Neil Hannon, frontman of The Divine Comedy, has revealed the story behind the band's 1996 hit 'Something for the Weekend', which became the theme tune for the BBC show of the same name. In an interview, Hannon explained how the song evolved from a eurocentric chord sequence inspired by the Pet Shop Boys and a line from the 1995 film adaptation of 'Cold Comfort Farm'.
The track's distinctive galloping snare drum groove was borrowed from a previous album track, itself inspired by a documentary featuring France Gall's 1965 Eurovision entry 'Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son'. Hannon recalled working from memory after hearing the song, and engineer Darren Allison played the drum part while Hannon fitted everything else over the top.
The recording featured a Hammond organ, which became the driving force of the song. For the opening giggles, Hannon recruited the sister of a young man working at Setanta Records and her friend, who laughed nervously in a booth. Hannon's Terry-Thomas style voiceover was recorded separately, and he now skips that part in live performances, saying, 'I'm in my mid-50s, it would be creepy.'
The music video was filmed in Venice, where Hannon first tried tiramisu. A statuesque Italian model was hired for the video, but she was a foot taller than Hannon, so he had to stand on a box for shots where they appeared side by side on a boat.
The song's success was boosted by Chris Evans, who played it twice on his Radio 1 breakfast show after a plugger rushed a copy to the studio. Hannon learned the song had reached number 14 on the UK charts while in a taxi in Paris, describing it as one of the most exciting moments of his career. Super Furry Animals later changed the title of their own song of the same name to 'Something 4 the Weekend' when releasing it as a single, and their singer Gruff Rhys later gave Hannon a Robin Sarstedt LP that proved someone had beaten them both to the title by decades.
