on BBC
Radio Scotland, and recently
presented Ricky Ross’ New
Tradition on BBC Radio 2.
●Keyboard player James
Prime is a lecturer at the
University Of The West Of
Scotland, where he set up
the School Of Music AndRecording Technology with
Allan Dumbreck of The Big
Dish. “The London music
business comes here to hand-
pick our students,” he says.
●Lorraine McIntosh is an
accomplished actress, having
appeared in Scottish TV soap
River City between 2002
and 2010, playing Alice
Henderson. She has also
had parts in Ken Loach’s
My Name Is Joe and Lone
Scherfi g’s Wilburn Wants To
Kill Himself.NEED TO KNOW
SHHHTHE LOWDOWN DEACON BLUE
DIGNITY
1987
Dare to dream
The lead single from Raintown
failed to chart fi rst time out, so
Deacon Blue drafted in crack
engineer Bob Clearmountain
(Bruce Springsteen, David
Bowie) to work his magic and,
on its second release, Dignity
peaked at No.31.
Ross penned the song –
essentially about a street
sweeper who dreams of saving
his hard-earned cash to buy
a boat – while holidaying
in Greece.
“That’s why there’s a
reference to raki in it, the local
fi rewater,” he explained.
Issued again in 1994, as part
Our Town: The Greatest Hits –
it made No.20.
WHEN WILL YOU (MAKE
MY TELEPHONE RING)
1987
Unrequited loveFeaturing R&B band
Londonbeat on backing vocals,
this one has the distinction of
being the fi rst track played
on Radio Luxembourg after
the station went satellite on
30 December 1991.
Another single lifted from
Raintown, like Dignity it only
reached the Top 40 at the
second time of asking, cresting
at No.34.
“It’s actually about waiting
to be discovered,” said Ross,
“spurred on by the unrequited
love of an old girlfriend.”
How could she refuse his
declaration, “I want you in
everything/ In anything I do”?FERGUS SINGS
THE BLUES
1989
From one Dundonian to another
Gaels Blue, a 1985 album by
the self-styled Bard Of Dundee,
singer-songwriter Michael
Marra, was the touchstone for
Fergus Sings The Blues.
As a teenager, Ross saw him
live for the fi rst time in their
mutual home city.
“He was always really helpful
to young musicians and was
a big infl uence with the way
he would write songs playing
the piano,” he said following
Marra’s death in 2012.
“I think he’ll come to be seen
as Scotland’s Hank Williams.”
CHOCOLATE GIRL
1988
Relationship problemsAwful title, admittedly, but a
cracking song. The fourth
single from Raintown was
remixed by Michael Brauer,
who emphasises pedal steel
maestro BJ Cole’s part on a
markedly different version
to that which appears on
the album.
The subject matter is love
gone bad – though not
everyone heard it that way.
“I always think it’s funny that
people view Chocolate Girl as
a really romantic song,” says
Ross. “I say, ‘If you think that
is a romantic song, then you
must have a bad marriage!
The point is that it’s a
horrible relationship.”REAL GONE KID
1988
The spirit of Maria McKeeDeacon Blue’s biggest hit
outside their cover of Burt
Bacharach and Hal David’s
I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,
Real Gone Kid was inspired
by former Lone Justice
frontwoman (and future
Show Me Heaven singer)
Maria McKee.
Ross had seen Lone Justice
headline at the Marquee in
London and “I just couldn’t
believe it. I only saw the last
10 minutes and the encores, but
it was enough to totally blow
me away. I had this idea of
writing a song about someone
who was as spirited as
Maria McKee.” It made No.8 in
the UK singles charts.THE ESSENTIAL SINGLES
YOU’LL KNOW IT’S
CHRISTMAS 2013
You’ll know it’s Christmas when you
hear mawkish lyrics like, “The weather
gets cold/ You want to stay home/
Somehow we start to see/ That miracles
can come”. Enough with the festive
songs already!ONLY FOR THE BRAVE
YOUR TOWN
1992
Anti-Tory tiradeShe may have been out of
Number 10 for a couple of
years, but that didn’t stop Ross
venting his anger at Margaret
Thatcher on Your Town.
“When you’re gone, they
will curse you,” he sang with
some prescience.
“It has a real venom to
it, which at that time it was
coming up to the 1992 General
Election,” he recalled.
“We had had three Tory
governments, and everyone
was really sick, fed up with
them, and it was that sort of
political song.”