Some Fantastic Place, Chris Difford
Some Fantastic Place, Chris Difford
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Some Fantastic Place
My Life In and Out of Squeeze

Author: Chris Difford

Narrator: Chris Difford

Unabridged: 10 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/31/2017

Synopsis

'King George Street in Charlton, South London, was my first home. Six prefabs, three pubs, a school, a church and a yard where the electricity board kept cables. Two long rows of terraced house faced each other at one end of the street; and, at the other, big houses with big doors and even bigger windows. There was a phone box next to one of the pubs and when it rang everyone came out to see who it was for. It was a tiny road - at one end of which there was Greenwich Park. It was heaven being there, its beauty always shone on me from the trees at sunsets and from the bushes in the rain. I was there in all weathers. It was 1964, I was ten years old and this is when my memory really begins. The previous decade is built up from vague recollections that lean heavily on the imagination.'

Chris Difford is a rare breed. As a member of one of London's best-loved bands, the Squeeze co-founder has made a lasting contribution to English music with hits such as 'Cool For Cats', 'Up The Junction', 'Labelled With Love', 'Hourglass' and 'Tempted'. Some Fantastic Place is his evocative memoir of an upbringing in Sixties' South London and his rise to fame in one of the definitive bands of the late Seventies and early Eighties.

Written and Read by Chris Difford
(P) ORION PUBLISHING GROUP 2017

About Chris Difford

Born in Greenwich, London, Chris Difford has written lyrics for over forty years, most notably in partnership with Glenn Tilbrook for Squeeze. After the break-up of Squeeze in 1983, Difford continued writing songs with Glenn Tilbrook for artists such as Helen Shapiro, Billy Bremner and Elvis Costello. He has also written lyrics for music by many artists including Jools Holland, Elton John and Wet Wet Wet, has been the manager of Bryan Ferry and The Strypes, and released four solo albums. Difford also curated SONGS IN THE KEY OF LONDON, an evening of music dedicated to the capital at the Barbican Centre, London, in 2011 and 2014.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nigeyb

I heard about Some Fantastic Place: My Life In and Out of Squeeze on a Word Podcast. Chris Difford was discussing the book and the interview made it sound wonderful. I love a music biography and have read hundreds. Sadly this is not up there with the best, far from it. I like Squeeze but am not a bi......more

Goodreads review by Emma

I went to hear Chris Difford promote this book in late 2017. He came across as tired and somewhat jaded and I felt he wasn’t comfortable talking about himself to and audience. Funny really, when he had done this via his lyrics for so many years. The book is interesting and well written. I enjoyed th......more

Goodreads review by John Plowright

As Chris Difford writes, “My history with Squeeze carries weight, and people want to know all about this part of me.” ‘Some Fantastic Place’ charts the band’s critical and commercial ups and downs as well as its bewildering changes of personnel and managers but at the heart of both book and band, is......more

Goodreads review by Vicky-Leigh

If I wasn’t enjoying my career quite as much as I do, the one thing I would love to be (other than a novelist) is a song-writer. One of the reasons that I love the music artists that I do, is purely down to their lyrics. I rarely like a band or artist that doesn't have what I consider to be good lyr......more

Quotes

With hilarious honesty, Squeeze's frontman reveals how his pop career went well and truly Up The Junction! MAIL ON SUNDAY

Chris Difford's characteristically dry memoir deals with political conflicts closer to home. Opening with the early, boozy days of Squeeze, it ends in 2016 when the band appeared on The Andrew Marr Show. Spotting then prime minister David Cameron on the sofa, keen to justify his government's decision to knock down old council estates, singer Glenn Tilbrook improvised new lyrics: "I grew up in council housing," he sang, "Part of what made Britain great / There are some here who are hell bent / On the destruction of the welfare state." Difford reports that the PM clapped along, then "came over to us at the end of the show and said, ' You know I think that song is going to be a hit!'" DAILY TELEGRAPH

Loving the Chris Difford autobiography. "Dad said if I joined a rock band I'd be an alcoholic, drug addict & skint. Turns out he was right."

A witty, charming, acutely observed and astonishingly honest account of what it's like to be a successful musician. I was gripped and fascinated.

Squeeze's music has been a part of my soundtrack since first hearing and seeing them back in the late 70's and Chris's book is just as lively and captivating. It's honest, poignant, laugh out loud funny and is a fascinating peep (warts and all) into the life of one of our most talented wordsmiths. Quite simply, i couldn't put it down.

As anyone who has listened to "Cool for Cats" or "Up the Junction" will know, Difford's lyrics are superb at noticing the unconscious poetry of everyday life, and the early chapters of this book are tightly packed with the sights, the sounds and especially the smells of his childhood: the "sweetest smell of peat burning on the fire" in his Irish aunt's house, "the dry crusty odour of socks in football boots" at school, or the heady teenage scent of "Brut and spray-on deodorant". THE GUARDIAN

This conversational memoir from Chris Difford - one of the principal songwriters of beloved U.K. pop act Squeeze - covers a lot of ground: his south London childhood; the band's career ups and downs; and his non-Squeeze detours, including managing Bryan Ferry.
"Some Fantastic Place" is distinguished by its admirable candour: Unlike many artists, Difford is reflective about the obstacles he's had to overcome (e.g., flying anxiety, substance abuse, relationship breakdowns), and he is direct and forthcoming about how these things inform his life and music, even in the present. However, Difford's dry sense of humor also shines through - for instance, speaking of the band's first, ill-fated U.S. gig, at The Lighthouse in Bethlehem, New Jersey, he writes, "We literally played to one man and a dog. We were forced to play a second set by the owner. The dog left." Lovely and enriching, "Some Fantastic Place" is very much worth a read. SALON

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