Tom's Desert Island Discs, no. 2

"There She Goes", by The La's

Blah, blah, more music-press approved muso guff, why can't he just admit to loving Sinitta and Kylie ? Well, far from waiting for muso approaval, I can tell you the first time I ever heard this song. On a radio session for Liz Kershaw's early evening Radio 1 show, some time in early 1988. I knew the La's from their indie hit "Way Out", and quite liked them, despite their obvious 60s affectations, which every other indie band did at the time and was tediously ubiquitous.

"There She Goes" makes no attempt to hide its 60s influences. The title is a virtually direct steal from the Velvet Underground, and the riff could easily have wandered off one of the Byrds' hit singles. But what a riff. What a beautifully keening vocal. What a stately waltz rhythm. I bought it as soon as it was released as a single, though it wasn't the hit it deserved to be until it was re-released in the wake of the Stone Roses, a year or so later. I walked onto a dancefloor and danced to it, walking stright away from the girl who properly broke my heart for the first time. There were a few more to follow............

Who cares if it's about a woman, or smack, or philately ? It's just, as a colleague of mine once said ,as he heard it on the radio for the first time, a nice little song. I actually think it's more-it's a beautiful little song.